Preface

Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition has already entered its 
fourth consecutive year of publication. Founded in 2015, when very few journals 
of a related profile were available in Poland, it filled a niche recognized by 
not only Polish, but also international scholars. Following the publication of the 
first issue, it became clear that its scope would attract submissions from many 
specialists and researchers around the world. Thus far, TAPSLA has featured 
articles by such renowned scholars in the field as David Singleton, Larissa 
Aronin, Jean-Marc Dewaele, Tammy Gregersen, and many others representing 
innovative movements in SLA research worldwide. The journal has become a 
venue for the exchange of ideas for academics at home and abroad, focusing on 
often un-researched issues and new currents in SLA studies. Especially today, 
when journal publications are seen as the most valued and highly recognized 
evidence of academic excellence, the perspectives for its rapid and successful 
development seem to be very promising. A guarantee of the journal’s high 
standards is TAPSLA’s Editorial Board, which includes both Polish and foreign 
experts in the area, representing the wide range of research interests of its 
members. All updated information on the journal is available on the University 
of Silesia Institute of English webpage at www.ija.us.edu.pl (via a special link) 
and the journal webpage at www.journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/TAPSLA. 

The present issue opens with a fascinating insight into the significance of the 
“love factor” for late L2 proficiency development. In their paper “L2 Proficiency 
as a Function of Cultural Identity in Interlingual Couples” David Singleton and 
Simone Pfenninger offer a comprehensive review of a number of qualitative 
studies which demonstrate how significant the affective dimension can be both 
for the ultimate success in acquisition of L2 proficiency as well as for the adop-
tion of cultural identity by one of the partners. The facilitative role of out-of-
class immersion activities is presented by Jorge Pinto in the second article, en-
titled “Immersion Learning Activities: Developing Communicative Tasks in the 



6 Preface

Community.” The author argues for the extension of the learning environment 
to the beyond-the-classroom sphere which allows for a more extensive develop-
ment of learners’ communicative skills in L2. Although the research results are 
based on an L2 Portuguese course taught at the University of Lisbon, the impli-
cations seem to be universally applicable. The third paper, “Social Constraints 
of Aspirations for Second Language Achievement” by Joanna Rokita-Jaśkow, 
seeks an explanation for the relatively unambitious and vague aspirations of 
Polish vocational school English philology students, adding another perspec-
tive to the discussion on the role of learning environments. The perspective 
is narrowed down to the classroom environment in the fourth paper, “New 
School, the Same Old Rut? Action Research of Unsuccessful First-year Students 
in a High School” by Joanna Masoń-Budzyń. In order to formulate useful and 
experience-based suggestions, the author attempts to diagnose the sources of 
learners’ unsuccessful performance, looking at a number of potential contribut-
ing factors. The fifth article, “Rethink Your Old Teaching Methods: Designing 
a Pronunciation Course for Young Teenagers” by Dorota Lipińska, also focuses 
on a FL classroom environment, but the author’s interest revolves around the 
issue of EFL pronunciation teaching to 11- to 13-year-olds. Lamenting the ineffi-
ciency of both the teaching resources and the primary school syllabi, the author 
proposes her own ideas about how pronunciation could be taught, providing some 
suggestive evidence from speech production and speech perception tests. The 
subject of pronunciation learning is also the topic of the last paper in the issue, 
“Pronunciation Learning Environment: EFL Students’ Cognitions of In-class 
and Out-of-class Factors Affecting Pronunciation Acquisition” by Magdalena 
Szyszka. The author attempts to identify the most significant contributors to the 
learners’ ultimate pronunciation learning achievement, looking not only at the 
classroom environment and at teachers’ pronunciation, but also at the patterns 
encountered by the learners in their daily exposure to entertainment media.

If a common denominator were to be noted for the papers included in the 
present issue, the dimension of various learning environments would be a good 
candidate. The authors have attempted to show in what way the widely under-
stood context in which learning and acquisition takes place exerts an influence 
on learners’ ultimate L2 performance and success. We hope that this issue 
will be of interest to all researchers working in the field of second language 
acquisition. At the same time, we would like to invite Polish and foreign aca-
demics to share their scholarly research with us by submitting their work to the 
journal Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition, published by the 
prestigious Polish academic publisher Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego 
(University of Silesia Press).

Danuta Gabryś-Barker
Adam Wojtaszek