This issue of ReCALL breaks with a tradition that spanned fifteen years and that saw the May issue predominantly devoted to selected papers from the previous EUROCALL conference. The surge of regular submissions or submissions to special issues, which was outlined in the January editorial, as well as the length of time required to publish high quality articles, led us to revise our publication schedule. As a result, selected papers from the EUROCALL 2011 Conference, held in Notthingham last September, will be published in January 2013.
The current issue includes six articles and a review by Chelo de Andrés Martinez of Jonathan Leakey's recent book, Evaluating Computer-Assisted Language Learning – An integrated Approach to Effectiveness Research in CALL (published by Peter Lang). In the first article, Hampel and Stickler show that language learning interaction in a multimodal synchronous environment is mediated by human interaction as well as the technologies available (i.e. videoconferencing, text chat, etc.). They show how learners combine different modes as they co-construct meaning, how users adapt to this multimodal environment, and how new communication patterns emerge. Their findings are of particular interest to designers and teachers willing to use an online and multimodal videoconferencing environment for language teaching and learning. Next, Sockett and Toffoli explore informal learning (with a particular focus on English as a Foreign/Second Language) in online communities from a dynamic systems perspective. Their findings enable them to revisit and question the concept of learner autonomy as it has been commonly understood and promoted to date by language learning policy makers throughout Europe. Self-study and self-regulated (language) learning still attract a lot of interest among the CALL community. In the fourth article, Mutsumi Kondo and his colleagues investigate whether Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) practices can promote SRL. Their study of the use of the Nintendo DS for language learning in Japanese universities provides evidence that MALL promotes self-study and self-regulated learning. Finally, Low and Lin study the effect of captions on language learning among high school learners of English working through a multimedia programme, and Chang proposes a “textlinguistic” approach to the use of a stance corpus to assist advanced learners of academic writing.
