I will first summarize the papers in this issue, and then comment on some of the questions that they raise about our editorial policies.
   In the first paper, Jim Y. H. Chan and Stephen Evans of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, have used questionnaires to survey the attitudes of a sample of high school students to the use of Hong Kong English as a teaching goal, and find they generally reflect school condemnation of the variety. In the next, Yi-Wen Liu and Ching-Fen Chang of the National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan studied the blogs written by two young teachers (each regular bloggers) and show how their teaching practices developed over time. In the third paper, Hsueh Chu CHEN of The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong SAR, compared the reactions of a varied group of listeners to two Chinese speakers of English, one with a Cantonese (Hong Kong) and one with a Mandarin (Taiwanese) accent. Both were judged to be 70% intelligible; although neither was considered acceptable, the Mandarin speaker was preferred.
   In the fourth paper, Malachi Edwin Vethamani of Taylor¡¯s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia reports on a study of teacher educators in Malaysia, looking at a small sample and finding considerable variation, ranging from no special preparation to postgraduate degrees. He argues for the need to develop programs to train teacher educators. In the next, a paper by Kyoung Rang Lee of Sejong University in South Korea explored the effect of two reading strategies on recall: underlining topic sentences led to better immediate recall and copying them lead to better later recall.
   Following this, Joseph Ernest Mambu of Satya Wacana Christian University, Indonesia proposes that English language learners should be encouraged to use their growing proficiency to engage in socially valuable advocacy. In the eighth paper, Gi-Pyo Park of Soonchunhyang University and Brian F. French of Washington State University at Pullman found evidence of some strategy differences between men and women students they studied.
   Haixiao Wang of Nanjing University, P. R. China and Clifford Hill of Teachers College, Columbia University, USA next call for a paradigm shift adding Asian indigenous to Western approaches to English language teaching. In another opinion piece, Isaiah WonHo Yoo of Sogang University, South Korea echoes calls for the publication of non-theoretical teacher experiences to redress the greater weight usually given to research papers, recounting an unnamed journal¡¯s rejection of one of his own papers as lacking theory. Finally, Stephen J Hall of Sunway University, Malaysia reviews a book setting out Asian forms of address, intended to correct the common errors made in English-language publications.
   In my comments, I start with one I have made in several editorials: the problem of small samples. We understand the difficulties our contributors face: on the one hand, their universities demand that they publish a good number of papers, but on the other hand, they are not likely to provide funds or research assistants or time for large scale studies. As a result, with small samples there is a serious danger of extreme results which are untrustworthy, or if rigorous statistical significance tests are applied, the study often remains inconclusive and useful only as a pilot. We have no easy answer to this problem, but continue to rely on contributors and reviewers to use their best judgment.
   The opinion piece by Isaiah WonHo Yoo takes on a related issue in his call for publishing teacher reports of successful (or presumably unsuccessful) experiences. Research journals struggling for recognition and indexing don¡¯t like to publish them, and the replacement of newsletters by on-line communications cuts down on available platforms. I recall in the early years of TESOL (before it added International to its name) it published two journals, one for research and one practical. Perhaps Asia TEFL should consider adding an on-line newsletter for teachers to report on their classroom successes and failures? Your comments on this idea will be welcome, as will an offer to edit it.
   The second opinion piece by Joseph Ernest Mambu calls for adding a measure of social responsibility to English language teaching. Usually, learning English is presented as an economic benefit to the learner; rather, he suggests, we should consider giving our students socially valuable goals for their new proficiency. This sentiment will find echoes among many who share concern at the effects of the social and economic gaps found in much of the world.

The study reported in this article examines Hong Kong secondary school students¡¯ recognition of and attitudes towards Hong Kong English (HKE) as an autonomous variety of English and thus as a potentially suitable pronunciation model in the local ELT classroom. The study is based on findings derived from a questionnaire survey of 531 participants from a wide range of secondary schools in the territory. The survey findings reveal that local students have a generally negative attitude towards the existence of HKE as a variety and the adoption of HKE as a teaching model. However, there is no consensus among the participants as to whether the use of HKE equates to a low level of English. The evidence also suggests that the majority of students have limited exposure to spoken English. While students¡¯ reservations about the localised pronunciation seem to accord with earlier research, the article argues that Hong Kong students are indeed offered little or no choice but to accept other pronunciation models due largely to the emphasis on native-speaker norms in the curriculum and their limited exposure to spoken English, and therefore accent variation, in their everyday lives. The article concludes by discussing the implications of this lack of local acceptance for the choice of an appropriate pronunciation model, ELT curriculum and materials design and directions for future research.

Key words: Language attitudes, Hong Kong English, varieties of English, accent variation, native-speaker norms, pronunciation model, endonormative nativised model

Blogs are among the most widely used Web 2.0 tools and have become a popular means of teacher development. This study, drawn from an activity theory approach, investigates how blogs serve as reflective and social tools mediating the development of two English teachers. Data are collected from the two teachers¡¯ blogs, periodical online observation of the two teachers¡¯ blogging, and interviews with the two teachers. The findings show that blogs are helpful in monitoring and reflecting the teachers¡¯ instructional processes. Moreover, blogs enable teachers to communicate with others in the online community and find encouragement. The results of the study suggest that teacher training programs and school administrators should encourage both pre-service and in-service teachers to establish their own blogs in order to function as a reflective tool and to expand their social network for professional development.

Key words: activity theory, teacher development, blogs, reflection, social interaction, online communities

The major goals of this study were (a) to investigate multiple aspects of English phonological patterns spoken by Chinese speakers with different dialect backgrounds, (b) to explore non-native speakers¡¯ (NNSs¡¯) perceptual judgments of the intelligibility of Chinese- accented English, and (c) to examine the effects of the listener¡¯s language background on their perceptions of Chinese-accented speech. One Cantonese speaker from Hong Kong and one Mandarin speaker from Taiwan were recruited to read and record an English text. Twenty-nine listeners of various language backgrounds were separated into five groups: native Cantonese (n = 5) native Mandarin (n = 5), native English (n = 5), ESL (n = 10), and EFL (n = 4). They were requested to transcribe the test utterances in a self-paced speech recognition task and judge the intelligibility and the strength of the foreign accent. The results showed that all groups perceived both the Cantonese and Mandarin accents to be at least 70% intelligible. Mandarin-accented English was easier to understand than Cantonese-accented English was. The ESL group (including Filipino and Pakistani native speakers) and the Cantonese group performed worse than the other three groups. In comparing the two foreign-accented speeches, the listeners perceived consonant cluster simplifications and consonant substitutions in both accents. In Cantonese-accented speech, several word-stress shifts and double primary stresses evidently made words unintelligible. The listeners¡¯ perceptual judgments of Cantonese and Mandarin accents yielded a disfavour rating for both. Among all listeners, the ESL group demonstrated a higher degree of agreement on intelligibility and the strength of accents. The native English-speaker group and Chinese-speaker group gave the lowest ratings to the two accents, demonstrating strict native English norms.

Key words: World Englishes, intercultural communication, pronunciation teaching

This paper presents the findings of a study into the profiles of English Language teacher educators in the Malaysian teacher educator system. The objective of this study is to identify the level of preparation that teacher educators have when entering Institutes of Teacher Education (ITE). In addition, the study also aims to identify the kind of training given to teacher educators while in the system. The data for this study was obtained through e-mail and telephone interviews. The sample for this study was 20 English Language teacher educators in ITE. The findings from this study revealed that no formal teacher educator training was given prior to recruitment into an ITE and some teacher educators received various forms of training upon entry into a teacher training institution while others were left to learn on the job. The findings of this study also present various implications on the need for formal training of teacher educators before they are appointed as teacher educators in ITE.

Key words: teacher education in Malaysia, English language, teacher educators

This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of well-known reading strategies, using graphic organizers and enhancing input. A group of college students read an English text while completing the given graphic organizer with topic sentences of each paragraph; another group read the same text while enhancing (underlining or highlighting) topic sentences; and the third group read the same text without doing anything. Immediate and delayed tests of both multiple-choice tests and timed free-recall were compared to examine how effectively each reading strategy helped the participants comprehend the text. Interestingly, those who enhanced topic sentences performed significantly better in the immediate multiple-choice questions than those with the graphic organizer to complete, and in the delayed test, those with the graphic organizer remembered significantly more in the timed free-recall than those who enhanced. Also, those who were required to find topic sentences actively (both graphic organizer and enhancement) performed significantly better in the delayed free-recall test than those who did not have to. Detailed results and discussions are given. (167 words)

Key words: reading strategies, enhanced input, advance organizer, topic sentences, reading comprehension, multiple-choice questions, free-recall

Principally inspired by Freirean notions of conscientization and praxis, this paper attempts to offer concerted reflections and actions towards empowering English language teachers and students in Indonesia for advocacy on behalf of the marginalized. This intention is illuminated by numerous studies around the globe that spring from insights into critical pedagogy and orientations to critical literacy applied in ESL and EFL classrooms, in particular, and elsewhere in various communities. Two major modes of advocacy focused on here comprise (mass) media and narrative inquiry. The former elaborates on Indonesian people¡¯s attempts to produce opposite editorial (op-ed) articles written in English, a sample of newsletter, and a literary (as well as film) appreciation. The latter revisits critical stories and voices from Indonesian EFL classrooms.

Key words: advocacy, conscientization, praxis, critical pedagogy, domination, access, diversity, design.

This study investigated the mean differences and differential item functioning (DIF) of the strategy inventory for language learning (SILL) by gender for university students in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context, using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and ordinal logistic regression (OLR), respectively. Only memory strategies out of the six strategy categories in the SILL showed a significant gender difference, with males using more strategies than females. After matching on score levels for DIF detection using each of the scale scores of six strategy categories as a total score, a total of 13 items showed DIF across gender with 12 items in favor of males and one item in favor of females. These 13 DIF items belonged to memory strategies (5 items), cognitive strategies (4 items), metacognitive strategies (2 items), compensation strategies (1 item), and affective strategies (1 item). This study concludes with the implications of the findings followed by future study areas.

Key words: learning strategies, strategy inventory for language learning (SILL), differential item functioning, gender, ordinal logistic regression

For decades, the Western paradigm of English language teaching has occupied a prestigious position in Asia. It is now generally recognized, however, that the varieties as well as the uses of English differ from place to place. Furthermore, language teaching and learning is affected by a host of factors ranging from the macro political and cultural environments of a country or region to the micro perceptions and practices of individual teachers or learners, which calls for different methodologies for different learners or learning situations. By taking a close look at all the local features that affect the choice of the varieties of English to be learned, the content of learning and the approaches to teaching and learning in the Asian context, this article attempts to reveal limitations in the established theories and practices in English language teaching. It calls for a paradigm shift within the Asian region that is responsive not only to indigenous traditions of language learning but also to the increasing use of English as a language of contact between non-native speakers across national boundaries while at the same time continuing to welcome the theories and practices of English language teaching from outside the region.

Key words: English language teaching, the Asian context, paradigm shift, local needs and traditions

With an increasing number of researchers who have called attention to the power imbalance between teachers and researchers, the last two decades have witnessed a dramatic rise in the popularity of action research as a way to empower teachers by enabling them to conduct context-specific classroom research. Although not unchallenged, numerous contributions that action research makes to improving classroom practices have been well documented, and teachers are continually encouraged to do action research. However, the dearth of respectable international journals by which the findings of action research can be disseminated disheartens those who conduct small-scale classroom research that deals with context-specific questions for which no established learning or language theories may have clear, immediate pedagogical implications. With an example of such action research, this paper argues that seemingly purely practical action research studies that address specific local questions, when taken together, may eventually lead to new principles of language teaching. Before the renowned international journals, which serve the role of professional gatekeepers, stop insisting that every practical paper be grounded in theory, the power imbalance between teachers and researchers will never be rectified.

Key words: action research, power imbalance, linking theory with practice