Abstract
Dear Readers,
Welcome to our first issue of 2022. Just as we ended 2021 with a ‘bumper’ issue of the RELC Journal, the first issue of 2022 is equally bountiful, with 11 research articles, two thematic reviews, two Innovations in Practice papers, five Viewpoint articles, one Conversation with Experts interview, seven book reviews and one technology review. While these papers may vary widely in their topics, method of investigation, research context and researcher background, what unites them is that they seek to help us gain much deeper insights into language learning, teaching and research.
In this issue, the research articles, thematic reviews and Innovations in Practice papers contribute to knowledge about how languages are learned, teaching methods and materials, research and publication and technology use. The Viewpoint articles and Conversations with Experts interview offer ideas in a more personal and relatable way, as readers can view theory through the eyes of experienced professionals and get practical tips on teaching and publishing. Finally, by summarizing and evaluating recent publications and technology tools, the book and technology reviews play a part in helping readers identify useful resources.
How Languages are Learned
Most of us will recall our university second language acquisition (SLA) courses, which invariably included what was classified as ‘individual differences’ and covered topics such as motivation, engagement, attitudes and experiences. The following papers in this issue offer new perspectives on these topics:
how to induce ‘directed motivational currents (DMCs)’, a ‘motivational burst’ where learners are in a state of ‘flow’ in order to stimulate and support long-term second language (L2) learning (Peng and Phakiti); the impact of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits (agreeableness, extraversion, negative emotionality, conscientiousness and open-mindedness) on learners’ intended effort (Ghorbani and Semiyari); students’ attitudes about their own and native speakers’ English accents within a World Englishes (WE) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) paradigm (Boonsuk and Fang); learners’ engagement, including ‘active inaction’, with feedback (Bastola).
Taken together, these research papers offer new insights into the impact of personal and individual factors and ideas about what teachers can do to help learners develop positive dispositions to sustain their learning.
Teachers, Teaching Methods and Materials
While individual traits are important, teachers and the methods and materials they use also play a big part in effective teaching and learning. Some of the key conclusions from the research articles, Innovations in Practice reports, thematic reviews and Viewpoint articles in this issue are as follows:
methodology as ‘planned’ may differ from what is actually ‘enacted’ in the classroom (Wei Liu); comparing reading-only, reading-while-listening and reading with textual input enhancement (in this case, underlining) on learning of vocabulary form, form recall and meaning recall, reading with textual input enhancement resulted in significantly more vocabulary learning (Vu and Peters); exposure to formative assessment throughout secondary school does not ensure that students develop self-regulatory learning (SRL) skills, so more exposure to formative assessment activities and explicit teaching of SRL is needed (Fukuda et al.); it is important to develop teachers’ and learners’ emotional competence in the language classroom (Richards); looking at communicative language teaching (CLT) through the lens of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and English as an International Language (EIL) may help teachers to improve learners’ proficiency levels (Foley). in situations where teachers are required to use more traditional textbooks that may follow presentation-practice-production (PPP) principles, teachers can innovate by using tasked-based approaches yet still follow curricular requirements (Bui and Newton); locally and internationally produced course books need to include a more ‘ELF-aware’ outlook (Guerra et al.).
In terms of materials, specifically text books, the following articles suggest that:
Research and Publication
Many of our readers are university lecturers/academics, many of whom are teacher educators and researchers. The research methods described in the articles, thematic, book and technology reviews and articles about how to engage in research and publication serve the needs of both experienced and early-career researchers. For example, researchers may find the article by Banegas and del Pozo Beamod enlightening as the researchers employ duoethnography to investigate how two Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teacher educators plan and deliver CLIL courses. While the pedagogical implications for the design of CLIL teacher preparation courses are useful, readers will find the explanation and illustration of the duoethnographic approach especially valuable. This approach has become increasingly popular in investigating identity and agency (Banegas and Gerlach, 2021) and EIL pedagogy implementation (Rose and Montakantiwong, 2018).
Of great value to graduate students and researchers alike are thematic reviews. Such review articles offer a ‘shortcut’ to finding relevant literature on a particular topic. There are lessons to be learned about how to systematically select, evaluate and synthesize reliable and appropriate studies. Both Barrot et al.'s ‘scientific mapping of language teacher research’ in which the authors conducted a ‘bibliometric review’ and Wang's review of the debate on whether it is more important to teach segmental or suprasegmental features in pronunciation capture key concepts related to these fields of investigation.
Within this issue, we also have three articles to help early-career researchers: the article I co-authored with Renandya and Tangkiengsirisin helps authors identify suitable journals and provides hints on ways to increase the chances of acceptance in mainstream journals. Early-career researchers can get hints on how to write a book review (Lewis) and how to write a technology review (Moorhouse and Kohnke).
Technology
Finally, even as we have been moving towards blended and online modes of language teaching and teacher education since the 2000s, in post-pandemic times, technology is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ but is central to teaching and learning. Some of the articles deal with the use of technology in teaching and learning, for example, online writing communities, online forum discussions, WhatsApp, audio recordings in exam preparation and Zoom. From these articles, we learn that
for online writing communities to be successful, teachers may need to consider contextual, personal, social and cultural factors (Tang et al.); interactions in online discussion forums (ODFs) in a SLA course promoted revision, expansion and negotiation of content but could be seen as ‘potentially face-threatening’, whereas ‘participants were willing to express critiques and negotiate disagreements on WhatsApp’ (Sandoval-Cruz et al.); Schema Association Training (SAT), involving audio recording an individual spoken interaction exercise, reflecting on the speaking with the teacher, and finally consolidating learning through an online learning module can help students prepare for speaking assessments (Liu).
Even though most of us are now very familiar with the affordances of Zoom, Kohnke and Moorhouse's review provides theoretical justification based on SLA theories to support the use of Zoom in language teaching. The issue ends with an interview with Professor Greg Kessler, who offers a glimpse at the historical development of technology from a more personal perspective. Kessler addresses the thorny issue of the increasing technological gap that has become apparent during COVID-19 and shares information about some free resources for teachers.
As discussed above, the articles in this issue aim to contribute to our professional development by offering theoretically sound, well-reasoned and practical ideas about current topics, teaching methods and resources and research approaches. We hope you will find something in this issue that will interest and inspire you and that you, too, will consider contributing to future issues of the RELC Journal.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author has no conflicts of interest to declare.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.