Working	  Papers	  in	  Language	  Education	  and	  Research	  Vol.	  1	  No.	  1.	  February	  2013,	  1-­‐2	  Working Papers
in Language Education and Research
http://eliworkingpapers.org/
EDITORIAL
Publication date: February, 2013

ISSN 2187-4972

Editorial	  –	  Neil	  Johnson	  Welcome	  to	  the	  inaugural	  issue	  of	  the	  online	  Working	  Papers	  in	  Language	  Education	  and	  Research.	  	  With	  many	  important	  changes	  underway	  in	  the	  fields	  of	  language	  education	  and	  applied	  linguistics,	  it	  is	  an	  exciting	  time	  to	  share	  ideas,	  concepts,	  and	  models	  of	  research	  in	  order	  to	  improve	  practice	  in	  the	  field	  of	  language	  education.	  	  Similarly,	  with	  the	  English	  Language	  Institute	  (ELI)	  currently	  undergoing	  continued	  expansion	  within	  Kanda	  University	  of	  International	  Studies	  (KUIS),	  and	  presently	  undertaking	  a	  thorough	  re-­‐evaluation	  of	  curricula	  and	  research	  trajectories,	  this	  journal	  will	  increasingly	  serve	  not	  only	  as	  a	  record	  of	  international	  presentations,	  but	  also	  as	  a	  forum	  for	  new	  ideas,	  and	  preliminary	  research	  findings.	  These	  findings	  will	  further	  enrich	  the	  research	  and	  teaching	  practices	  of	  the	  ELI	  and,	  it	  is	  hoped,	  the	  broader	  Asian	  context	  in	  particular.	  	  In	  this	  first	  issue	  of	  the	  online	  version	  of	  Working	  Papers,	  nine	  articles	  provide	  a	  snap-­‐shot	  of	  the	  research	  and	  practice	  being	  explored	  by	  members	  of	  the	  ELI	  from	  late	  2011	  through	  towards	  the	  middle	  of	  2012.	  	  These	  articles	  represent	  work	  presented	  in	  international	  conferences	  in	  venues	  as	  far	  apart	  as	  Glasgow	  and	  Phnom	  Penh.	  	  The	  authors	  introduce	  a	  wide	  range	  of	  research	  and	  practice	  to	  hopefully	  inspire	  future	  work,	  collaboration,	  and	  classroom	  innovation.	  It	  is	  our	  hope	  that	  many	  of	  the	  pieces	  published	  in	  this	  forum	  will	  go	  on	  to	  stimulate	  discussion	  and	  collaboration	  and	  eventually	  develop	  into	  full	  research	  projects.	  The	  practice-­‐driven	  papers	  in	  this	  first	  issue	  should	  be	  of	  interest	  to	  practitioners	  in	  the	  Japanese	  university	  context	  and	  beyond.	  	  	  	  

1Working	  Papers	  in	  Language	  Education	  and	  Research	  Vol.	  1	  No.	  1.	  February	  2013,	  1-­‐2	  Keith	  Barrs	  contributes	  two	  related	  papers	  that	  add	  to	  the	  developing	  field	  of	  linguistic	  landscape	  studies.	  He	  is	  interested	  in	  the	  potential	  affordances	  that	  awareness	  of	  this	  landscape	  can	  provide.	  He	  explores	  evidence	  from	  Japanese	  newspapers	  of	  the	  ubiquity	  of	  loanword	  usage	  in	  Japanese	  media	  and	  argues	  that	  the	  loan	  words	  from	  English	  that	  have	  become	  a	  part	  of	  the	  Japanese	  lexicon	  are	  a	  potentially	  powerful	  learning	  resource	  for	  Japanese	  students.	  	  Joachim	  Castellano	  describes	  the	  theoretical	  basis	  for	  development	  of	  an	  elective	  course	  in	  Media	  English.	  	  He	  situates	  his	  materials	  and	  task	  design	  within	  the	  area	  of	  digital	  literacies	  and	  provides	  a	  detailed	  account	  of	  how	  he	  links	  task	  with	  objectives	  within	  the	  context	  of	  a	  content-­‐
based	  course	  design.	  	  Rochelle	  King	  is	  concerned	  with	  practical	  ways	  to	  help	  her	  students	  develop	  independent	  learning	  strategies	  and	  practice.	  She	  describes	  a	  sequence	  of	  activities	  that	  she	  has	  developed	  that	  scaffold	  autonomous	  learning	  practices	  within	  a	  Freshman	  English	  course.	  	  She	  argues	  that	  this	  proves	  to	  be	  a	  useful	  step	  in	  the	  development	  of	  her	  learners.	  	  Brian	  R.	  Morrison	  describes	  research	  into	  the	  changes	  that	  writers	  make	  to	  their	  academic	  writing	  texts	  while	  involved	  in	  a	  genre-­‐based	  intervention.	  	  He	  is	  able	  to	  detail	  important	  longitudinal	  developments	  in	  the	  writing	  of	  his	  students	  and	  cites	  awareness	  of	  discourse	  community	  expectations	  as	  a	  key	  goal	  for	  writing	  instruction	  in	  the	  given	  context.	  	  Richard	  O’Loughlin’s	  contribution	  describes	  a	  workshop	  given	  for	  participants	  at	  CAMTESOL.	  	  He	  uses	  Nation’s	  Four	  Strands	  model	  to	  develop	  speaking	  strategies	  from	  reading	  texts	  and	  offers	  further	  insights	  as	  to	  how	  to	  develop	  classroom	  materials	  that	  provide	  effective	  learning	  opportunities.	  	  Donald	  Patterson	  also	  describes	  a	  workshop	  from	  CAMTESOL	  with	  a	  focus	  on	  developing	  speaking	  fluency.	  	  Patterson	  firstly	  describes	  what	  fluency	  is,	  and	  then	  offers	  details	  of	  several	  activities	  designed	  to	  provide	  learners	  with	  opportunity	  to	  focus	  on	  their	  spoken	  fluency.	  	  Luke	  Rowland	  describes	  using	  the	  4Cs	  framework	  (Coyle,	  Hood	  &	  Marsh	  2010)	  to	  design	  a	  course	  where	  content	  and	  language	  are	  fully	  integrated.	  	  He	  further	  details	  ways	  in	  which	  each	  aspect	  of	  the	  model	  informs	  development	  of	  a	  course	  on	  Problem	  Solving	  Skills.	  	  Atsumi	  Yamaguchi’s	  paper	  gives	  voice	  to	  Japanese	  secondary	  school	  teachers	  as	  they	  reflect	  on	  some	  of	  the	  constraints	  they	  face	  in	  their	  classrooms.	  	  Participants	  took	  part	  in	  a	  workshop	  that	  explored	  the	  feasibility	  of	  introducing	  a	  TBLT	  approach	  in	  Japanese	  secondary	  teaching	  contexts.	  	  Concerns	  with	  the	  suitability	  of	  the	  approach	  to	  match	  student	  needs	  for	  entrance	  exam	  success	  was	  one	  important	  finding	  of	  the	  focus-­‐group	  discussion.	  	  The	  Other	  Papers	  section	  of	  this	  issue	  is	  also	  important	  as	  it	  highlights	  the	  publication	  profile	  of	  the	  ELI.	  	  This	  section	  features	  abstracts	  of	  papers	  that	  have	  been	  funded	  for	  international	  conference	  presentation,	  and	  have	  subsequently	  been	  published	  in	  a	  variety	  of	  conference	  proceedings,	  as	  well	  as	  in	  national,	  and	  international	  forums.	  	  	  2