Preface Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition was founded as a forum of discussion for Polish as well as foreign scholars and seems to have fulfilled its mission as a journal on the rise. The present volume marks the beginning of the eighth year of its presence in the scholarly world. The jour- nal has become more and more popular as we get more and more interesting submissions from both Polish and foreign researchers. Indeed, since its founda- tion, every consecutive issue of the journal has welcomed contributions from many renowned researchers, such as Peter MacIntyre, David Singleton, Larissa Aronin, Sarah Mercer, Tammy Gregersen, and Jean-Marc Dewaele, to name just a few. Also, a fast growing number of OA uploads has been observed as an indication of the journal’s popularity, as is the queue of the articles already accepted and awaiting their turn to be included in the next volumes to be published. This is why we have decided to increase the number of research papers published in a single volume for the second time: in the first years of the journal’s existence there were six, last year seven, and starting with issue 8(1) TAPSLA is going to include eight research contributions, followed by two book reviews. It is the journal’s ambition to demonstrate new trends and unknown venues for research in SLA, focusing both on theoretical discussion and the practical solutions to problems based upon them. We aim not only to publish and share with our readers contributions from well-known and respected schol- ars but would like to promote young researchers from all over the world, who often present fresh and innovative ideas or open up new perspectives on issues already researched. In other words, the journal hopes to become a venue for the exchange of ideas between well-established academics and those inspired by them. In terms of its content, the journal presents contributions on issues ranging from purely linguistic and cognitively-oriented research on language acquisition processes to psycho- and sociolinguistic studies, always trying to feature the most recent developments in terms of topic choice, as well as in Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition vol. 8 (1), 2022, pp. 5–8 https://doi.org/10.31261/TAPSLA.12376 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en 6 Preface the methodology of research they employ. We publish our journal through an open access system, where the entire production process is executed online and the final product is available to everyone, thus offering an opportunity to share ideas through a broad, effective, and economical mode of dissemina- tion. We aim at keeping high standards and quality, which are guaranteed by the international Editorial Board of TAPSLA, whose members are well-known Polish and foreign experts on a wide range of second language acquisition is- sues. The journal is indexed in numerous databases, including Scopus. As the journal is published by the prestigious Polish academic publisher, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego (University of Silesia Press), the copyediting and tech- nical side of the production are done by an experienced team of editors at the University of Silesia Press. Updated information and all the issues published so far are available on the journal webpage at www.tapsla.us.edu.pl. The topics of the present volume extend between focus on selected language skills influenced by a range of psycholinguistic variables, learning environments and instruction types, issues related to teacher wellbeing, and textbook analysis. The opening text “Language Teacher Wellbeing in the Workplace: Balancing Needs” by Sonja Babic, Sarah Mercer, Astrid Mairitsch, Johanna Gruber, and Kirsten Hempkin is the only one in the volume concentrating on teachers. Since it has been proven that teachers’ wellbeing correlates positively with the quality of teaching and overall learners’ success, the authors decided to investigate the factors which contribute to the construct. The study is especially valuable for its diversified and multinational perspective and inclusion of not only psycho- logical and individual variables, but also influences of wider educational and sociological environments. The second paper, by Xavier Martin-Rubió and Irati Diert-Boté, titled “Catalan Law and Business Students in Italy: The Impact of a Stay Abroad on Fluency and Accuracy,” shifts the perspective towards the learners. The author applies a qualitative perspective and investigates the factors responsible for diverse values of fluency and accuracy measures among three subjects participating in the study, in an attempt to provide some useful tips for both teachers and learners on how to make the most of an organized mobility abroad. The third text in the present volume, “The Impact of Individual Interest and Proficiency on Self-efficacy Beliefs in Foreign Language Listening” by Hyang-Il Kim, presents a dynamic picture of how individual interest is linked to basic and advanced skill self-efficacy against the background of listening activities aimed to expand learners’ language proficiency. Statistical tests applied by the author reveal the links which were largely uninvestigated so far and offer very useful recommendations for both language teachers and learners. The topic of self-efficacy is further expanded by Bogusława Maria Gosiewska-Turek in her paper “Dyslexia, Self-efficacy, and Language Instruction in Foreign Language Learning—A Mixed Quantitative-qualitative Study,” this time bringing into the picture the variables of the language-related 7Preface impairment of dyslexia and the style of language instruction. The results show that properly organized teaching can offer at least partial compensation for the inefficiencies stemming from neuropsychological limitations of the learners. The next paper in the present volume, by Agnieszka Ślęzak-Świat, titled “Development of Digital Literacy—Translanguaging and Transmedia Note Taking Formats for Academic Reading,” can be best described as a diagnos- tic study attempting to identify the major difficulties which the students may have with efficient note taking. The author focuses on two selected note taking techniques—translanguaging and transmedia formats—revealing the potential areas for improvement in this respect. The study shows that there is much room for raising learners’ awareness and competence in dealing with summa- rizing notes and that there is a visible need for explicit instruction related to such skills. The sixth paper, “Investigating Effects of Integrated Reading and Writing Skills Instruction in Enhancing Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in EFL Classroom,” written by Ayalew Tilahun, Berhanu Simegn, and Mulugeta Teka, concentrates on the potential of a selected language instruction procedure on the development of learners’ critical thinking abilities. The author attempted to challenge the traditional separation of language skills, which is still a com- mon practice in Ethiopia, in order to find support for a modification of teach- ing practices. The results of the carefully constructed quasi-experimental study reported in the paper demonstrate that there is a statistically significant positive influence of skill integration on learners’ critical thinking, which in turn is very likely to translate into better achievement in foreign language develop- ment. The seventh contribution to the present volume, “Turkish EFL Learners’ Acquisition of Psych Verbs and Unaccusative Verbs: A Replication Study on Underpassivization and Overpassivization” by Seray Tanyer and Samet Deniz, reports on an investigation of a peculiar aspect of grammar among Turkish learners of English. The authors wanted to find out whether processability constraints influence the acquisition of two types of verbs, focusing on the passive rather than active learners’ skills. A statistically significant difference between unaccusative and psych verbs was noted, but no clearly interpretable correlations were found. The last research paper in the present volume, also placed in the Turkish context, is the study by Tan Arda Gedik and Yağmur Su Kolsal titled “A Corpus-based Analysis of High School English Textbooks and English University Entrance Exams in Turkey.” This time, however, the focus is shifted towards the potential incompatibility between the content of English national level university entrance exams and the content of high school text- books which should prepare the student for them. The authors employ corpus linguistics tools to demonstrate the inefficiency of the textbooks which are commonly used in Turkey. Traditionally, the volume concludes with two book reviews. The first one, contributed by Pilar Safont, evaluates Twelve Lectures on Multilingualism 8 Preface edited by David Singleton and Larissa Aronin in 2019. The reviewer speaks very highly of the up-to-date and much needed content, pointing to the fact that we now live in a multilingual world where multilingual contacts have become an everyday practice and a norm. Given the state-of-the-art relevance of the topics covered in the volume and the excellent choice of contributors—the top names in the research on multilingualism—the reviewer describes the book as “a must-read” in any graduate or postgraduate course on languages in contact, multilingual education or third language acquisition.” The second review, by Caterina Hauser, presents a book focusing on another very important face of the present times in language education: New Technological Applications for Foreign and Second Language Learning and Teaching (2020), edited by Mariusz Kruk and Mark Peterson. The reviewer applauds the relevance of the topics covered in the book, pointing to the necessity and inevitability of efficient exploitation of technological development in the area of language instruction and learning. The younger brothers of CALL—Virtual Reality, social media and even chatbots—are more and more often successfully introduced into the classroom by language teachers and eagerly utilized by language learners, so a volume focusing on their applicability is undoubtedly another must-read. The reviewer stresses yet another advantage of the book: its coverage of not only practical applications of new devices and software, but also of ethical considerations related to personal data protection, privacy and potential threats stemming from their use. The papers published in the present issue, although offering mainly empiri- cal accounts, do not neglect solid theoretical foundations and overviews. They encompass a very broad range of individual researcher’s empirical work in varied teaching contexts, presented from a variety of perspectives. We hope that this innovative and creative research, especially in the context of its potential for practical applications, will be of interest to other scholars. The practical solutions to problems proposed by some of the authors can be adapted for many other teaching and learning contexts. We hope that all types of read- ers—researchers, teachers and students—will find the articles not only useful but also inspirational. More than anything else, we would like to thank all the authors in this volume and, as is our usual practice, to extend our invitation to all Polish and foreign researchers and academics to share their work with us by submitting it to our journal. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0626-0703 Danuta Gabryś-Barker https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0308-4337 Adam Wojtaszek