本書的主體（概述部分）分為十章。第一章從明確第二語言習得的定義開始，提出該領域研究的主要目標，並通過案例分析，對第二語言習得、教學方法和學習者的語言進行了闡述。第二章至第九章是本書的中心內容，提出並討論了以下關鍵問題：學習者語言的性質，中介語（Interlanguage）及其社會、語篇、心理語言學和語言學方面的特征，第二語言習得過程中的學習者的個體差異，各種課堂教學方法對第二語言習得的作用等等。第十章並沒有提供一個囊括不同視角的第二語言習得模式，而是強調了第二語言習得研究的多面性，探討了對第二語言習得進行多視角的研究的前景。

1 Introduction:describing and explaining L2acquisition
What is 'second language acquisition'?
What are the goals of SLA?
Two case studies
Methodological issues
Issues in the description of learner language
Issues in the explanation of L2 acquisition
2 The nature of learner language
Errors and error analysis
Developmental patterns
Variability in learner language
Summary
3 Interlanguage
Behaviourist learnig theory
A mentalist theory of language learning
What is 'interlanguage'?
A computational model of L2 acquisition
4 Social aspects of interlanguage
Interlanguage as a stylistic continuum

The second issue,concerns consciousness-raising.This term refers to attempts to make learners aware of the existence of specific linguistic features in the target language.One way in which this can be done is by supplying the learner with can be done is by supplying the learner whith positive evidence. An alternative approach is to provide negative evidence. P85