Message from the Editor
Dear readers,
Welcome to volume 8 issue 1 of OnCUE Journal. Due to the backlog of editing
we’ve been experiencing for quite some time, this has taken far longer to publish
than desired. More importantly, readers should take note that this volume will
be labeled as 2015, not 2014. This decision was reached after serious deliberationand in conjunction with JALT. Labelling these issues as 2015 was determined tobe the most academically sound and fair way to proceed for both the authors of
the articles in these journals and for CUE members.
CUE will continue to produce at least 2 full-fledged journal issues per year,
to contain the usual high quality papers and reviews. We’ve been holding an ESP
Symposium for the past 3 years now, so material from that has served as articles,
extended abstracts, and reflective papers for a third special issue. This createsa problem because of the added work needed by me, despite the efforts of theguest editors. CUE will continue with annual meetings such as this symposium,and I’m looking into ways to take the burden off me so the other 2 issues can beproduced in a timely fashion. We’re nearly there.
As for this 2015 issue and its contents, we have a nice lineup to offer. DavidOckert gives us a feature article on pedagogical activity preferences of students,
whether they like the traditional ones or the more communicative ones. This
exploration into university students complements his work on motivation, andyou can see a related article of his on secondary school students in The Language
Teacher.
In our Research Digest section, Suzanne Bonn describes strengths andweaknesses of doing a qualitative research interview. Considering how so muchresearch in EFL often involves this tool, I highly recommend reading this article.
1

From the Editor

Loran Edwards is the JALT Peer Support Group (PSG) Coordinator. CUE
recognizes the value of the PSG and points authors to it as a source of help when
considering what to write professionally, especially early in one’s career. Loran’s
article in the Professional Development section gives us a nice picture of how thePSG works for writers of any publication, SIG-related or otherwise.
Paul Rowan and Hideyuki Kumaki offer their thoughts in the Opinion andPerspective section on andragogy, which refers to “the art and science of helping
students learn”. The authors provide concise background on this term, and theyfocus their article on English language learners in university and “on building
learners’ experiences.”
The book Reimagining Japanese Education: Borders, Transfers, Circulations,and the Comparative edited by David Blake Willis and Jeremy Rappleye isthe topic of a review by Ellen Head. She writes that this is both fascinating
and challenging and is a book “for any teacher in Japan who has an interest inunderstanding the meaning and context of their work.” Newcomers and veteransalike will appreciate this fine review.
Leigh McDowell has hosted CUE’s own annual ESP Symposium, so it’s nosurprise that he has written a conference review on The International Symposiumon Innovative Research and Teaching in ESP, which was held at the University ofElectro-Communications in Tokyo. As a CUE awards winner, Shaun Iwasawa
contributes a conference review on Tech Day Plus, a series of workshops on newtechnology used in teaching. This event was sponsored by the Osaka and Kobe
chapters of JALT.
That sums it up for issue 8.1. Enjoy!
Glen Hill
OnCUE Journal Editor & CUE Publications Chair2