Since its original release, this book has made a notable contribution to the growing field of advising in language learning (ALL). ALL is the process and practice of working with learners, normally one-to-one, in order to promote learner autonomy. Although closely related to language teaching, ALL has many characteristics associated with counselling, yet is a unique field with its own discourses, practices, locations, and processes.

The book was originally published in 2012 by the IATEFL Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group and contains selected papers from the "Advising for Language Learner Autonomy" conference held at Kanda University of International Studies (Japan) in November 2011. The late Professor Christopher Candlin gave the closing plenary to the conference and also contributed the well-cited foreword to this volume. Themes explored through the 11 chapters in the book are:

The theory and practice of advising
The development of advising services
Classroom-based advising approaches
Advising for teacher education
Peer advising
Advising tools
The discourse of advising in language learning
Professional development for learning advisors