Editorial

This eleventh issue of the Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal introduces significant changes to our publication in relation to its periodicity and the languages accepted for the publication of articles. The editorial and scientific committees consider it important to include articles in Spanish as well as in English on aspects that deal with applied linguistics issues in Colombia and the Americas. Equally relevant, the committees support the institutional decision to publish the journal twice a year, due to its local and national recognition in the academic community.

The efforts or the faculty of the Masters Program in Applied Linguistics to maintain a high quality publication for more than a decade were recognized publicly last December by the President of Universidad Distrital. In addition, the Center for Research and Scientific Development at Universidad Distrital has taken steps to support the publication of scientific journals which exist at the University and to work towards the creation of institutional policies that help the editors in their challenging job of preparing the publication and gaining wider visibility in international publication indexes. We believe that institutional recognition and support help to make building scientific communities possible by valuing their local production and promoting interaction with other communities on a global level.

The Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal wants to thank the authors from different parts of the world for their valuable contributions and the reviewers who belong to different academic communities in Colombia, Chile, Brasil, Mexico. The United States, and The United Kingdom for their permanent support in the decision making process that takes place in the selection, revision and editing of manuscripts that we receive every year. It is through them that we can recognize the value of what we do in language teacher education in Colombia. Thanks to the joint efforts of the members of the editorial and scientific committees in our publication, we are proud to be able to present to you this eleventh issue.

The six research experiences that authors provide us with in this issue illustrate the importance of home literacy practices for minority and majority children; a collaborative action research project that promotes authentic literate practices in a foreign language classroom; a critical perspective of the implications of a policy like NCLB in the United States and bilingual Colombia for teachers and learners; a study on the appropriateness for universities or junior colleges to set foreign language proficiency requirements; and a study on the appropriateness of using informational texts as suitable materials that prepare students to take standardized tests.

A theoretical discussion article offers an ecological perspective on minority and majority language and literacy communities in the Americas and a framework to understand literacy and biliteracy. Three pedagogical reflections from language teachers in their classroom address a successful experience using media as a medium of instruction and communication with secondary school students in EFL classrooms; a proposal to use inquiry as an option in the language classroom; and the linguistic challenges that graduate and undergraduate students experience when dealing with academic literacy.

For our readers we announce our following issue for March 2010 and invite classroom teachers, teacher educators and researchers to share teaching and research experiences in the form of research reports, theoretical discussions, theoretical reviews, or classrooms innovations with the CALJ audience, following the guidelines on page 151 or on our website: http://calj.udistrital.edu.co

Amparo Clavijo Olarte
Editor