This collection draws on papers given at a conference in June 1994 hosted by the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics (IRAAL) with the theme Language. Education and Society in a Changing World. The conference, held in Marino Institute of Education, Dublin, attracted over one hundred papers from all five continents. The contributions in this volume are representative of the major issues discussed at the conference, and cover a wide geographical and theoretical range. The conference was organised under the auspices of AILA (Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée), and marked the thirtieth anniversary of its founding.