Message from the Editors
Friends and Colleagues,
The 2011 CUE Conference held in Tokyo in July had as its theme a key
construct in language learning: motivation. Even the briefest of glances at theconference program evidences the diversity of topics this theme incorporated
and the range of work being conducted in this field.
The plenary speakers and featured presenters were all excellent, and the size
and reaction of the audiences they spoke to attested to that. With help from themany other presenters that participated, we certainly covered a lot of ground. We
co-editors would like to thank them all for their contributions. We are therefore
happy to announce that this Special Issue extends this important theme throughseveral papers, the diversity of which is representative of the conference itself.
In the first featured article Emiko Kaneko examines the effects that providing
models of successful Japanese English users might have on computer science
majors’ images of their ideal L2 self. She tentatively finds that such provision
might indeed play a part in helping students to develop positive images of theirL2 self.
The second paper, by Julian Pigott, advocates the application of Complex
Systems Theory to provide teachers with a deeper and more meaningfulunderstanding of how their students’ life experiences have affected their longerterm motivation for studying English. His conclusion, based upon analyses offour students’ interview responses, lends support for this approach.
In the final featured article Keiko Sakui and Jared Angel investigate theextent to which Japanese undergraduates made use of an out-of-class language
learning support facility called the “English Island”. Participants’ questionnaire
responses yielded results which offered insights into what motivated or hindered
students’ use of the English Island facility, as well as the students’ perceptions ofit and how it affected their motivation to develop their English skills beyond thetraditional classroom context.
1From the Editors

In this issue’s Research Digest article Dominic Edsall and Yukiko Saito
review the motivational benefits of Content-Based Language Teaching in viewof progress made in our understanding of motivational theory. In particular theylook at how knowledge of students’ interest, relevance and authenticity might
motivate Japanese students.
In addition, Graham Taylor and Umida Ashurova provide us with theirreview of the 2011 motivation conference itself, from which these papers
originated. Finally, Jeremie Bouchard wraps up this issue with his critique on thebook A Realist Approach for Qualitative Research, written by Joseph A. Maxwell.
After such a large and rewarding conference experience, we were disappointed
by the small number of submissions we received for this special issue. The OnCUE
Journal Special Issue is a great chance to publish a paper that holds a higher status
than a proceedings paper on your CV, which is beneficial to job seekers or totenured educators. Therefore we strongly urge all presenters to submit papers(after any conference) to their respective special issues (or “proceedings” as somejournals prefer to call them). It provides you with a great opportunity to improveyour professional resume.
The co-editors deeply apologize to authors and CUE readers for the long
delay in getting this special issue into publication, originally scheduled for Julyor August. Both of us were under pressure from the usual publishing process, butmany other obstacles in our professional and personal lives simply got in the wayof a smooth, efficient operation. We thank the authors for their persistence andpatience in making revisions that served to provide readers with the best quality
possible.

Happy reading.
Glen Hill and Paul Moritoshi
Co-Editors, Special Issue of OnCUE Journal2