This first issue of Volume 27 marks a new departure for ReCALL. In her last editorial (Volume 26, issue 3), June Thompson reflected on the journal’s progress since 2006. The progress she then outlined is largely due to her tremendous contribution to the journal since its first issue was published in November 1989. For 25 years, June has managed submissions and their reviews, edited and copy-edited each issue, and worked tirelessly with authors, reviewers, the Editorial Board, and Cambridge University Press. In particular, many of us, whether experienced or novice authors, greatly benefited from her careful editing, which made us better writers and researchers. As this issue is about to go to press, June is preparing to retire from our editorial team and we wish her well with all her future plans. She will be greatly missed, and following in her footsteps is no easy task.
Indeed, with an average of 100 submissions per year, we have had to re-organise our editorial processes to meet the new challenges facing us. Following an intermediary changeover phase, we now have a new journal administrator, Sylvie Thouësny, who has been instrumental in helping us move to an online submission system. This will help us process the articles we receive faster and more efficiently. Our pool of actual or potential reviewers is also steadily increasing, and we are delighted that many authors and colleagues from all around the world are now reviewing submissions. Reviewing for a journal such as ReCALL is a time consuming activity that usually remains invisible, and brings few rewards. Yet blind peer-reviewing is a fundamental principle governing scientific publication today. Our reviewers have played, and continue to play, an essential role in ensuring that ReCALL remains one of the top CALL journals as evidenced by our latest impact factor and rankings in ISI and Scopus. Our warmest thanks to all of you!
* * * * * * *
This issue comprises five regular papers and one selected paper from the EUROCALL 2013 conference held in Évora, Portugal. In the first article, Jack Burston provides a critical analysis of published MALL studies. The shortcomings of MALL research to date are highlighted and include poor research design and the paucity of statistically reliable data. David Neville then reports on a mixed-methods study that evaluates the use of such an environment designed to teach German two-way prepositions and specialised vocabulary in the area of recycling and waste management systems. Drawing on the concept of goal-directed activity systems, Neville explores how language learners immersed in a 3D gaming environment configure digital narratives and story maps to structure written L2 narratives that describe their imagined personal experience. Continuing with digital game-based learning, Hayo Reinders and Sorada Wattana investigate students’ experience in the context of a game-based learning programme at a Thai university and focus more particularly on the impact of gameplay on their willingness to communicate in English. The next two articles report on the development and evaluation of systems developed by the authors with a view to enhancing EFL learners’ pronunciation and listening comprehension skills respectively. Hiroshi Kibishi, Kuniaki Hirabayashi, and Seiichi Nakagawa propose a statistical method for estimating the pronunciation and intelligibility scores of Japanese speakers of English, using an online real-time score estimation system developed by the authors. Ching-Kun Hsu reports on the development and evaluation of an adaptive video caption filtering system for mobile devices designed to support the development of listening skills in EFL among Taiwanese learners, with a particular focus on learning motivation, satisfaction, and enjoyment. The sixth and final article, by Fiona Farr and Elaine Riordan, expands on their presentation at the EUROCALL 2013 conference. Adopting a mixed-methods approach using a position survey as well as corpus linguistics techniques, the authors examine communication technologies in terms of their suitability and affordances as reflective media in a language teacher education context.
* * * * * * *
The editors would like to thank the following reviewers of submissions to ReCALL for their contribution in 2013–2014:
Elena Bárcena, David Barr, Linda Bradley, Jack Burston, Silvia Canto, Catherine Caws, Angela Chambers, Peichin Chang, Thierry Chanier, Maggie Charles, Howard Chen, Alice Chik, Cathy Cohen, Ana Comas-Quinn, David Coniam, Frederik Cornillie, Joe Cunningham, Euline Cutrim Schmid, Philippe Delcloque, Françoise Demaizière, Piet Desmet, Mats Deutschmann, Doris Dippold, Melinda Dooly, Bob Fischer, Ana Frankenberg-Garcia, Joe Geluso, John Gillespie, Ana Gimeno, Michael Goethals, Paul Gruba, Nicolas Guichon, Sarah Guth, Marie-Josée Hamel, Regine Hampel, Mirjam Hauck, Trude Heift, Francesca Helm, Wenhua Hsu, Phil Hubbard, Kristi Jauregi, Andrea Karpati, Chao-Jung Ko, Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, Lina Lee, Mike Levy, Hsien-Chin Liou, David Little, Xiaofei Lu, Vera Menezes, Fanny Meunier, Detmar Meurers, David Neville, Robert O’Dowd, Sue Otto, Luisa Panichi, Pascual Pérez-Paredes, Jim Ranalli, Hayo Reinders, Jon Reinhart, Noelia Ruiz Madrid, Klaus Schwienhorst, Mathias Schulze, Geoffrey Sockett, Stavroula Sokoli, Caroline Steel, Julie Sykes, Glen Stockwell, Peppi Taalas, Naoko Taguchi, Maija Tammelin, Sylvie Thouësny, Cornelia Tschichold, Enza Tudini, Henry Tyne, Liang Wang, Shauna Whyte, Ciara Wigham, Katerina Zourou, Joy Egbert.
