by Jarek Krajka

Department of Applied Linguistics

Maria Curie-Sklodowska University

Lublin, Poland

jkrajka@batory.plo.lublin.pl

After the May issue of Teaching English with Technology devoted exclusively to electronic dictionaries and various aspects of using these in teaching and learning English, we have the pleasure of providing our readers with the new issue of the Journal covering a wide range of topics and not grouped around one central theme.

As you have surely noticed, the Journal started appearing in a somewhat changed frequency - it has turned out that publishing a new issue every two months, as was the case with the previous nine issues, was slightly too ambitious a task, and it has been decided to publish the Journal quarterly, in January, April, July and October, rather than bi-monthly. It is hoped that due to that measure the readers will get materials of even better quality than before.

This issue of the Journal contains slight column changes. One is the fact that "Software Review" column has been renamed "Software" simply, in order not to limit its scope to reviews only, but to encompass also studies on the use of software in language teaching, as well as other materials on computer programs in ELT. You are heartily invited to contribute to that old/new column. Another slight change is the one from "Website Reviews" to "On the Web", so that it might be possible to publish also materials of different kinds, grouped around the Internet for teaching and learning purposes. It is our belief that thanks to these modifications the Journal will provide a greater variety of publications to satisfy our readers' expectations.

As usually, you are all invited to contribute to the Journal in the sections already existing, but also, more importantly, to suggest new ways of its development, such as adding new sections, covering new areas, focusing on some selected problems in thematic issues of the Journal. We want to stress the fact that Teaching English with Technology is made FOR the English language teaching community, and the editors are ready to consider all suggestions working towards the improvement of the Journal.

The original intention of the Journal editorial team was to make Teaching English with Technology the place to publish works of teachers and students. It is still so, and reviewers try to develop contributors' writing by giving helpful advice and highlighting some areas to work on. Thus, academic teachers teaching CALL to students are asked to encourage them to submit their works to TEwT.

The current issue of the Journal provides a fairly wide perspective of CALL issues. The article "Web-Based Project Learning and EFL Learners - A Chinese Example" by Peiya Gu addresses the question of whether Web-based project learning can enhance students' motivation, improve their learning performance and initiate their active roles in electronic literacy development. The study is based in a Chinese EFL context, but the methods used by the author will be certainly applicable in other environments as well.

William Shakespeare and his works are a great theme for English lessons, and this powerful influence is exploited by Iwona Filip in her "World Wide William - A Shakespeare Project". This is a series of lessons focusing on different aspects of the Bard's life and works, and students are engaged in a variety of activities using different Shakespearean websites and online dictionaries. Another text in the Internet Lesson Plans section, "Finding Proverbs on the Web" by Shiao-Chuan Kung, is intended to familiarise EFL students with some proverbs in the English language, as well as to show them how to work on their own on self-study quizzes websites.

In A Word from a Techie, the humble undersigned, Jarek Krajka, addresses the issue of computerised marking of students' written assignments. The author looks at the problem from two points of view - one of a dedicated software called Markin, the other involving the use of a widely available word processor. As usual, the paper is a step-by-step instruction on how to use the two programs in marking student work on the computer.

On the Web section features a review of Hot English Magazine written by Guo Shesen. The author looks at the website from the general point of view, making an overview with a special focus on such issues as accuracy, authority, currency, objectivity, content; from a learner's point of view (Learner Fit) and a teacher's perspective (Teacher Fit). The review concludes with an example classroom activity using Hot English Magazine, whose aim is to build word power and reading comprehension.

The slightly changed "Software" section (previously "Software Review") contains a short article by Hee-Jung Jung entitled "Uses of Educational Software by ESL Parents in the United States". The author presents the results of a small-scale study trying to discover how parents examined teach their children English at home and what materials they use, as well as to check whether ESL parents get any benefits by working with such software for teaching their children English and how they use them.

Finally, the Journal includes a report from IVth International Conference Media and Education in the Time of Integration combined with the Poznan International Fair and announcements of a few international conferences and workshops.

I wish you good reading.