"Ingrid Piller's book will be seen as a landmark in a 'second wave' of studies on intercultural communication. Solidly grounded in discourse analysis and sociolinguistics, clearly and accessibly written and compellingly argued, it revives a field not always well served by its scholars, and we are now at last in a position to see intercultural communication for what it is: a historically situated and politically sensitive complex of communication modes, analysis of which requires attention to the smallest details as well as to the biggest things in the world - globalization processes."

Jan Blommaert, Tilburg University

Combining discourse analytic and sociolinguistic perspectives, this introduction provides students with a comprehensive, up-to-date and critical overview of the field of intercultural communication.

Ingrid Piller explains communication in context using two main approaches. The first treats cultural identity, difference and similarity as discursive constructions. The second, informed by bilingualism studies, highlights the use and prestige of different languages and language varieties as well as the varying access that speakers have to them.

Linguistics students will find this book a useful tool for studying language and globalization as well as applied linguistics.

Key features include:

• Case studies from around the world
• Learning objectives, key points, exercises and suggestions for further reading in each chapter
• Reader-friendly, accessible style

Ingrid Piller is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. She has published widely on the sociolinguistics of language learning, multilingualism and intercultural communication and blogs about her research at www.languageonthemove.org.