Editorial

Editorial

Editorial

Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 2008 vol:10 nro:1 pág:5-6

Amparo Clavijo Olarte

Editor

Welcome to the tenth edition of the Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal. This year we are celebrating ten years of our publication and I would like to thank all the authors who have contributed with research, theoretical and pedagogical articles in the fields of ELT and Applied Linguistics during this time. I also want to thank all my colleagues in the editorial advisory board for evaluating the articles with rigour, commitment and dedication and the journal assistants for helping make our publication a reality every year.

The Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal is a publication of the Masters Program in Applied Linguistics to TEFL and it has been financially supported by the School of Sciences and Education of our University since 1998. As an institutional publication we believe the CALJ contributes to the construction and transformation of our academic community, helping to find ways to theorize and understand our practice as teachers and researchers and to reflect together about issues that require solutions in our field. It also contributes to building connections and stimulating the academic discussions carried out within our community.

As a project, the annual publication of CALJ has taught us many lessons. We have learned about the responsibilities and challenges of editing a specialized journal, the need to make it a space that includes diversity of topics, voices and perspectives in the field, the importance of having national and international peer evaluators and multiple contributions from authors in the Americas. We have fulfilled institutional objectives and expectations that have led to the construction of an institutional identity for the participation of students and colleagues in our academic community.

The articles presented in this year’s issue deal with three different perspectives on the practice of writing in EFL. Blogging as a way to foster EFL writing describes the process through which a group of students in an initial teacher education program engaged in reflective practice in a virtual space provided to promote and develop digital literacy competences and language learning through the exploration of topics of personal and academic interest to the participants. Cross-linguistic influence in the writing of an Italian learner of EFL analyzes the nature of first language influence on the written production of an Italian learner of EFL and From preschool to university provides a study of the biographical narratives of EFL preservice teachers to describe how they have develop their writing in EFL.

The article titled Grammatical sensitivity: A correlational study on brain dominance and EFL training provides a report on how two groups of Chilean university students measure on brain dominance and grammatical sensitivity and their performance after a training on grammatical sensitivity.

Gender and language learner identities provides readers with an interesting study on how gendered discourses are at stake in the classroom and how these discourses are related to their learner identities of a group of Colombian preschoolers.

Young English language learners making thinking and language visible analyzes how teachers can help children acquire a second language using their first language and focuses on language processing in bilingual children, by providing an understanding of both the interplay between language and cognition and the role of the environment.

Finally, the article Psycho-linguistic and socio-cultural approaches to language learning presents a discussion of the ontological positions where psycholinguistic and sociocultural approaches originate, the methods they use and some relevant work carried out from each perspective and criticisms generated. The author advocates collaborative projects, nurtured from both perspectives.

We hope the topics and perspectives addressed in the articles published here contribute to your reflection and generate questions for further inquiry in your professional practice. We invite you to celebrate ten years of publication of the CALJ.