Interdisciplinary approaches to the psychology of multilingual learners and teachers

This chapter sets the scene for the edited collection and explains our rationale for exploring the psychology of multilingual learners and teachers. It begins by defining the concepts of multilingualism and Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching (PLLT) and providing a brief overview of the current research landscape. This chapter then explores the connections between multilingualism and PLLT, and makes the case for embracing the ‘multilingual turn’ in PLLT research. It then clarifies what is meant by an interdisciplinary approach to researching multilingualism and PLLT. Finally, this chapter concludes by providing an outline of the subsequent chapters.