This book provides both a review of what has been discovered from earlier research and identifies trends and future directions for future research on learner contributions to language learning. The book has an introduction, a postscript, and eight chapters and includes the following: "Introduction: Conceptualization, affect, and action in context"; "Individual cognitive/affective learner contributions and differential success in second language acquisition" (Diane Larsen-Freeman); "The role of learning strategies in second language acquisition" (Anna Uhl Chamot); "Metacognitive knowledge in SLA: the neglected variable" (Anita L. Wenden); "The metaphorical constructions of second language learners" (Rod Ellis); "'The bleached bones of a story': learners' constructions of language teachers" (Rebecca L. Oxford); "Overt participation and covert acquisition in the language classroom" (Michael P. Breen); "(S)econd (L)anguage (A)ctivity theory: understanding second language learners as people" (James P. Lantolf and Aneta Pavlenko); "Non-participation, imagined communities, and the language classroom" (Bonny Norton); and "Postscript: New directions for research on learner contributions." Author and subject indexes are included. (Contains 582 references.) (KFT)