This monograph discusses the state of the art in child second language acquisition research. It is of particular interest to teachers, administrators, and others concerned with educating children whose first language is not English. The first chapter deals with preschool second language acquisition. It examines processes of acquiring the sound system, the meaning system, the rules for language use, the developmental stages in acquisition, and the differences between first and second language learning in preschool children. Chapter 2 treats second language acquisition in the classroom. It examines the nature of the school experience and how the language of the school differs from language used outside the classroom. Bilingual education programs in Canada and in the United States are compared and various types of U.S. bilingual programs are discussed in order to specify the various instructional and interactional features that differentiate bilingual classrooms. The third chapter describes ways in which researchers have investigated second language acquisition. The major research areas are studies of the second language-learning process, the question of language assessment, and research on the effectiveness of bilingual education. Each chapter contains suggestions for further reading. (Author/AMH)