WoPaLP

Another year has passed and it is now our pleasure to introduce the fifth volume of WoPaLP − Working Papers in Language Pedagogy. With half a decade behind us and with a growing number of submissions each year, we are happy to see that WoPaLP is establishing itself in the professional community. To give this another chance, we have decided to diversify and apart from the research articles – which continue to form the backbone of the journal – we are now also launching a section for book reviews. We are hopeful that thus we are providing a good collection of original research papers that can inspire further inquiries in the area of language pedagogy, and can also point our readers to further professional literature.

The eight articles in this fifth volume of WoPaLP offer a particularly rich variety of topics and approaches: we start out with a theoretical article by Borbála Kálmos looking at parallels between the treatment of learner errors and dyslexia. She concludes that taking a diversity-oriented rather than a performance-oriented approach is more favourable for special needs education. The second article describes a very important process in designing a research tool. Francis J. Prescott examines the validation of a long qualitative interview schedule. The meticulous description he provides offers a good model for novice researchers intending to carry out interview studies. Such interviews were used by Zsuzsa Tóth in exploring foreign language anxiety in advanced EFL learners. She has found that anxiety does not depend on the proficiency level of the learners and that a positive, supportive and co-operative classroom environment is instrumental in boosting the learning of anxious students. Adrienn Károly continues the line of exploratory studies. She examines the learners’ needs and expectations in a translation course in a BA in English programme. Based on a questionnaire study backed up by interviews and document analysis, she warns that exploring undergraduate students’ actual needs and tailoring the course to these is a crucial step in syllabus design. Andrea Juhász also carried out a questionnaire study and followed it up with interviews to discover native EFL teachers’ perceptions about their teaching. The reader is shown an array of differences in native and non-native EFL teachers’ practice and attitudes, and it is also demonstrated that identifying these can be used to foster co-operation between teachers to benefit the students. First in the line of quantitative studies is the article by Ágnes Kovács looking at adult language learners’ attitudes to learning. The main finding of the intricate survey study is that the social environment has a strong influence on adult learners’ attitudes and motivation. Réka Asztalos also used a questionnaire in her pilot study to map college students’ disposition towards the use of information technology in teaching. As it turns out, the use of technology is not necessarily obvious for today’s digital native generation. At the same time, practical reasons do increase their willingness. In the last article Brigitta Dóczi compares the vocabulary learning strategies of high school and university students. She concludes that while the longer the students learn the language, the more vocabulary learning strategies they are familiar with, yet the more advanced they are, the fewer strategies they actually use.

We would like to conclude by expressing our gratitude to the members of the Advisory and Editorial Boards and to our external referees, whose selfless work on the submitted manuscripts is indispensable for keeping up the standards of the journal. Our thanks also go out to the proofreaders, whose careful eyes are much needed for WoPaLP. Last but not least, we would also like to acknowledge the work of the authors of the research articles and the book reviews.

The editors

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Articles

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Borbála Kálmos: Language Learner Errors and Dyslexia: A Tale of Unlikely Parallels

Francis J. Prescott: Validating a Long Qualitative Interview Schedule

Zsuzsa Tóth: Foreign Language Anxiety and Advanced EFL Learners: An Interview Study

Adrienn Károly: Exploring Learners’ Needs and Expectations: Translating EU Texts in an English Bachelor’s Programme at a Hungarian College

Andrea Juhász: Native EFL Teachers’ Self-Perception of their Teaching Behaviour: A Qualitative Study

Ágnes Kovács: The Role of Social Environment in the Formation of Adult English Language Learners’ Attitudes to Learning English: A Pilot Study

Réka Asztalos: Students’ Disposition towards the Use of Computers and the Internet in Language Learning: The Results of a Pilot Study

Brigitta Dóczi: Comparing the Vocabulary Learning Strategies of High School and University Students: A Pilot Study

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Book Reviews

Borbála Kálmos: Dyslexia and foreign language learning: Do teachers need theory or practical advice?

on: Nijakowska, Joanna. (2010). Dyslexia in the foreign language classroom. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters.

Viktória Lázár: Pioneers of language policy

on: Medgyes, Péter (2011). Aranykor. Nyelvoktatásunk két évtizede 1989 – 2009. [Golden age: Two decades of our language teaching 1989 – 2009]. Budapest: Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó.

Katalin Piniel: Writing in English for academic purposes

on: Tankó, Gyula (2011). Professional writing: The academic context. Budapest: Eötvös Kiadó [Eötvös University Press].

Eszter Timár: A cutting-edge Hungarian skill-builder for reading comprehension

on: Eitler, Tamás (2011). Hatékony szövegértés. [Effective reading comprehension] Budapest: Ad Librum Kiadó.

Réka Jablonkai: Implications of the theory of coherence for the practice of

language teaching

on: Károly, Krisztina (2011). Szöveg, koherencia, kohézió. [Text, coherence, cohesion]. Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó.

Ágnes Kovács: Current perspectives on the role of group dynamics in language teaching

on: Csizér, Kata, Holló, Dorottya, & Károly, Krisztina (Eds.). (2011). Dinamikus csoport, dinamikus tanulás – A csoportdinamika szerepe a nyelvtanulásban [Dynamic group, dynamic learning – The role of group dynamics in language teaching]. Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó.

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