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1

FROM THE EDITORS

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Krajka J., Alexander C.

Teaching English with Technology

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2011

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vol. 11

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issue 2

1-2

EN

editorial

2

FROM THE EDITORS: STEPPING STONES TO TEACHING LANGUAGES WITH TECHNOLOGY

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Stickler U., Beaven T., Emke M., Ernest P., Germain-Rutherford A., Hampel R., Hopkins J., Stanojevic M. M.

Teaching English with Technology

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2010

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vol. 10

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issue 2

1-4

EN

editorial

3

Editorial

100%

Nassaji H.

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching

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2016

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vol. 6

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issue 1

13-18

EN

The focus of this special issue is instructed second language acquisition (ISLA). It is to explore some of the most recent developments in this area of SLA research and its implications for classroom instruction. Drawing on some current definitions (Leow, 2015; Loewen, 2015; Nassaji, 2015; Nassaji & Fotos, 2010), ISLA is defined as an area of SLA that investigates not only the effects but also the processes and mechanisms involved in any form-focused intervention (explicit or implicit) with the aim of facilitating language learning and development. Instructed SLA differs from naturalistic SLA, which refers to second language (L2) acquisition taking place through exposure to language in naturalistic language learning settings with no formal intervention (Doughty, 2003). It is also different from classroom instruction with no focus on form. Furthermore, although instructed SLA is often taken to refer to what is learned inside the classroom, instructed SLA can also take place outside the classroom through, for xample, various instructional strategies (such as feedback, tasks, or explanation) that are often associated with instruction. Of course, this does not mean that the processes involved in SLA in and outside the classroom are exactly the same. Although there might be commonalities in learning processes, the classroom context has its unique features that might have an impact on learning. For example, in classroom learning a group of learners come together in a particular place to learn the language jointly during a given period of time. This might have an impact on learning opportunities in terms of the nature of the discourse created, learners’ participation, interaction, and engagement with language. As Allwright (1984, p. 156) pointed out, language interaction in the classroom setting is collectively constructed by all learners and “the importance of interaction in classroom learning is precisely that it entails this joint management of learning.”

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Editorial

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Pawlak M.

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching

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2016

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vol. 6

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issue 4

559-560

EN

The last 2016 issue of Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching includes six papers, five of which are reports of original research projects and one is a conceptual piece. The initial two contributions are concerned with different aspects of pragmatics, both with respect to the teaching of this subsystem and the process of its acquisition. In the first of these, Andrew D. Cohen addresses the crucial issue of how native and non-native teachers of second and foreign languages deal with sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic features in their classes. He reports the findings of an online survey of 113 teachers of different additional languages from across the world, which demonstrated that while there exist many similarities between the native and non-native instructors, the former are often at an advantage, although they by no means confine themselves to reliance on their intuition. In the second, Qiong Li undertakes a synthesis of 26 original longitudinal research studies on naturalistic pragmatic development in adult learners with the purpose of identifying patterns of variation in the acquisition of pragmatic features and providing potential explanations for the occurrence of such variation. The analysis showed that there are differences in the rate of development of various aspects of pragmatics (e.g., speech acts vs. lexical features), which can be accounted for in terms of factors related to the target language (e.g., the frequency of the feature in the input), the situation (e.g., social status) and the learner (e.g., initial knowledge about the target feature). The following two papers shift the emphasis to the role of individual factors in the process of second language acquisition, more specifically the contributions of motivation and willingness to communicate (WTC). Ali Al-Hoorie reports the results of a survey study conducted among 311 young Arabic adult learners of English as a foreign language, providing evidence, somewhat in contrast to much previous research, that achievement in second language learning is a function of implicit attitudes to L2 speakers and L2 learning experience rather than the ought-to self or attachment to the L1 group, with such constructs as the ideal L2 self or intended effort being unrelated to success. The study by Mystkowska-Wiertelak investigated fluctuations in WTC of advanced learners of English during seven conversation classes which she taught over the period of one semester. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data gathered by means of self-assessment girds, interviews, questionnaires and detailed lesson plans indicated that WTC was indeed in a state of flux, both within single lessons and over time, with such changes being attributed to an intricate interplay of contextual and individual factors. The last two contributions focus on the role of critical thinking in foreign language learning. Jelena Bobkina and Svetlana Stefanova present a model of teaching critical thinking skills with the help of literature, arguing that such skills can be fostered through encouraging critical reader response to fictional work embedded in social phenomena as well as illustrating how this model can be applied to classroom practice. In the last paper, Paweł Sobkowiak underscores the interdependence of critical thinking and the development of intercultural competence, discussing the findings of a study of 20 coursebooks used in the Polish contexts and concluding that activities used in these coursebooks fall short of achieving either goal. As always, I am confident that all of the papers included in the present issue will provide food for thought to the readers and serve as a springboard for future empirical investigations that will help us better understand the exceedingly complex processes of second language learning and teaching.

5

Editorial

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Lämmerer A., Mercer S.

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching

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2019

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vol. 9

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issue 3

447-449

EN

This collection of papers has emerged from the Language Education across Borders conference held at the University of Graz, Austria in 2017 (see also Kostoulas, 2019). In the age of translanguaging, multilingualism, multiculturalism, globalization, international migration, transnationalism, and the blending of content and language education, there is an ever greater need in language education to reflect on the interconnections and overlap between languages, disciplines, constructs, and contexts that have traditionally been conceptualized in bounded ways. Instead, professional and personal domains have got increasingly permeable boundaries leading to emergent qualities that require new ways of theorizing, researching and teaching. The idea behind the conference was to promote interdisciplinary exchange and encourage people to challenge the notions of borders of all kinds. The aim was to promote discourse and exchange and re-think the fragmentation and separation imposed by borders – real or imagined. It was hoped that by prompting people to reflect on the kinds of borders that bound their research and practice, we would be challenged to think outside of these borders and find the rich, creative space that can lead to innovation and fresh perspectives on the familiar.

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Editorial

100%

Mercer S., Ryan S.

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching

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2015

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vol. 5

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issue 3

367-369

EN

Editorial

7

Editorial

100%

Mercer S., Ryan S.

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching

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2015

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vol. 5

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issue 2

199-203

EN

The various papers that make up this special issue of Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching have emerged from the first Psychology in Language Learning (PLL) conference, which took place in May 2014 at the University of Graz, Austria. We would like to open this special issue-the first of a series of two-by discussing that conference’s background, its focus, and its possible future in the hope that such a discussion will clarify our current aims and scope in this special issue. The original impetus for organising the conference came from a book that we, the editors of this special issue, were privileged to edit (Mercer, Ryan, & Williams, 2012). The rationale behind that book was to bring together different areas of language learning psychology within a single volume. The experience of working on the book in conjunction with so many distinguished scholars from around the world convinced us of the potential of an approach that emphasises the commonality between various strands of research that had previously been developing in isolation from each other. Many subareas of our field, such as motivation, autonomy, self, identity, strategy use, and beliefs, have existed as separate communities, with little exploration of the interplay and connections between these closely related areas. Our aim in organising the 2014 conference was to build on the momentum of the book by creating a shared space that would facilitate exchange, and providing opportunities to explore and expand upon how these different areas are interlinked. A secondary aim was to reinterpret the word psychology within the context of foreign language education. For so long, psychology has been closely associated with cognitive processes in second language acquisition and with psycholinguistics, but in our book, the conference, and in this special issue, we are seeking to specifically foreground social and educational psychology themes. Language learning is primarily a social and educational activity and we feel that these dimensions also need to be reflected in how we frame discussions of the psychology of learning a second or foreign language.

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Editorial

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Pawlak M.

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching

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2015

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vol. 5

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issue 1

11-12

EN

With the present issue, Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching enters the fifth year of its existence, a year that has already started on a very positive note as the journal has just been included in the European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH PLUS). This, as well as the fact that SSLLT has been indexed or abstracted in other prestigious databases, constitutes tangible proof of the growing recognition that it has been gaining in the field. It is also likely to contribute to a considerable increase in the number of citations, something that we need really badly if we want to have the journal listed by the Thomson Reuters Master Journal List. This is certainly a goal that we will be vigorously pursuing and I am confident that we will be able to accomplish it in the near future. Obviously, the number of citations depends in the main on the quality of the papers published because only the best ones stand the chance of being referred to by other specialists, particularly those who routinely publish their work in the most prestigious journals in the field. We are doing our best to ensure the highest possible quality of the papers that appear in SSLLT and one way to do it is to invite renowned scholars as guest editors of thematic issues. This is exactly what is going to happen this year since Sarah Mercer and Stephen Ryan have kindly agreed to put together two issues of the journal which will include papers based on presentations delivered during the first conference on psychology and language learning, which was held in Graz in May, 2014. The line-up of contributors to these two issues is really impressive and they will surely be a real treat for our readers. This is by no means to suggest that the papers included in the regular editions are any less valuable or engaging, as amply demonstrated by the present one.

9

Editorial 2(1)

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Narančić Kovač S.

Libri & Liberi

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2013

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vol. Vol 2

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issue No. 1

6-7

EN

The editorial to the new issue of Libri et Liberi.

10

Editorial

100%

Pawlak M.

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching

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2011

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vol. 1

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issue 2

187-188

EN

The current issue of Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching brings together six contributions written by scholars from Poland and abroad which deal with a wide array of issues related to learning and teaching additional languages in different educational contexts. First, Weronika Szubko-Sitarek reports the findings of two experimental studies conducted within the lexical decision task paradigm which aimed to investigate the cognate facilitation effect in the process of recognizing words in a third language by Polish unbalanced trilinguals who, in addition to their mother tongue, were proficient in English and had variable command of German. In the next paper, Sane M. Yagi and Saleh Al-Salman make a strong case for the use of tracking software in writing pedagogy as a tool for providing invaluable insights into the process of composing texts, but also a method of stimulating reflection and promoting strategic learning. The research-based contributions by Ewa Waniek-Klimczak and Aleksandra Wach, in turn, shift the emphasis to sociolinguistic issues. The former presents the findings of a qualitative study which examined the acculturation patterns of three recent Polish immigrants to the United Kingdom, who were expert users of English, in relation to their formal and informal language learning experiences, while the latter uses questionnaire data obtained from a respectable sample of Polish-speaking English majors to shed light on their preferences concerning pronunciation norms based on the native-speaker model and the Lingua Franca Core. The last two papers included in this issue report the findings of studies exploring the role of anxiety in learning foreign language skills and subsystems. In the first of these, Christina Gkonou examines the interfaces between speaking and writing anxiety manifested by Greek learners of English as a foreign language in a private school setting and, in the second, Magdalena Szyszka taps the relationship between the level of anxiety of Polish advanced learners studying English in a teacher-training college and their self-evaluation of the segmental and suprasegmental aspects of their pronunciation. I believe that the broad range of issues tackled in the individual contributions, the diversity of the theoretical perspectives and research paradigms adopted, and the valuable pedagogical implications offered will all make this issue of SSLLT an engaging and stimulating reading for a variety of audiences.

11

Editorial

100%

Pawlak M.

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching

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2011

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vol. 1

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issue 1

9-11

EN

Starting a new journal is never easy and this also holds true for Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching. The first question that should be posed when the idea is conceived is whether there is demand for such a journal in the community and the distinctive features that will make it distinguishable from or perhaps even superior to other publications already in existence. The second challenge is convincing eminent scholars to agree to become part of the project, which is a fundamental issue for any journal which aspires to achieve some degree of prominence. Yet another problem is finding authors that will be willing to submit their work to the journal, thus ensuring that there is no risk that sooner or later it may run out of papers to publish. These should be not only big names who have already established themselves in the field and whose contributions will induce others to write for the journal, but also less known scholars both from Poland and across the world, as in the end it is the latter who will be the main contributors to the journal. There is also the question of quality, which involves careful screening and selection of papers, which may not be easy when the number of submissions is not high. It is also related to finding reviewers who are recognized experts in particular areas, a task that is becoming more and more difficult in the light of the fact that such scientific enterprises have been mushrooming in recent years. Moreover, it is necessary to satisfy the requirements of the national authorities charged with the responsibility of ensuring high quality of academic research, which is in itself a major challenge because these requirements are in a constant state of flux. There are also all the doubts and uncertainties concerning the layout, the style sheet and also the cover, technicalities it might seem, but in reality things that might to some extent affect the reception of the publication. Last but not least, there is a need for sufficient funding and cutting through all the red tape before the journal can finally go into print.

12

EDITORIAL – TECHNOLOGY-MEDIATED TASK-BASED ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

100%

Plastina A. F.

Teaching English with Technology

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2015

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vol. 15

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issue 2

1-3

XX

editorial

13

100%

Pawlak M.

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching

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2016

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vol. 6

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issue 3

375-376

EN

Editorial

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