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Beyond Words Vol.3, No.1, May 2015 
Widya Mandala Catholic University 
Surabaya, Indonesia

Editorial

The great news we want to share with authors, reviewers, and readers is that Beyond 

Words online journal is now indexed by Google Scholar. Thanks to George M. Jacobs for his 

suggestions, and to all authors and reviewers who courageously support our young journal. 

The first three perspective or current issue articles are about the shift to learner-centered 

learning and learners as the important agents. Phillip A. Towndrow, National Institute of 

Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, explores critical thinking using a real 

world example. The second article by Andrias Tri Susanto, Graduate School, Widya Mandala 

Catholic University, Surabaya, Indonesia, discusses the benefits and challenges of reflection in 

teacher education. The third article by George M. Jacobs, James Cook University, Singapore, 

proposes that educators not view the differences of cooperative and collaborative learning by 

their names, but pay more attention to teachers’ and students’ experiences in doing the 

interaction, and the goals they reach. These approaches are by all means not the end in itself, but 

they could be beneficial for both learning in general and English language learning, as well. The 

latter is implemented in the fifth article, a study on students’ autonomous learning and English 

vocabulary improvement reported by Feng Teng, Nanning University, China. The findings 

suggested that teachers must collaborate to develop materials and effective interventions, and 

create the conditions that support learners’ autonomy.

Soudabeh Tabatabaei, University of Mysore, Mysore, India, & Maryam Farnia, 

Payame Noor University, Iran, investigated the relationship between students’ English language 

proficiency and their pragmatic comprehension of refusal speech acts. However, findings did not 

show any correlation so that a separate pragmatic functions and language norm should be taught.



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A pendulum going from written and spoken English, and vice versa, happens in 

Indonesia—as in other countries, as well. The sixth article by Ashadi, Universitas Negeri

Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, is an attempt to understand teachers’ beliefs in the swing of 

the curricula following the pendulum and standard-based education.

The seventh article, a study reported by Frans Manurung and Ignatius Harjanto both 

from Universitas Katolik Widya Mandala, Surabaya, Indonesia, is an action research on the use 

of local cultural content. It was found that knowledge about cultural content was crucial in 

students’ vocabulary mastery. Familiarity and schematic knowledge aroused students’ interest 

and motivation in learning English vocabulary. 

Our huge appreciation to the reviewers, which is also mentioned by some authors, goes to 

the reviewers, Andrew Lian, Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand, Deepti Gupta, 

Punjab University, India, Eugene Sadtono, Universitas Ma Chung, Malang, Indonesia, Patrisius 

Istiarto Djiwandono, Universitas Ma Chung, Malang, Indonesia, Wendy Kasten, Emerita

Professor of Kent State University, USA, Veronica L. Diptoadi, Universitas Katolik Widya 

Mandala, Surabaya, Indonesia, Siti Mina Tamah, Universitas Katolik Widya Mandala, 

Surabaya, Indonesia, Rouhollah Askari Bigdeli, Yasouj University, Iran, Mateus 

Yumarnamto, Universitas Katolik Widya Mandala, Surabaya, Indonesia. Without them, the 

above articles could not appear as they are now.

Our appreciation goes to all authors. Your contribution means a lot for the growth of the 

knowledge and practice, both in general education and English language learning.

The Editors