EDITORIAL WELCOME FOR VOLUME 4 ISSUE 1 (APRIL 2010)
We are delighted to welcome you to the fourth volume of Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language). Since April 2007, we have published innovative research articles from around the globe, representing different research perspectives and a theoretical diversity. In this issue, we are expanding the scope of our reach by publishing studies from countries like North Cyprus and Malaysia. After publishing our inaugural issue three years ago, the journal has become a voice for researchers worldwide who have investigated a wide range of phenomena including media education in English Language Teaching (Germany), vocabulary learning strategies (Iran), beliefs and autonomy in language learning (Australia), Web 2.0 applications to develop writing skills (Brazil), Second Language Acquisition in immersion environments (UK), socio-cultural analysis of print advertisements (Belgium) and self-efficacy in foreign language learning (Turkey).
In light of the recent research paradigms in Applied Linguistics, we are planning to publish a special issue (April 2011) on “Conversation Analysis in Educational and Applied Linguistics”, with Professor Paul Seedhouse (Newcastle University, UK) as the guest editor. The call of Firth and Wagner (1997) for an awareness of the interactional and contextual dimensions of language use received overwhelming support from scholars, which resulted in book-length studies (e.g. Markee 2000, Seedhouse 2004, Hellermann 2008) and special issues of the Modern Language Journal (2004), International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (2009), and Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research (2009) in addition to numerous publications in leading journals (e.g. Markee 2008) and chapters in edited volumes (e.g. Pekarek Doehler 2010). This has led to the development of a new area, namely CA-for-SLA. The scope of the special issue, however, is not only limited to language acquisition research. We welcome contributions from a wide array of areas ranging from teacher education, intercultural communication, Language for Specific Purposes; to materials design and development, and English as a Lingua Franca. Please see the call for papers at: https://www.novitasroyal.org/cfp_ConversationAnalysis.htm .
Following a successful collaboration with Newcastle University by becoming a sponsor for the 4th Newcastle Postgraduate Conference in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language) has continued its support for PhD researchers also in 2010 by being one of the sponsors of the 5th Newcastle Postgraduate Conference in Linguistics together with the Linguistics Association of Great Britain, the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics, and Area Studies, and Centre for Research in Linguistics and Language Sciences. Two invited plenary talks from Professor Neil Smith (University College London) and Professor Karen Corrigan (Newcastle University) took centre stage along with 14 poster presentations and 27 oral presentations from postgraduate students from various universities in Europe and the United Kingdom including University of Cambridge, University of Zurich, Ghent University, University of Mannheim and University of Liverpool. Please visit the conference website for further details: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/linguistics/postgrad/conference/ .
In this issue, we host eight articles from eleven researchers. In the first paper, Paul Seedhouse (Newcastle University, UK) proposes that different research methodologies can lead to opposing conclusions when applied to the same discoursal data and re-examines a psycholinguistic study using a Conversation Analytic methodology. Murat Hismanoglu and Sibel Hismanoglu (European University of Lefke, North Cyprus) discuss English language teachers’ perceptions of educational supervision in relation to their professional development via a case study carried out in a higher education context. Abdullah Coskun (Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey) investigates the effect of metacognitive listening strategy training on the listening performance of a group of preparatory school students at beginner level. Azman Che Mat and Goh Ying Soon (Universiti Teknologi, Malaysia) compare the learners’ methodological expectations with the teaching methodology applied by the instructors and the findings indicate a serious discrepancy between these two parties. Haifa Al-Nofaie (Newcastle University, UK) explores Saudi teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards employing Arabic as a facilitating tool in English classes through a case study conducted in a Saudi intermediate school for females. Fatemeh Khonamri and Mahin Salimi (Mazandaran University, Iran) investigate teachers’ belief systems concerning reading strategies and then explore the degree of discrepancy between teachers’ beliefs and their practical teaching activities. Aynur Kesen (Cukurova University, Turkey) questions language learners’ perceptions about the concept of foreign language course book through metaphors with the participation of 150 learners studying at Cyprus International University. In the final article, Sasan Baleghizadeh (Shahid Beheshti University, Iran) examines the nature of focus on form in an EFL classroom in Iran and concludes that only few instances of preemptive focus on form are observed in the instructional setting.
We thank all the contributors who have submitted their articles to Novitas-ROYAL. We look forward to our meeting again in October 2010. We would be glad to receive your comments and suggestions.
On behalf of the editors,
Olcay Sert
Associate Editor
Newcastle University , Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
References
Firth, A. & J. Wagner (1997). On discourse, communication and some fundamental concepts in SLA research. The Modern Language Journal, 81(3), 285-300.
Hellermann, J. (2008). Social actions for classroom language learning. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, (2009), 47(1), special issue: Language learning, cognition, and interactional practices.
Markee, N. (2000). Conversation analysis. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Markee, N. (2008). Toward a learning behaviour tracking methodology for CA-for-SLA. Applied Linguistics. 29 (3), 404-427.
Pekarek Doehler, S. (2010). Conceptual changes and methodological challenges: on language, learning and documenting learning in conversation analytic SLA research. In Seedhouse, P., Jenks, C. and Walsh, S. (eds.). Conceptualising Learning in Applied Linguistics. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Seedhouse, P. (2004). The Interactional Architecture of the Language Classroom: A Conversation Analysis Perspective. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 2009, 53 (2), special issue: Conversation Analysis as a way of studying learning.
The Modern Language Journal, (2004), 88 (4), special issue: Classroom Talks.