Preface

The present issue of Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition 
completes the fourth year of publishing this journal. It was founded in 2015, 
at a time when not many journals in applied linguistics (and specifically those 
focusing on second language acquisition) were available. It was established 
as a forum of discussion for Polish as well as foreign scholars. Indeed since 
then, every consecutive issue of the journal has welcomed contributions from 
many renowned researchers, such as Peter MacIntyre, David Singleton, Larissa 
Aronin, and Jean-Marc Dewaele, to name just a few. It is the journal’s ambition 
to demonstrate new trends in SLA research, broadly understood, both world-
wide and in Poland, focusing on theoretical discussion and practical solutions 
to problems based upon them. It is our aim not only to publish contributions 
from well-known and respected authors but also from young researches pre-
senting fresh and innovative ideas. Thus, the journal hopes to become a venue 
for the exchange of ideas between well-established academics and those in-
spired by them. The journal presents 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 the methodology of research they em-
ploy. It is crucial for the development of academic research that we offer this 
opportunity to share ideas in an effective and disseminated manner via jour-
nal publication, especially that we publish using an open access system and 
where the entire production process is executed online and the final product is 
available to everyone. The journal’s standards and quality are guaranteed by 
the international Editorial Board of TAPSLA composed of well-known Polish 
and foreign experts on a wide range of second language acquisition problems. 
Updated information on the journal is available on the University of Silesia in 
Katowice Institute of English webpage at www.ija.us.edu.pl (via a special link) 
and on the journal webpage at www.journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/TAPSLA.



6 Preface

The present issue continues the topic from the previous one, which is that 
of language learning environment, broadly interpreted. It opens with an article 
by Sarah Mercer, Peter MacIntyre, Tammy Gregersen, and Kyle Talbot entitled 
“Positive Language Education: Combining Positive Education and Language 
Education,” which is written from a positive psychology perspective as applied 
to education and discusses the notion of Positive Language Education (PLE). 
Here, the authors promote the idea that 21st-century education should not only 
focus on developing linguistic skills but also those which are more fundamental 
to our lives, that is, the skills of wellbeing, a major area in positive psychology. 
The model presented integrates the aims and development of linguistic and 
non-linguistic skills in the educational context as “the foundation for effective 
learning and a good life more generally.” The article makes a considerable con-
tribution to fast-growing research on positive psychology in SLA. The article 
is theoretical, but it makes a very strong claim for an empirically-based model 
of language education in different educational contexts. The following article 
by Katarzyna Budzińska “Positive Institutions: A Case Study” elaborates on 
a positive educational example in a practical way by presenting a profile of 
a language school which can be viewed as an enabling institution (a concept pro-
posed by positive psychology). It follows the lines of Mercer et al.’s thinking on 
PLE presented in the earlier text. The author rightly emphasizes that out of the 
three major areas of interest in positive psychology studies: positive emotions, 
positive character traits, and positive/enabling institutions, it is the final one 
that has attracted the least attention so far. Thus, in her article, the main focus 
is on the analysis of a representative language school as the best example of its 
kind. As the author puts it, it is an institution “enabling success and promoting 
positive language learning environments or student well-being.” In the next text, 
“The Classroom Learning Environment and Its Influence on Selected Aspects 
of Foreign Language Attainment—Insights from Students,” Anna Michońska-
Stadnik takes a different perspective on a foreign language learning context by 
focusing on students’ perceptions of their environment. Expressing the belief 
that a modern language classroom has a facilitative role in developing autonomy, 
learner self-regulation and cooperation-enhanced motivation, the author discuss-
es their views on the influences of some aspects of the classroom environment 
on their language learning process (“motivation, ability to self-assess, self-con-
fidence, and attitudes to the target language and culture”) expressed by learners 
in guided interviews. She concludes, on the basis of the interview data, that it 
is still the teacher that plays the most fundamental role in the above. The next 
article by Ana Aldekoa, “Gure Ikastola en tres languages: The Teaching and 
Learning of Trilingual Oral Expository Skills by Means of a Didactic Sequence,” 
takes the reader into the world of multilingual classrooms, where the develop-
ment of trilingual oral expository skills in Spanish L1, Basque L2, and English 
L3 students is presented in a trilingual didactic sequence. The analysis clearly 



7Preface

demonstrates that language alternation and integration during a lesson can result 
in the beneficial development of the three languages and thus, enhances stu-
dents’ multilingual competence. The article by Beata Webb and Alicia Vallero 
entitled “Developing Learning Environments for Blended and Online Learning” 
takes the reader to a modern language classroom where second language in-
struction makes use of modern technology by combining both the traditional 
face-to-face classroom teaching and possibilities online instruction offers. It 
presents the theoretical concepts, an innovative framework necessary for a suc-
cessful implementation of language instruction at the university level as well as 
the students’ assessment of this type of pedagogy. The Authors demonstrate how 
such teaching is done at one of Australian universities, the leading center for 
blended, online, and distance learning. The last article in this issue by Achilleas 
Kostoulas and Sarah Mercer is entitled “Reflections on Complexity: TESOL 
Researchers Reflect on Their Experiences.” It presents the Complex Dynamic 
Systems Theory (CDST), a fairly new theoretical framework in applied linguis-
tics and demonstrates how researchers implement it in their practice of language 
teaching. The authors not only discuss the tenets of CDST but, more impor-
tantly, point out the challenges and promises of this new approach, as expressed 
in the narrative texts of researchers, experienced in implementing CDST in their 
work. They are fully aware of its benefits as well as of the difficulties that still 
need to be overcome. Nevertheless, they generally express an optimistic view to 
this new framework. The issue concludes with two book reviews. One of them 
is the review of the monograph by Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia Personality 
and Emotional Intelligence in Second Language Learning (Cambridge Scholars 
Publishing, 2018), a must-read for all those interested in the affectivity dimension 
of language acquisition/learning processes (reviewed by Danuta Gabryś-Barker). 
The other review is of the book by Anna Borowska Avialinguistics. The Study 
of Language for Aviation Purposes (Peter Lang 2017), which presents a fairly 
new area of English for specific purpose (ESP) (reviewed by Adam Wojtaszek).

This issue offers theoretical reflections on positive psychology in education 
and complexity theory in teaching. It also proposes practical solutions to prob-
lems to be implemented in the foreign language classroom (positive institutions, 
translanguaging in language didactics). We hope that all types of readers—
theorists and practical teachers—will find the articles inspirational. We would 
like to thank all the contributors to this volume and to invite other Polish and 
foreign academics to share their scholarly research with us by submitting their 
work to our journal, which is published by the prestigious Polish academic 
publisher, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego (University of Silesia Press).

Danuta Gabryś-Barker
Adam Wojtaszek