As this first issue of Volume 29 is going to press, the ReCALL Editorial Board is losing some of its long- term members, who have retired from their universities at some point in the last few years and who are now stepping down from their position on the board. Their outstanding contribution to the computer-assisted language learning (CALL) community worldwide, and to ReCALL in particular, has enabled our area of research to become an academic field in its own right. David Little, Françoise Demaizière, Sue Otto, Bob Fischer, Maija Tammelin, Marie-Noëlle Lamy, Thierry Chanier, and Angela Chambers were not only CALL pioneers, they also inspired future generations of CALL researchers, developers, and practitioners, and helped shape the vibrant international community that we enjoy today. Many of us, editors, guest editors, or authors, will certainly miss their invaluable input and sharp comments. We wish them all a very happy “review-free” retirement.
As always, the papers in this issue reflect the broad range of research questions, innovative research designs, and new insights into best practice that have become the signature of CALL research. The first article by Hong et al. brings neurosciences into CALL in what is probably the first article on this emerging (and important) topic published in ReCALL. In their ground-breaking article, the authors report an improvement in English proficiency and changes in brain activity, both brought about by language online games. The next two articles explore the impact of language learners’ collaboration in the development of receptive and productive skills. More specifically, Yeh, Hung and Chiang show that the use of online annotations and reciprocal teaching, when used together, can enhance students’ reading comprehension. Talaván, Ibáñez and Bárcena investigate the effects of collaborative reverse subtitling on the development of written production skills. Oral skills are the focus of the next three papers. Dugartsyrenova and Sardegna explore the strategic use of VoiceThread (VT) by learners of Russian and highlight the role that task design plays in students’ perceptions and use of tools such as VT, and consequently on the development of oral proficiency. The design and implementation of computer-mediated emotional intelligence activities is also thought to have an impact on the development of oral fluency, as discussed by Abdolrezapour in the fourth article. Anxiety is also said to have a negative effect on students’ levels of self-confidence in oral interactions. Melchor-Couto’s study reveals that, while the anonymity afforded by Virtual Worlds such as Second Life initially contributes to an increased level of confidence, its effects may wear off as students get to know their interlocutors. Finally, this issue concludes with Ebrahim and Faghih’s study on the integration of introductory courses in corpus linguistics in teacher education. Their findings will no doubt be of interest to anyone involved in language teacher education.
The editors would like to thank the following reviewers of submissions to ReCALL for their contribution in 2015–2016:
Basim Alahmadi, David Barr, Serge Bibauw, Yvonne Breyer, Jack Burston, José Ramón Calvo-Ferrer, Silvia Canto, Monica Stella Cardenas-Claros, Angela Chambers, Maggie Charles, Anne Chateau, Tatiana Codreanu, Anna Comas-Quinn, Christelle Combe Celik, Jonathan deHaan, Melinda Dooly, Helga Dorner, Vera Dugartsyrenova, Irina Elgort, Pauline Ernest, Ebrahim Fakhri Alamdari, Melissa Fiori, Ana Frankenberg-Garcia, Carolin Fuchs, John Gillespie, Gaëtanelle Gilquin, Ana Gimeno, Sandra Götz, Sean Grant, Nicolas Guichon, Stella Hadjistassou, Akira Hamada, Marie-Josés Hamel, Regine Hampel, Barbara Hanna, Mirjam Hauck, Hora Fatemeh Hedayati, Trude Heift, Catherine Heil, Hsiu-Chen Hsu, Liwei Hsu, Phil Hubbard, Meltern Huri Baturay, Jesús Izquierdo, Kristi Jauregi, Christopher Jenks, Ann Jones, Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, Gosia Kurek, Leena Kuure, Chun Lai, Yu-Ju Lan, Agnieszka Lenko-Szymanska, Mike Levy, David Little, Lara Lomicka, François Mangenot, Atsushi Mizumoto, Maribel Montero Perez, Andreas Müller-Hartmann, Liam Murray, Hilary Nesi, Neasa Ní Chiarain, Susanna Nocchi, Robert O’Dowd, Therese Ornberg Berglund, Breffni O’Rourke, Ana Oskoz, Kate Ozanska-Ponikwia, Luisa Panichi, Sarah Pasfield-Neofitou, Elke Peters, Hayo Reinders, Jon Reinhart, Lanhui Ryder, H. Müge Satar, Norbert Schmitt, Mathias Schulze, Bryan Smith, Simon Smith, Geoff Sockett, Suhad Sonbul, Caroline H. Steel, Ursula Stickler, Glenn Stockwell, Carola Strobl, Pia Sundqvist, Peppi Taalas, Osamu Takeuchi, Yukio Tono, Cornelia Tschichold, Anna Turula, Joshua Underwood, Ema Ushioda, Nina Vyatkina, Ciara R. Wigham, Jie Chi Yang, Dogan Yuksel, Dongping Zheng.
