Welcome to the first edition of The
East Asian Learner and a warm welcome back to those
of you who were readers of the Japanese Learner.
The journal is a re-launch of the Japanese Learner
which has been published in Oxford over the last ten years.
Many thanks must go to the outgoing Editor Katie Gray and
the previous Editorial Board for all their work in building
up the journal over the first 30 editions and for giving myself
and the new Editorial Board the opportunity to extend the
journal into new areas. I hope you find this initial edition
interesting and stimulating and will consider subscribing
and perhaps contribute.
We have broadened the scope of the journal
to reflect the growing international interest in learners
from East Asia (China, Japan, Korea) and the changing profile
of international students who are studying in the UK and other
English speaking countries. The East Asian Leaner
should appeal to practising teachers, inside and outside the
region, who teach English to learners from East Asia. The
journal takes a pragmatic approach and aims to provide teachers
with information about the educational and cultural contexts
that their students come from, to look at relevant contrastive
analysis and to share ideas for classroom practice. It will
also appeal to researchers engaged in work in a broad range
of areas in applied linguistics and education.
We are also looking to draw in work
in other areas of research that can illuminate our understanding
of the learners we teach, our pedagogic interactions and the
classroom, institutional and socio-cultural contexts in which
we do this. It is this situatedness of pedagogic practices
that the title of the journal emphasises and it should not
be taken to imply cultural stereotyping or simplistic labelling
of learners.
The journal is published twice a year
in May and November and has an expanding international editorial
board which reviews submitted articles.
This edition of the East Asian Learner
reflects the continuing themes and traditions of the Japanese
Learner as well as some of the new themes that the journal
will be developing.
Andy Kirkpatrick’s article
will be of particular interest to those of us who teach academic
writing in English to Chinese students. It provides an overview
of a range of factors that may influence Chinese students’
writing practices: from linguistic features that may affect
information structuring, through attitudes towards plagiarism,
and onto pedagogic writing advice for Chinese university students.
Robert McKenzie reports
on a study of Japanese students’ perceptions of Standard
and Vernacular speech varieties in Glasgow and the implications
of such research for the choice of models that we expose our
students to in the classroom and more broadly for language
planning policy.
Jacqui Norris reminds
us that we may sometimes need to think laterally when looking
for ways to engage our students in meaningful writing tasks
that are motivating for them. Participating in a web based
project for elementary students can clearly be a supportive
first move into more extended writing tasks for first year
university students in Japan.
Finally, Lindsay Morley
extols the virtues of personal student journals on a residential
course - not just for improving writing fluency and reducing
writer anxiety but for their overall impact on the quality
of the interactions in class.
Contributions
The journal publishes a range of articles: Research articles
of 6000 words in length will be based on in-depth original
research. Feature articles of 3500 words in length will be
of original research or a critical overview of research and
practice in a field of relevance to readers of EAL. We are
also keen to publish shorter contributions on classroom practice
– these should be under 1000 words. Book reviews are
also most welcome.
Click here for Guide
for Contributors
We would encourage contributions from
students who have completed MA dissertations in a area relevant
to the journal. Contributions would need to be in one of the
above forms and we would be grateful if MA supervisors would
support students in this. The journal also welcomes short
contributions by learners that present their perspectives
on their experiences such as their experience of studying
abroad or their reasons for studying English and their pedagogic
experiences. Please contact the editor.
Please send in information about conferences
and events in your area that you feel may be relevant to other
readers and we will publish a list on the website and in the
journal.
Editorial
Board |
