This book is written for many readers and also for just one. The one reader who was always on my mind as I was writing is a graduate student sitting silently and dejectedly in the library carrel, feeling – as I did many a time – that the academic world is not letting her or him on its major secrets. What areas of research are hotter than others? Which ones have been overexplored and which ones are underresearched? Which approaches are ‘in’ and which are considered outdated? Is it permissible to link one's own personal circumstances, such as one's bilingualism or childrearing experiences, with one's research topic? And how in the world does one come up with that research topic – or, for that matter, with an adequate research design?

If you have asked yourself any of these questions and have any interest in either bilingualism or emotion research, or, even better, both, this book is for you. Throughout, I have tried to be comprehensive in covering what has been done to date and to be detailed in discussing research designs and methods of analysis that ‘go with’ particular research directions and theoretical perspectives. I have also tried to be straightforward in explaining which approaches are outdated and why, outlining weaknesses of the currently accepted approaches and sketching out directions for new research. I have also sought to convey my own passion for using the multilingual lens for language research and the perspective of emotion in research on bilingualism.