Dear Readers,
This issue excites us! The scholarship of the articles, the international range of authors and the current significance of the Special Issue topic – “Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Language Education: Perspectives from Research and Practice in Global Englishes and Translanguaging” makes this an issue which will surely be highly valued by the international ELT community.
We congratulate the Special Issue team, Meng Huat Chau, Anita Lie, George Jacobs and Willy Renandya for a job well done. Not only did they whittle down over 20 “expressions of interest” into ten quality articles, but went the extra mile by compiling a set of “Perspectives” on the issue by leading scholars in specific aspects of the ELT discipline. I’m sure that you will find their insights enlightening.
This special issue identifies and confirms two clear trends in ELT, 1) the rising interest in and acceptance of translanguaging and 2) the fact that the ownership of English, is not the “native speaker” but rather belongs to the actual users and their interlocutors. This has significant ramifications for pre- and in-service teacher training and presents us with the challenge to change the mind-set of all involved in language education both at the theoretical and procedural levels.
We all owe a debt of thanks to the TESL-EJ volunteer staff who had to spend an inordinate amount of time preparing this issue which offers nearly double the number of articles in a regular issue. I would like to single out Technical Editor, Aaron Campbell, and Production Editor, Nhật Quang, in particular, for their efforts to get this issue out on schedule.
Passages. It is with great sadness that we have had to publish an In Memorium for Vance Stevens, who was not only the editor of the TESL-EJ On the Internet feature for almost twenty years, but also a leading, inspirational figure in educational technology for language learning from the infancy of CALL over 40 years ago.
Thanks to recent reviewers. Continuing our new policy, we thank the reviewers of all submission that had reached a decision since our last issue – regardless of whether the paper was accepted or declined. Thanks go to: Affandi, Babak Khoshnevisan, Behrang Mohammad-Salehi, Brandon Kramer, Brett Reynolds, Christina Nicole Giannikas, Colin W Campbell, Doreen Ewert, Ehsan Rassaei, Erin Singer, Foad Behzadpoor, Frank Hermann, Frankie Subon, George Jacobs, Hamed Zandi, Hanh Nguyen, Heidi E Vellenga, Joseph Tomei, Karen Glaser, Lorena Salud Gadella Kamstra, Makimi Kano, Mandana Arfa-Kaboodvand, Marzieh Bagherkazemi, Mehdi Moharami, Mehrdad Mohajerpour, Michael Mauricio, Miriam Faine, Mostafa Nazari, Noura Dakhail, Omer Ozer, Parastoo Alizadeh Oghyanous, Parisa Abdolrezapour, Pruksapan Bantawtook, Randall Davis, Sabri T. S. Ahmed, Stuart McLean, Su-Hie Ting, Supiani, Tatiana Nekrasova-Beker, Ufuk Atas, Zachary Farouk Chai and Zia Tajeddin.
Best,
Thomas N. Robb, Ph.D.
For the editorial team