Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition vol. 5 (2) 2019, pp. 5–8 10.31261/tapsla.7772 Preface We began publishing this journal in 2015. The decision to publish came from that fact that although Poland has a strong presence among second language acquisition and multilinguality researchers, which is demonstrated by both the large number of conferences and also book publications appearing every year, academic journals focusing on theoretical issues as well as practical concerns of SLA are fairly rare. The initial success of the journal is demonstrated by the fact that despite its short life, it is already indexed in several databases, including Scopus (from 2019). Thanks to this, it is also recognised by the Polish Ministry of Higher Education as a serious academic journal. We would also like to emphasize that the origins of our journal can be found in the suc- cess of the International Conference on Second/Foreign Language Acquisition which has been organized for over thirty years by the Institute of English at the University of Silesia in Katowice. It is an academic event that brings together many Polish and foreign academics every May. Its focus is on new trends in SLA research but also on fairly un-researched issues. The conference always has a leading theme, however, the scholars are invited to present their research even if it falls out of the scope of the main topic. Our journal quickly became an additional channel for publication of conference papers of high academic standard. However, we also warmly welcome other contributions, not connected with the conference itself. The whole process of paper submission is automated via an Open Journal System (OJS) and this embraces the article submission, referee assignment, and double blind-review process as well as the revisions, copyediting, and production stages. A team of experts from the University of Silesia Press are involved to make the whole procedure smooth and effective. The open access system allows for the generous availability of the most recent research in the field at no cost at all, thus promoting articles published in its issues to wide audiences. http://doi.org10.31261/tapsla.7772 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en 6 Preface We believe that our journal already serves an important need in projecting new and interesting research in SLA coming both from Polish and foreign schol- ars in the field. The journal is published bi-annually, in June and December. As mentioned earlier, each text is peer-reviewed in a double-blind referring process by referees selected by us from the Editorial Board, but also beyond. The Editorial Board itself consists of both Polish scholars and foreign experts in the area, and represents the wide range of research interests of its members. All updated information on the journal is available on the journal webpage at www.tapsla.us.edu.pl. The present issue focuses both on general themes of SLA research, but also has a strong accent on development of different language skills in context by a bilingual/multilingual language learner/user. It opens with a text by the well- known multilinguality researcher, Gessica De Angelis entitled “The Bilingual Advantage and the Language Background Bias,” in which the claim is made about the advantages that bilingualism has in various spheres of life, includ- ing healthcare and education but which also points to possible disadvantages of being bilingual. The author carefully examines evidence that comes from advanced research that demonstrates both advantages for cognitive develop- ment of a bilingual as well as its drawbacks. De Angelis points to certain discrepancies in the research evidence analysed, ascribing it to the language bias of the studies analysed. She also suggests a way forward in researching bilingual/multilingual advantage and its understanding. The following text by David Singleton entitled “Bi-/Multilingual Communication, Identity and the Posited Intermingling of Language Systems in the Mind” questions the way researchers talk about “the languages in the mind” and the conceptual dimen- sions of language. The author claims that knowledge of languages in the mind “is in fact in all its aspects highly differentiated” and to this end, he provides evidence from a variety of research areas such as language loss/recovery, bilin- gual/multilingual development and communication and importantly, the affec- tive dimension of language differentiation. The following texts in the present issue take an interest in individual language skills development in EFL learn- ers. Anna Kiszczak and Halina Chodkiewicz in their text “Text-based Student Questioning in EFL Settings: Long-term Strategy Implementation in Reciprocal Reading Tasks and Its Perception” focus on the importance of strategy training in the development of reading skills in a foreign language. The text reports on a classroom-based study the aim of which was to demonstrate whether a one- term training session on reciprocal reading would improve quality in the use of student-generated questions at different periods of time, that is, during and after the sessions. The results of the study and their discussion offer some insights as to the development of reading skills in a foreign language class, which are considered an essential aspect in FL learning achievement. The next text, “Influence of Background Knowledge and Language Proficiency on Preface 7 Comprehension of Domain-specific Texts by University Students” by Justyna Kendik-Gut continues the theme of reading comprehension skills and not only the role in this process of language proficiency but also that of background knowledge. The results of a quantitative study analysed statistically (test scores) confirmed the initial hypothesis that background knowledge and the language proficiency have a strong influence on reading comprehension of domain-spe- cific texts. The author also presents some implications deriving from the study results and their discussion for EFL classrooms. The next text by Agnieszka Ślęzak-Świat entitled “Complementarity of Reading from Paper and Screen in the Development of Critical Thinking Skills for 21st-century Literacy,” though also focusing on reading skills, takes a different angle on the topic. The author observes changing reading habits due to the development of modern technol- ogy and to this end, she discusses reading preferences of 21st-century read- ers, whose practices embrace both reading digital texts online and traditional printed ones. The author comments on how the reading mode contributes (or otherwise) to the development of critical thinking, perceived as “understand- ing complex ideas, evaluating evidence, weighing alternative perspectives and constructing justifiable arguments.” In the text to follow, María Begoña Ruiz Cordero’s “Assessing English Writing Skills of Students from Bilingual and Non-Bilingual Schools in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. A Comparative Study” takes up the theme of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in relation to the development of writing skills in a foreign language. The aim of the study carried out by the Author was to compare the levels of writing in English achieved by learners in CLIL and non-CLIL programmes at different schools across various geographical regions. The present issue finishes with two book reviews. The first one reviewed by Danuta Gabryś-Barker presents a commentary on the monograph by Wojciech Malec entitled Developing Web-based Language Tests (2018), which is a com- prehensive literature overview of language testing-related issues with a strong focus on using modern technology in the process of language assessment. Apart from its in-depth theoretical part, it presents in details an on-line programme conceived by the author which can be of great help to all FL teachers in de- signing, analysing and finally assessing their test results. The second review by Grażyna Kiliańska-Przybyło looks at the second edition of a book by Lia Litosseliti (2018) Research Methods in Linguistics, whose focus lies in research methodology. It provides the readers with an overview of both quantitative and qualitative research methods employed in empirical studies in linguistics. The author advocates the use of a mixed method approach, which is necessary in the multidisciplinarity of modern research in linguistics. We hope that this issue will be of interest to researchers working in the field of second language acquisition. We would also like to invite Polish and foreign academics to share their scholarly research with us by submitting their 8 Preface work for the Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition journal pub- lished by the prestigious Polish academic publisher, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego (University of Silesia Press). Danuta Gabryś-Barker Adam Wojtaszek https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0626-0703 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0308-4337 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0626-0703 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0308-4337