March 2004 — Volume 7, Number 4
From the Editors
What? Ten years already? Yes, Although we are just finishing our seventh volume, TESL-EJ has been around for ten years now (those first years were a little slow).
How have we changed?
Technology
We started as an ascii (text-only) journal, distributed by e-mail. When the web became increasingly popular and widely-used, we changed to HTML format. Our distribution grew to four servers around the world, although a member survey revealed only two, those in Kyoto and Berkeley, were heavily used. To help with the ever-growing time pressures, we cut back to just those servers.
Readership
Our original model required subscription, since it was distributed by e-mail. Since we no longer require subscription, we maintain a distribution list just for those members who want to be notified about new issues. We have nearly 1,000 members on the subscription list, and our computer logs indicate approximately 10,000 readers check in with us each month.
Recognition
When we began, academic institutions were very suspicious of Internet-published journals. It turns out we were pioneers. Now, nearly every academic journal has a web presence, if they are not entirely electronic. TESL-EJ is part of the Open Access Project (http://www.doaj.org/home), an international organization dedicated to promoting free scientific and reviewed academic journals. We are also indexed widely, including new listings in Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts. Hundreds of external sites link to us, including the U.S. Department of State’s Thomas Jefferson Information Center.
Editorial Board
Our Editorial Board has gained and lost members, and is a vibrant body of professionals. Our latest addition is Paul Nation, Professor in Applied Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, where he is currently MA/PhD program director. He has taught in Indonesia, Thailand, the United States, Finland, and Japan. His books include Teaching and Learning Vocabulary (Heinle and Heinle, 1990), New Ways in Teaching Vocabulary (TESOL, 1994), and Learning Vocabulary in Another Language (Cambridge University Press, 2001). His publications include articles and books on teaching and learning vocabulary, language teaching methodology, and curriculum design. In addition he has written several booklets to be used in the courses he teaches.
We have also added a Board of Reviewers, to help us with the increasing number of submissions. The Board of reviewers reads and rates the submissions we receive. We always need more reviewers! If you would like to become a member of the Board of Reviewers, please contact us at tesl-ej@writing.berkeley.edu.
Special Issues
After the success of our first special issue on learning strategies, edited by Neil Anderson, we now have two additional special issues lined up–one on pragmatics, to be edited by Zohreh Eslami-Rasekh, Texas A& M University, and another on teacher education, to be edited by Thomas Farrell, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Where do we go from here?
Our next changes will be a redesign of our website, as well as the offering of PDF-formatted documents. We hope to announce these changes with Volume 8. And, of course, we will continue to grow and evolve. Let us know how we can make the journal more useful for you.
Enjoy Issue 7.4, which, as usual, is filled with useful research, columns, and reviews, and demonstrates well our commitment to a global community and distributing reliable information about teaching and learning English.
Maggie Sokolik
Editor
<sokolik@socrates.berkeley.edu>
Thomas Robb
Co-Editor
<trobb@cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp>