Editorial

1 We wish to thank our colleagues all over the world for acting as reviewers of these manuscripts. All final decisions were, however, ultimately

ours e as editors.

www.elsevier.com/locate/system

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

System 39 (2011) 281e2890346-251X/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Introduction to Beliefs about SLA revisited

Abstract

This article serves as an introduction to this second special issue of System on Beliefs about Second Language Acquisition (SLA)held by learners and/or teachers of foreign languages in a variety of contexts all over the world, and it compares and contrasts theempirical studies included in the issue. In sharp contrast to the first special System issue on beliefs about SLA, most of the studiesreported in this issue draw on sociocultural theory, make use of more than one type of data, and can be characterized as qualitative innature. In addition, the studies tend to view beliefs as variable and fixed, and focus on changes in these and/or on the interactionbetween beliefs and learner or teacher actions, acknowledging their relationship to be a complex one. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Beliefs about SLA; Review; Empirical studies

1. Introduction

Beliefs about Second Language Acquisition (SLA) have intrigued applied linguists since the mid-1980s, startingwith the pioneering work of Elaine Horwitz (1985) and Anita Wenden (1986). Since then, we have seen an increasedinterest in this topic in the field of Applied Linguistics, culminating in a colloquium on beliefs about SLA at AILA1999, an international conference in Tokyo, and a special issue of System published the same year (Wenden, 1999).This was later followed by an edited collection e mostly e on language learner beliefs (Kalaja and Barcelos, 2003),illustrating alternative approaches, and a comprehensive review of language teacher beliefs (Borg, 2006).

This issue is an attempt to revisit beliefs about SLA a dozen years after the publication of the first special issue ofSystem. This coincides with the first time that an encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics will include entries on learnerand teacher beliefs about SLA (Barcelos and Kalaja, in press; Kalaja and Barcelos, in press). In response to our call forpapers on beliefs about SLA for this second special issue of System, we received nearly 100 abstract submissions (withanother dozen submitted after the deadline), of which 20 full-length manuscripts competed for inclusion,1 and 11 werefinally accepted after having been peer-reviewed by two or three experts and revised accordingly.

With the introduction of sociocultural theory or a sociocultural approach to research on beliefs about SLA (a recentoff-shoot of the contextual approach, as we have argued elsewhere) it has been realized that some beliefs held bylanguage learners e or teachers e are more important than others, as pointed out by Alanen (2003): once beliefs (ormetacognitive knowledge) turn into mediational means, these can have an effect on learners e or teacherse and theiractions, and in the case of learners either enhance their learning of languages or prevent them from learning them. Thedoi:10.1016/j.system.2011.07.001

Yang and Kim, 2011; Mercer, 2011), self-reports (Navarro and Thornton, 2011), language learning histories, video-

themselves have been processed in various ways (see Table 1), ranging from content analysis (often following theprinciples of grounded theory) to thematic or discursive analysis of sorts; and from basic statistical analysis (Pan and

282 Editorial / System 39 (2011) 281e289Block, 2011) to metaphor analysis (Wan et al., 2011). In the past, research on beliefs relied on an etic perspective, butall papers in this collection emphasize an emic or even an epic perspective (Negueruela-Azarola, 2011). An epicrecordings of classroom sessions, informal conversations, drawings (Aragao, 2011), stimulated recall tasks (Yang andKim, 2011), classroom observation (Peng, 2011; De Costa, 2011), school artifacts (De Costa, 2011), postings to an on-line discussion forum (Negueruela-Azarola, 2011, p. 360e361) sentence-completion tasks (Woods and Cakr, 2011;Wan et al., 2011), and questionnaires (Navarro and Thornton, 2011; Pan and Block, 2011). Of the data collectionmethods, drawings and metaphors have so far been little used in research on beliefs about SLA, but these have provento be of great value (see Barata, 2006; Kalaja et al., 2008; Kramsch, 2003; Menezes, 2008).

The contexts and subjects of the studies are as varied as the types of instruments used (for details, see Table 1). Thisissue contains papers on Japanese learners in a university self-directed language learning setting (Navarro andThornton, 2011), teacher trainees on a Brazilian university language teacher education program (Aragao, 2011),Chinese learners learning English at a university (Peng, 2011) and their teachers (Pan and Block, 2011; Wan et al.,2011), two Korean students in study abroad contexts (the U.S. and the Philippines) (Yang and Kim, 2011),a student studying English and Spanish at an Austrian university (Mercer, 2011), a Chinese student in a Singaporesecondary school (De Costa, 2011), in-service teachers at a U.S. university (Negueruela-Azarola, 2011), six Britishteacher trainees at a British university (Borg, 2011), six teachers of foreign languages in Turkish schools (Woods andCakr, 2011).

The data collected from the specific groups of learners and/or teachers in the specific contexts where they findstudies reported in this volume complement nicely previous studies on learner or teacher beliefs within this framework(e.g., Aro, 2009; Johnson, 2009).

2. Overview of the special issue

If the focus in the mid-1980s was on understanding what students and teachers believed about the languagelearning process, now, as the collection of papers in this issue shows, the focus seems to be on how beliefs develop,fluctuate and interact with actions, emotions, identities or affordances and how they are constructed within the micro-and macro-political contexts of learning and teaching languages. The papers in this issue go beyond describing beliefsand focus on how beliefs become appropriated and negotiated in interaction with significant others. In this way, thesepapers present some original insights and complement the collection of papers edited by Kalaja and Barcelos (2003),which characterized beliefs as dynamic, complex and contradictory. As wewill see, in describing the nature of beliefs,most authors in this issue draw on the contextual approach (Barcelos, 2003; Kalaja and Barcelos, in press) and depictbeliefs along the same lines. Yet, beliefs are also seen as increasingly complex, fluctuating, appropriated and related toaffordances. The collection of papers in this issue gives us a much more complex view of beliefs than previously.

This issue contains two stance papers illustrated with data samples, and nine empirical studies. In the followingsections, we will review the different studies, discussing their research methodology, the nature of beliefs, a socio-cultural approach to beliefs and the relationship between beliefs, change and actions (for details, see Table 1).

2.1. Research methodology

Since its beginnings in the mid-1980s, research on learner beliefs has mostly relied on questionnaires with Likert-scale answers, making use of a quantitative and descriptive research methodology. This issue, however, containspapers that are, for the most part, qualitative in nature, drawing on the contextual approach (Barcelos, 2003), and ofthese quite a number were conducted within a sociocultural framework (see Section 2.4).

Data have been collected for the studies reported in this issue in various ways (see Table 1). An interview withopen-ended questions seems to be the most common instrument used. However, most of the papers combine inter-viewing with one or more of the following: learning journals (Navarro and Thornton, 2011; Aragao, 2011; Peng, 2011;perspective to beliefs means

Table 1

Summary of the papers reported in this special issue of System.

Paper Perspective Type of study Focus of study Context Data collection

Approach Subjects Data analysis

Navarro and

Thornton (2011)

e Emic

e Contextual

Longitudinal case

study; qualitative

Possible changes in beliefs and

actions in relation to self-directed

language learning

(or more specifically, the

implementation of study plans) and

interaction with advisors

e Japan, university,

learning self-directed

language learning skills

e Two students (out of a

total of 18) and their two

advisors; studying English

e Learning journals,

advising sessions, self-

reports, two questionnaires

e Content analysis of an

intensity sample, i.e. the

two students

Aragao (2011) e Emic Longitudinal case

study; qualitative

Possible changes in beliefs about

oneself as a learner

in relation to classmates

and emotions (e.g. embarrassment,

shyness)

eBrazil, university

e Three teacher trainees

(out of seven who had

volunteered); studying

English

e Language learning

histories, video-recordings

of classroom sessions,

learning journals, interviews

and informal conversations,

drawings

e Contextual,

discursive

e Narrative analysis

Peng (2011) e Emic Longitudinal case

study; qualitative.

Possible changes in beliefs about

learning and teaching EFL, including

types of activities preferred,

learning/teaching goals (mediated by

classroom affordances) while

transferring from high

school to university.

e China, university.

e One first-year universitystudent (out of a total of

four), studying English.

e Interviews, classroom

observation, learning

journalse Contextual, or more

specifically,

ecological/

Sociocultural theory.

e Content analysis

Yang and Kim

(2011)

e Emic Longitudinal case

study; qualitative

Possible changes in beliefs e.g. about

goals in learning English in relation

to action(s) while studying abroad

e Study abroad in the

U.S. and the Philippines

e Language learning

histories, learning journals,

interviews, stimulated

recall tasks

e Contextual, or more

specifically,

Sociocultural theory

e Two Korean students,one (male) majoring in

Electronics, the other

(female) in Special

Education; studying English

e Content analysis based

on the principles of

Grounded theory

Mercer (2011) e Emic Longitudinal case

study; qualitative

Possible stability and/or changes in

beliefs about oneself as a learner (or

self-beliefs) in relation to ones self-

concept

e Austria, university e Learning journals,

interviewse Contextual more

specifically,

Complexity theory

e One student, studying

English and Spanish e Content analysis basedon the principles of

Grounded theory

(continued on next page)

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289

Table 1 (continued )

Paper Perspective Type of study Focus of study Context Data collection

Approach Subjects Data analysis

De Costa (2011) e Emic Stance paper with

illustrative data

samples from an

ethnographic

study

Language ideology and positioning

(instead of beliefs) concerning the

model/goals in learning and teaching

English in this specific context

e Singapore, secondary

school

e Classroom observations,

interviews, school artifactse Contextual,discursive e One Chinese student (out

of five immigrant students)

and her teachers, studying

English

e Coding following Strauss

and Corbin: within-case and

cross-case analyses

Negueruela-Azarola

(2011)

e Epic Case study;

qualitative

Personal beliefs (viewed as

conceptualizing activity) in relation

to theoretical knowledge and

pedagogical practice

e U.S., university

e A teacher trainee (in-

service teacher)

e Postings to an on-line

discussion forum (in addition

to other types of data)

e Contextual, or more

specifically,

Sociocultural theory e Thematic analysis in terms

of thesis, anti-thesis and

synthesis

Borg (2011) e Emic Longitudinal casestudy; qualitative

Possible changes in beliefs about

teaching English (and increased

awareness of and/or an ability to

express these) as a result of taking a

course in language teacher education

e U.K., university e Interviews, coursework,tutor feedbacke Contextual e Six teacher trainees (or in-

service language teachers)

out of 12

e Qualitative thematic

analysis: cyclical and

summative

Woods and Cakr

(2011)

e Emic Stance paper with

illustrative data

samples

Possible changes in teachers

knowledge (with two dimensions:

impersonal vs. personal; theoretical

vs. practical; and including beliefs)

of communicativeness in language

teaching e leading to understandingthrough personal reflection

e Turkey, schools

e Six teachers of foreign

languages

e Sentence-completion task

and interviews, commenting

on video-recordings of EAP

activities and lessons

regarding their

communicativeness, etc.

e Contextual

e Thematic analysis

Pan and Block (2011) e Emic Descriptive study Beliefs about English as a language

to be learned and taught (including

its status, motivation to study the

language and focus in teaching the

language) held by students and

teachers in relation to two discourses

about the English language in this

context (i.e., globalization and

instrumental value)

e China, university e Questionnaire and

interviewse Contextual, or morespecifically,

Sociocultural

theory/Dialogism

e University studentsstudying English (N 637)and EFL teachers (N 53)

e Basic statistical analysis;

discourse analysis of topics

Wan et al. (2011) e Emic Descriptive study Beliefs about teachers roles held by

students and teachers and possible

mismatches from one group to

another, and consequent willingness

e on the part of the teachers e to

change their teaching practices

e China, university

e First- and third-year

university students (N 32and 33) and EFL teachers

(N 33)

e Sentence-completion task

An English teacher is .because . and interviewswith teachers

e Contextual, or more

specifically,

Sociocultural theory

e Metaphor analysis

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289

stable and dynamic; b) social, but personally significant; c) situated, yet generalizable; d) dialectical, i.e., they

4) Inrehabear

285Editorial / System 39 (2011) 281e289trinsically related to other affective constructs such as emotions and self-concepts: Beliefs are intrinsicallylated to emotions. Emotions such as fear, embarrassment, or self-esteem can be related to the beliefs a learners about him- or herself and can influence his or her actions (Aragao, 2011). Self-concept as a subset of self-liefs can have a tremendous influence on how learners approach the language learning task. Learners beliefstranscend the dichotomy between cognitive and social, ideas and actions; orienting the significance ofactivity but not determining the outcomes in a causal fashion; e) transformative and f) inter-related,embedded, non-linear, multidimensional and multilayered (Mercer, 2011). This is in accordance with whatKramsch (2003) has stated earlier on: a contextualized view of beliefs should take into account variability,contingency and inconsistency (p. 111).

3) Related to the micro- and macro-political contexts and discourses, as also pointed out recently by Gao (2010):Beliefs are socially historical and political products, connected to the broad socio-political contexts (De Costa,2011; Pan and Block, 2011; Negueruela-Azarola, 2011). Beliefs may even be referred to by other terms such aslanguage ideologies. By these De Costa (2011, p. 352) understands (1) ideas about the nature of language itself;(2) the values and meanings attached to particular codes; (3) hierarchies of linguistic value; and (4) the way thatspecific linguistic codes are connected to identities and stances.. Language ideologies are closely connected tolearner/teacher identities and group talk (De Costa, 2011).beliefs as transpection or thinking through in the activity of understanding the world and oneself. That isindeed the epic of human development. Human beings construct and use conceptualizations that are relevant toexplicating their practices in ways that are significant because of who they are, where they are, and what theywant to do in a specific situation (Negueruela-Azarola, 2011, p. 362).

Beliefs, according to Negueruela-Azarola (2011) are viewed as categories of meaning used for thinking in theactivity of understanding the world and oneself (p. 362).

In sum, the research methodology of the papers in this issue is an indication of the complexity of doing research onbeliefs. The papers are mostly case studies, with the number of subjects ranging from one to half a dozen. In thosestudies that can be characterized as descriptive (Pan and Block, 2011; Wan et al., 2011) the numbers are bigger, but notyet big enough to be subjected to rigorous statistical or quantitative analysis. Interestingly, we also see a move fromESL to EFL countries as contexts of learning and/or teaching the language. Almost all the papers have used more thanone instrument, often multiple instruments, reflecting the fact that the methodology has to be sensitive enough tocapture the complex nature of beliefs. In addition, the use of different theoretical frameworks in several papers such asthe biology of knowing by Maturana (Aragao, 2011) and the sociocultural framework adds to the alternativeapproaches that portray beliefs as mediated in interaction and influencing affordances.

2.2. The nature of beliefs

The papers in this issue confirm what has been pointed out by Kalaja and Barcelos (2003) about the nature ofbeliefs: they are context-dependent, in a number of cases variable even within one and the same context or over timeeand at the same time constante complex, discursively constructed through negotiation, dynamic and contradictory. Inaddition, the papers in this issue emphasize beliefs to be:

1) Fluctuating: In other words, the same person can hold different beliefs about the same aspect related to SLA atdifferent times or during short periods in their lives. The fluctuation is influenced by significant others, micro-and macro-political contexts, emotions and self-concept. In sum, beliefs are known to have a complex trajectorypermeated by changes, being thus emergent (Peng, 2011).

2) Complex and dialectical: Beliefs are characterized by Mercer (2011, p. 343) as a complex dynamic systemrather than determined by a simple cause-and-effect relationship or defined by the change/stability dichotomy.Some more general global self-beliefs may appear to be less immediately influenced by context (Mercer,2011, p. 343). In fact, as Negueruela-Azarola (2011, p. 360e361) puts it, beliefs are both stable andchanging. A complex view of beliefs acknowledges their paradoxical nature portraying them as being both a)e mediated by their affective dimensions (emotions and self-concept) (Mercer, 2011).

Positioning is yet another concept that relates to beliefs. According to De Costa (2011, p.350), positioning refers tohow a learner positions him- or herself as well as others vis-a`-vis the identity he or she wants to construct or perform in

286 Editorial / System 39 (2011) 281e289a conversation. How learners position themselves influences the kinds of beliefs that they may construct, refine andreinforce. Theymay use other positioning, self-positioning, first other positioning and strategic positioning toreinforce their own beliefs or those of other people. Thus, language ideologies are closely connected to identities andto group talk. As De Costa (2011) explains, positioning theory can allow us to examine how learners discursivepositionings shape their beliefs and subsequently influence their learning outcomes (p. 350). This theory highlightsthe intrinsic relationship between beliefs and identity as well as agency.

Based on the pioneering work of Alanen (2003) and Dufva (2003) within a sociocultural or dialogic approach tobeliefs, the concept of belief appropriation is taken up by authors such as Peng (2011), and Navarro and Thornton(2011), to refer to how we appropriate beliefs from others. This is similar to what Kramsch (2003) has defined asbelief ascription, i.e., how beliefs are attributed to self or others (p. 111). According to Yang and Kim (2011), onlyappropriated beliefs can be used as an effective mediational tool that enables learners to sustain motivated L2learning (p. 331).

2.4. Beliefs, change and actions

Most of the papers in this issue focus on belief change (Navarro and Thornton, 2011; Aragao, 2011; Peng, 2011;5) Other-oriented: Beliefs are influenced by significant others who can affect a persons decisions to incorporatenew beliefs or reinforce old ones (Navarro and Thornton, 2011).

6) Influenced by reflection and affordances: Beliefs may change or be refined as individuals have the chance toreflect on them; they are triggered by affordances and mediated by emotions as well as the socio-historicalcontexts (Negueruela-Azarola, 2011; Woods and Cakr, 2011; Borg, 2011; Mercer, 2011; De Costa, 2011).

7) Related to knowledge in intricate ways: teacher knowledge (or under-standings) is dynamic, situated, andcontextualized. It is a process (Woods and Cakr, 2011). Teachers understand knowledge through the inter-pretation of their own experiences and through reflection on those experiences. Teachers own practicalknowledge can become articulated and theorized through reflection on practice. According to Woods and Cakr(2011), new understandings evolve first by going beyond the terms and developing personal conceptionsthrough experience, and then by re-theorizing them through verbal articulation, and sharing them throughrhetorical expression (p. 389).

8) Related to action in complex ways: As pointed out above and discussed in the literature (Borg, 2006; Kalaja andBarcelos, 2003; Woods, 1996), the relationship between beliefs and actions is not a causal one. Rather, it isdynamic; it is intrinsically mediated by affordances, ones interpretations of ones own actions, emotions, andself-concepts; and it is influenced by the socio-historical contexts (see Section 2.4).

2.3. A sociocultural approach to beliefs

The sociocultural framework has emerged as a complementary path to exploring beliefs as contextually situatedsocial meaning emerging in specific sense-making activities (Negueruela-Azarola, 2011, p. 368). Several papers inthis issue have used a sociocultural framework to investigate beliefs (Negueruela-Azarola, 2011; Yang and Kim, 2011;Peng, 2011; De Costa, 2011). These papers emphasize how beliefs act as mediators in cognition, in change and in themacro-political context.

Beliefs play a role in mediating negotiation, change and motivation, claim Yang and Kim (2011). They use the termbelief fluctuation to refer to how beliefs change according to learners participation and interaction in differentcontexts. Thus, beliefs can also act as scaffold to students participation in a study abroad context. Yang and Kim talkabout the concept of remediation to explain the relationship between learners beliefs and their environment.

The concept of affordance is used by Peng (2011) to explain how beliefs can be mediated. Affordances arerelational and dependent on learners perceptions of the environment. According to the author, Local classroomaffordances (such as meaning-focused activities, familiar topics, support from the teacher and peers, teachingmethods, and lesson goals) can give rise to the emergence of learner beliefs (p. 321).Yang and Kim, 2011; Mercer, 2011; Borg, 2011; Woods and Cakr, 2011). Belief change is described as complex and

abandon) L2 goals or to remediate their L2 learning process (p. 332). In other words, learners beliefs seem to playa crucial role in their agentive efforts to engineer their environment toward their language learning process. In this

287Editorial / System 39 (2011) 281e289effort, reflection is decisive.Reflection plays an important role in belief change. Four papers deal with this aspect of teacher beliefs (Woods and

Cakr, 2011; Negueruela-Azarola, 2011; Aragao, 2011; Borg, 2011). Woods and Cakr (2011) emphasize thatknowledge becomes articulated as we become aware of it and are able to personalize it through our own experiences.According to the authors, when a teacher reflects on practice, and begins to articulate his or her practicalknowledge, it begins to be theorized and to inform his or her theoretical knowledge (p. 389).

Negueruela-Azarola (2011) sees belief change and reflection as processes that are part of conceptual mediation.Belief change can be equated with transforming beliefs, by engaging learners in a process that promotes the emer-gence of their beliefs in sense-making activity (p. 360). Aragaos (2011) study shows how beliefs and emotions canbe changed through reflection. Through reflection, student teachers were able to distinguish and observe their ownemotions and their own interpretations of events and their ultimate consequences. Once again, this is not a cause-and-effect relationship, but a dynamic system since, students actions are not conditioned to the emotion present inreflection, but the student can move on to a new emotion under which other aspects present in the context can playa role in the learning dynamics (p. 311).

One of the most complex and intriguing aspects of research on teacher beliefs is how teacher education coursesaffect student teacher beliefs. Borg (2011) investigates this issue and concludes that teacher education courses do havean impact on teacher beliefs: they can a) strengthen or extend teachers beliefs; b) make their beliefs more apparentand help them verbalize them; c) help teachers to put their beliefs into practice and to develop links between beliefsand theory; and d) be the source of new beliefs for teachers. With some teachers in his study, however, change was notobserved and, according to Borg (2011), there may be several reasons for this: the teachers may have equated changewith radical change; or their beliefs may already have been in alignment with those promoted on the course; or thirdly,the course may have allowed them to think about their beliefs, without challenging or confronting them (possibly dueto limited opportunities for teachers to talk to each other).

There is also the question of the role of actions in belief change. How beliefs interact with actions has beena recurrent theme in research on beliefs and it is an important aspect in understanding belief change. In earlier researchon beliefs, this relationship was seen as a simple cause-and-effect relationship; as interactive, i.e., beliefs influenceactions but actions also influence beliefs; or as dissonant, in which case beliefs and actions may be discrepant due tocontextual factors (Barcelos, 2003, 2006).

We could say that the papers in this issue stress a complex relationship between beliefs and actions. Most papersrely on a sociocultural approach to beliefs and actions seeing beliefs as mediators of learners actions (Navarro andThornton, 2011). In addition, learners interpretations of their actions as well as their successful practice as rein-forcement can act to refine their emergent beliefs. In this sense, we can say that a belief trajectory develops throughones engagement or agency in interpreting ones actions and refining thoughts.

2.5. Future directions

Overall, the papers published in this issue have thrown further light on learner and teacher beliefs about variousaspects of SLA. The papers are concerned with the nature of these beliefs (for the most part in the form of case studiesand carried out within a sociocultural framework) and possible changes in beliefs (described by a number of terms)and viewing beliefs in relation to a variety of issues relevant in learning and teaching second or foreign languages,highlighting the dynamicity, complexity and context-dependency of these relationships. Future research could addressnuanced, and beliefs may change to reflect contextual changes or in terms of the emotions they trigger (Mercer,2011). The factors that influence change include the context, significant others (Navarro and Thornton, 2011), andthe emotions as modulating the beliefs constructed in interaction (Aragao, 2011; Mercer, 2011). Change is also closelytied to reflection and action.

Within a sociocultural approach to beliefs, Yang and Kim (2011) see changes in learner beliefs as a factor that canbring about a qualitative transformation in the relationship between the learner and the environment (p. 326).Accordingly, beliefs can promote an L2 remediation process, showing the learners agentive efforts to maintain (oror elaborate on some of the following issues: relationships between

Mercer, S., 2011. Language learner self-concept: complexity, continuity and change. System 39 (3), 335e346.

Navarro, D., Thornton, K., 2011. Investigating the relationship between belief and action in self-directed language learning. System 39 (3),

288 Editorial / System 39 (2011) 281e289290e301.

Negueruela-Azarola, E., 2011. Beliefs as conceptualizing activity: a dialectical approach for the second language classroom. System 39 (3),

359e369.

Pan, L., Block, D., 2011. English as a global language in China: an investigation into learners and teachers language beliefs. System 39 (3),

391e402.

Peng, J.-E., 2011. Changes in language learning beliefs during a transition to tertiary study: the mediation of classroom affordances. System 39

(3), 314e324.

Wan, W., David Low, G., Lib, M., 2011. From students and teachers perspectives: metaphor analysis of beliefs about EFL teachers roles. System

39 (3), 403e415.

Wenden, A., 1986. What do second-language learners think about learning. ELT Journal 40, 3e12.Wenden, A., (Ed.) 1999. System 44 (Special issue on beliefs about SLA).

Woods, D., 1996. Teacher Cognition in Language Teaching: Beliefs, Decision-making, and Classroom Practice. Cambridge University Press, beliefs and identities beliefs and emotions beliefs and motivation beliefs and agency within sociocultural theory,

with groups of subjects (including other stake-holders such as parents and Government officials as local and nationaldecision makers) and in different contexts (including homes, headmasters studies, Ministries of Education), andresearch methodologies refined. Alternatively, further studies could elaborate on or reconsider the theoretical startingpoints of research in this field. For example, complexity theory is addressed in only one paper in this special issue(Mercer, 2011), pointing thus to new directions in this field.

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Woods, D., Cakr, H., 2011. Two dimensions of teacher knowledge: the case of communicative language teaching. System 39 (3), 381e390.

Yang, J.-S., Kim, T.-Y., 2011. Sociocultural analysis of second language learner beliefs: a qualitative case study of two study-abroad ESL learners.

System 39 (3), 325e334.

Ana Maria Ferreira Barcelos*Federal University of Vicosa, Brazil

Paula KalajaUniversity of Jyvaskyla, Finland

E-mail address: paula.kalaja@jyu.fi

15 January 2011

*Corresponding author. Tel.: 55 31 3899 1585; fax: 55 31 3899 2410.E-mail address: anamfb@ufv.br

289Editorial / System 39 (2011) 281e289

Introduction to Beliefs about SLA revisited1 Introduction2 Overview of the special issue2.1 Research methodology2.2 The nature of beliefs2.3 A sociocultural approach to beliefs2.4 Beliefs, change and actions2.5 Future directions

References