Free Online Journal: Languge Learning & Technology

Recognizing that not all ESL instructors are currently affiliated with a university (and hence do not have unlimited and free access to many on-line journal publications and archives), I decided to browse the internet to look for free but refereed on-line research journals dealing with computer assisted language learning. "Language Learning & Technology" is one of the sites that I found and was interested in. It provides a detailed and focused description of its own mission and operational information in the "About LLT" section:

"Language Learning & Technology is a refereed journal which began publication in July 1997. The journal seeks to disseminate research to foreign and second language educators in the US and around the world on issues related to technology and second language education."

• Language Learning & Technology is sponsored and funded by the University of Hawai'i National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) and the Michigan State University Center for Language Education And Research (CLEAR), and is co-sponsored by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL).
• Language Learning & Technology is a fully refereed journal with an editorial board of scholars in the fields of second language acquisition and computer-assisted language learning. The focus of the publication is not technology per se, but rather issues related to language learning and language teaching, and how they are affected or enhanced by the use of technologies.
• Language Learning & Technology is published exclusively on the World Wide Web. In this way, the journal seeks to (a) reach a broad audience in a timely manner, (b) provide a multimedia format which can more fully illustrate the technologies under discussion, and (c) provide hypermedia links to related background information.
• Beginning with Volume 7, Number 1, Language Learning & Technology is indexed in the exclusive Institute for Scientific Information's (ISI) Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), ISI Alerting Services, Social Scisearch, and Current Contents/Social and Behavioral Sciences.
• Language Learning & Technology is currently published three times per year (February, June, and October).
  

I would recommend the free on-line LLT journal to all teachers of ESL. I browsed many of the back issues and found that the CALL topics were diverse and relevant, and the archives were easy to navigate. One article that caught my eye reviewed the development of research in the area of m-learning, also known as mobile assisted language learning, or MALL (Chinnery, 2006). The use of cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and i-Pods in regular and ESL instruction is starting to surface in pedagogical conversations and debates, and, although this is an under-researched area, it was interesting to read a summary of what research has found so far. As a teacher of teenagers, this is a very relevant topic!

A HUGE bonus on the LLT site is the section listing CALL thesis papers from the years 2000-2009. I am particularly interested in checking out a thesis entitled, "The effects of computer-assisted language learning on English language learners with and without disabilities in an elementary school setting" (Beaird, 2007).

Anyways, enjoy your browsing on LLT...I know that everyone in the ESL field will find something of interest in the CALL research sited here!