Welcome back to the East Asian Learner
and our first edition of 2005. I hope the weather is being
seasonally kinder to you than it seems to be for us here in
Oxford.
In this edition Lynn Errey and Huijie Li’s paper reports
on a collaborative Chinese-UK research project which looks
at Chinese learners’ use of reading strategies in an
academic context. The paper looks at a range of issues including
the transfer of such skills and strategies from students’
Chinese EGP context into the L2 EAP context and a comparison
of the syllabuses of these two learning contexts to see what
skills and strategies are taught. The authors also seek to
identify what skills and strategies learners actually acquire
in the new L2 EAP context. It illustrates well both the need
and the benefits of reflecting on present teaching and learning
practice both in the L1 and L2 learning contexts in order
to inform present and future course design and perspectives
on teaching and learning.
James McCrostie’s paper takes a hard and objective
look at native speakers’ intuitions about the relative
frequency of lexical items and makes some interesting points
about the accuracy of such perceptions both amongst native
speakers as well as between native and non-native speakers.
Frequency is clearly of importance to learners in the prioritising
of what to learn as well informing productive use. The paper
highlights the growing importance of corpora in lexis and
points to possible implications for teachers whose L1 is not
English.
Maria Leedham provides us with a record of an insightful
dialogue between herself and a student from Japan. I will
say no more but leave you to enjoy the piece. It shows perhaps
that it pays to take the time to engage with each other as
‘learners’ on an equal footing.
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
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