During the past twenty years, the field of linguistics has changed in ways that are significant for the preparation of bilingual/cross-cultural teachers. Most linguists today would agree that variability in language and the relation of language to societal phenomena are now major concerns of linguistic inquiry and that interdisciplinary branches of linguistics, especially sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics, are assuming increasing importance in linguistic inquiry. The importance of the contribution of sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics to the training of bilingual education specialists must be judged according to the utilization and role of these sciences in the total professional preparation. Knowledge of them must be matched with cultural understanding and a knowledge of teaching methodology and the language of the target group. Because teachers' attitudes seem to influence educational outcomes, the impact of a linguistics course on language attitudes suggests that the linguistics course must be taught not only from the cognitive but also from the affective point of view. A summary of the findings of a test battery being developed by the Program for Teaching and Linguistic Pluralism of the Center for Educational Research at Stanford concludes this paper. It reinforces the view that a knowledge of linguistics cannot be successfully applied without a knowledge of the pupils' dominant language or without cultural understanding and empathy. (AMH)