A crucial question for Chinese as a Second Language research is how to help elevate Chinese language teaching methodology to the level of other world language methodologies such as English, Spanish and German. This work goes in two directs. One explores how to apply research results achieved in Chinese linguistics to Chinese language teaching and the other is engaged in creating a strong applied linguistics research field that supports Chinese language teaching. CASLAR scholars are mainly involved in the latter one. This book is a representative sample of their research endeavors.