FROM THE EDITORS

The special focus of this issue is the design and evaluation of multimedia software for language learning. Language learning is by its nature multi-sensory. We take in new language through the eyes and the ears, and what we learn rolls off our tongues or fingertips. The language field is thus particularly interested in multimedia technology. Innovative, multimedia applications in language learning may prove successful, provided there is careful assessment of the learning variables involved. Therefore, research into multimedia applications stands to make significant contributions to both the fields of language acquisition specifically and of technology in education in general.

Dr. Irene Thompson, special guest editor for this issue, introduces four papers from the Invitational Symposium on Advancing and Assessing Technology Options in Language Learning that took place recently at the University of Hawai'i National Foreign Language Resource Center. All papers deal with issues related to the design and evaluation of multimedia language learning software. The columns On the Net by Jean LeLoup and Robert Ponterio, Emerging Technologies by Bob Godwin-Jones, and the reviews in this issue also focus on multimedia, including types and uses of software, and sample lessons in languages ranging from German, French, and Spanish, to Hindi, Russian, and Swahili.

This July marks the first anniversary since the inaugural issue of Language Learning & Technology. That issue focused on empirical research and sought to define a research agenda for the field of CALL. Since then, the journal has grown in readership. As of July 1998, LLT had over one thousand readers worldwide. In addition, the journal articles will now be available through ERIC.

As Language Learning & Technology grows, it is also changing. This is my first issue as editor, joining Mark Warschauer, our founding editor. We are proud to announce that Mark received an award for outstanding contributions to the field of ESL/EFL research from the Language Acquisition and Instruction Committee (LAI) of the TOEFL Policy Council. We are also pleased that Irene Thompson will join us permanently as another co-editor. Her energy and dedication, along with her career-length experience as a teacher and scholar, will add to our editorial team. The three of us now stretch around the planet, with Mark in Cairo, Irene in Hawai'i, and me in Washington, DC.

We have other changes as well. Beginning with the next issue, India Plough, Associate Director of the Michigan State University Center for Language Education and Research, and Alison Mackey, Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University, will take over as book and software review editor of Language Learning & Technology. We would like to thank Louis Janus, Gary Jahn, and Jenise Rowenkamp who have done this job so well. Please note some refinements to our guidelines for review submissions.

Lucinda Hart-González
Co-Editor

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