ABSTRACT
This chapter explores issues in the acquisition of additional languages. It presents both the different theoretical positions within the broad field of additional language acquisition and the relationships between them so that one can position the field with respect to both Language Education and own particular view. With a view of acquisition as involving the processes of expanding, understanding and controlling Multiplicity, there is a framework for mutual engagement between the larger frameworks of Language Education and the more focused endeavours of Applied Linguistics. In West Germany, the Australian sociolinguist and bilingualism researcher, Michael Clyne was the first to explicitly frame substantial amounts of additional language acquisition data in sociolinguistic terms. His research with migrant workers in Germany argued for a relationship between additional language acquisition and pidginization, as well as pointing to how social context could be invoked as an explanation for both processes.
