|
| The Journal of Asia TEFL |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Search |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Today |
|
530 |
| Total |
|
3,774,292 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
  Past Issues |
|
|
|
Go List
 |
|
|
| Volume 7 Number 4, Winter 2010, Pages 1-137 |
|
|
|
| |
From the Editor-in-Chief
|
|
| |
Bernard Spolsky
|
|
There was a first sprinkling of snow on the ground in Seoul when I met with the editor, and again when I returned to Washington DC where I am spending three months at the Center for Applied Linguistics. So winter is definitely here, a time to keep warm and dream of spring! Professor Jeon and I talked not of the weather, but of the future of the journal, now well launched and reaching high professional standards. But, like most other academic enterprises in a time of economic uncertainty, it faces serious decisions on how to assure continued publication. We discussed various proposals (Should we charge, like many scientific journals, for publication? Should we, like most humanities journals, expect subscribers to pay the costs? Can we hope to continue to depend on financial support from publishers or government agencies?) but had no simple solution. Perhaps by the next issue we will be able to report to you on decisions of the Executive Council.
In the meantime, I am happy and proud to introduce another high quality issue, the result of hard work by contributors and responsible review by members of the editorial team whose efforts continue to guarantee our standards.
The issue has a wide range of articles. Li Jing of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, P. R. China reports on a study of the professional development of college English teachers in China, drawing attention to the lack of practice teaching and the emphasis on theoretical instruction. Gipyo Park of Soonchunhyang University, South Korea compared preferences for style of correction by teachers and university students in conversation classes, both favoring recasting, but individual variation perhaps masking group differences. There is a study by Kate Chen of Taiwan of kindergarten English teachers and their trainers, showing that the former prefer practical and the latter favor theoretical training. Abdolmajid Hayati of Chamran University, Iran and Khaled Deheimi Nejad of the Educational Organization of Khuzestan, Iran compared language learning strategies between monolingual and bilingual high school students, finding some differences and a common lack of knowledge of strategies among Iranian students. There is a timely and valuable article on plagiarism by Congjun Mu of the Shanghai Maritime University, China, showing the need to teach students what is quotable and how to acknowledge words and ideas they have taken from others. Finally, There is a review of the second edition of an important book on the use of questionnaires by Honggang Liu of the Department of English, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University, People's Republic of China, noting its improvements and contribution to the research enterprise.
These fine contributions, from a wide range of countries, show the way that papers published in the journal can encourage improvements in teaching English as a second foreign language in Asia.
Jerusalem, December 2010
Bernard Spolsky,
Editor-in-chief and Asia TEFL Publications Executive Director |
|
|
|
|
|
The Journal of Asia TEFL
