{"id":15040,"date":"2020-05-03T07:31:06","date_gmt":"2020-05-02T22:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tesl-ej.org\/wordpress\/?page_id=15040"},"modified":"2020-05-22T22:54:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T13:54:05","slug":"ej93fromed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tesl-ej.org\/wordpress\/issues\/volume24\/ej93\/ej93fromed\/","title":{"rendered":"From the editors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear Readers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In keeping with the worldwide Covid-19 crisis this issue commences with an invited article by George Jacobs and Francisca Maria Ivone on online teaching — in particular how to facilitate more student-to-student learning through cooperative learning principles. We thank the authors for producing a quality article virtually ‘on demand’. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This issue features our usual assortment of academic articles with one or more touching on all of the basic language skill areas. We are particularly proud to present the “On the Internet” contribution by Paul Seedhouse and colleagues on “Cooking as a Language Learning Task.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the approximately 270 submissions that we have received since January 1, 2019 approximately 180 have been rejected, with around 80% of those immediately declined due to obvious deficiencies, such as not having been fully blinded or missing some essential component of an academic paper. Our team of co-editors is currently “shepherding” over 40 papers which will hopefully appear in future issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TESL-Ej team would like to thank the reviewers of the articles that have merited inclusion in this issue: Ben McMurry, C S Chang, Amirreza Karami, Orlyn Joyce Esquival, Ahmed Shoeib, Ping Yang, Anisa Cheung, Babak Khoshnevisan, Theresa Antes, Bernard Susser, Clayton Lehman, Carolyn Blume, Mohammad Alipour, Elise Brittain and Clara Bauler. There are many others, who reviewed articles that did not meet our standards, which we would also like to collectively thank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please note the Call for Papers<\/strong> below for a special issue on Teaching, Learning, Assessing, and Researching L2 Pragmatics <\/em>in honor of Prof. Zohreh R. Eslami which is planned for the May 2021 issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we would like to thank Erin Todey for her selfless work as the lead co-editor of our Media Reviews. We welcome Ananda Muhammad, a graduate student at the Iowa State University as her replacement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas N. Robb, Ph.D.
For the editorial team<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

TESL-EJ: CALL FOR PAPERS (to appear May 2021)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Special Issue:  Teaching, Learning, Assessing, and Researching L2 Pragmatics (in Honor of Prof. Zohreh R. Eslami)<\/em><\/h4>\n

Guest Editors: <\/strong>Ali Derakhshan (Associate Professor, Golestan University, Iran) & Andrew D. Cohen (Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota, living in Oakland, CA)<\/p>\n

With the growing mobility of people with different first languages and the increasing number of bi-multilingual interactions, the indispensable role of pragmatics in intercultural communication has been felt ever more than before. In todays\u2019 transcultural and globalized society, pragmatic competence, a hybrid discipline situated at the intersection of pragmatics and second language acquisition theories, is at the stake in intercultural encounters wherein learners from various L1 backgrounds need to communicate using  a shared L2. In such an intercultural context,  pragmatic competence is not confined to the traditional focus of how EFL\/ESL learners perform a pragmatic act, but rather it entails how these learners co-construct pragmatic norms with others, and how they appropriate these norms. <\/p>\n

By situating pragmatic competence within a constructivist framework, we can see that L2 pragmatic behaviors can be best examined by analyzing what L2 learners actually do in an interaction. Hence, methods need to go beyond traditional practices of analyzing what linguistic forms learners use in what context. Instead, researchers need to present different aspects of analysis, including how <\/em>learners negotiate toward mutual understanding and how <\/em>they use a variety of materials and methods to uncover contextual adaptability.<\/p>\n

Interlanguage pragmatic studies point out that EFL\/ESL learners need to be pragmalinguistically and sociopragmatically cognizant of linguistic resources and sociocultural norms to be communicatively competent in today\u2019s internationalized world. However, L2 learners experience considerable difficulty in learning pragmatics, because of the complexity of pragmatics. Learners need to consider multipart mappings of form, meaning, function, force, and context. These form-function-context mappings are variable and do not follow systematic, one-to-one correspondences. Furthermore, linguistic and non-linguistic means to perform social functions, as well as sociocultural norms and conventions constraining these practices, are regularly uniquely defined in a given culture. So, it is often difficult for one to notice how people project appropriate levels of politeness or how they communicate meaning indirectly (Wolfson, 1989). <\/p>\n

Fortunately, interlanguage pragmatics studies have corroborated that pragmatic competence is amenable to instruction and assessment (Ahmadian, 2020; Alc\u00f3n-Soler, 2015; Alemi & Tajeddin, 2013; Bardovi-Harlig, Mossman, & Vellenga, 2015; Chalak & Abbasi, 2015; Cohen, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019; Cohen & Ishihara, 2013; Cohen & Shively, 2007; Cohen & Sykes, 2012; Derakhshan & Arabmofrad, 2018; Derakhshan & Eslami-Rasekh, 2015, 2020; Derakhshan & Shakki, in press; Eslami-Rasekh, Eslami-Rasekh, & Fatahi, 2004; Eslami-Rasekh, Mirzaei, & Dini, 2015; F\u00e9lix-Brasdefer & Cohen, 2012; Fukuya & Mart\u00ednez-Flor, 2008; Gonz\u00e1lez-Lloret, 2008, 2018, 2019; Ishihara, 2007; Ishihara & Cohen, 2010, 2014; Kasper & Rose, 2002; Mart\u00ednez-Flor & Fukuya, 2005; Romero-Trillo, 2012; Rose, 2005; Taguchi, 2015, 2019; Tajeddin & Alemi, 2014; Tajeddin, Keshavarz, & Zand-Moghadam, 2012; Wei-Hong Ko, Eslami, & Burlbaw, 2015; Yousefi & Nassaji, 2019). However, there is a need for more studies in different contexts to address pragmatic instruction and research, taking into account different micro and macro variables.\n<\/p>\n

 This special issue on \u201cTeaching, Learning, Assessing, and Researching L2 Pragmatics<\/em>\u201d seeks to take up needs and challenges by addressing pragmatics learning, teaching, assessment, and research, bringing together studies from different languages and contexts worldwide, using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches, and reconciling theory and practice. More specifically, the aim of this special issue is to widen the scope of research in the field of interlanguage pragmatics. <\/p>\n

We envision that this special issue will reflect a range of current works being conducted on pragmatics worldwide. We will be looking for contributions with the following characteristics:<\/p>\n

Think piece<\/strong> \u2013 e.g., a critical analysis of some areas in pragmatics, the formulation of an innovative research design (i.e., research questions and a plan for how to conduct the research), the presentation of a new theoretical framework for viewing pragmatics. <\/p>\n

Empirical study<\/strong> \u2013 using the following organization: abstract, introduction, review of the literature, research design (research questions, sample, instrumentation, treatment \u2013 if appropriate, procedures for data collection, procedures for data analysis), and findings (for each research question), discussion (summary, interpretations, limitations, suggestions for future research, pedagogical implications, and conclusions).<\/p>\n

The following are possible topic areas. We are aware that these topics may overlap and that some are more superordinate and others more subordinate. We understand that a given submission could easily include a combination of these issues:<\/p>\n