Social Spaces for Language Learning

Garold Murray is an associate professor in the Language Education Center at Okayama University, Japan. He has published widely on the subject of autonomy in language learning and is currently pursuing research interests in social learning spaces, the semiotics of place, and imagination in language learning. Naomi Fujishima is a professor in the Language Education Center at Okayama University, Japan. Her interest in learner autonomy and student motivation stems from her years of teaching in Japan and the US. She has been actively involved in the Japan Association for Language Teaching for the past 25 years.

Review 1 - David Gardner, University of Hong Kong 1)In your own words, please provide a short outline of the project This book project is important in two ways. Firstly, it begins the task of documenting and understanding a relatively new phenomenon in the field of out of class language learning. Secondly, it is unique in bringing together a range of writers who are all involved with one single Social Language Learning Space but in different capacities. To see the diverse perspectives of learners, teachers and administrators will provide a richer understanding of the impact of that learning space. This triangulated approach is a hallmark of good research practice as well as providing a more interesting read. The book will provide an appropriate balance of theoretical and practical discussion because it promises to situate the context within the applied linguistics literature while at the same time providing discussion on issues relating to establishing and running the space. The input from students involved with the L-cafe is an excellent move because, as has been discovered in other out-of-class learning research, students' perceptions and attitudes are paramount to success. Keeping students' contributions short will ensure they are punchy and interesting. I suspect the icing on the cake with this book will be the final chapter. Although not stated specifically I assume this will be written by one or both editors. I hope so because the topic and the sufficiently generous word length will allow for a thorough and exciting analysis. Although I am not familiar with the work of Naomi Fujishima, I am an admirer of Garold Murray's work and this chapter will provide him with exactly the right canvas to paint his best picture yet. 2)Of the different product categories outlined above, which do you feel this proposal best fits and why? This proposal seems to fit naturally into the pivot category because of word length and because it will balance academic rigor and practical insights. 3)Does this proposal offer a useful and/or original contribution to the field? Is it addressing any new/emerging areas? -Inclusion of student perspectives is relatively rare. -The combination of academic rigor and practical perspectives will be valuable to practitioners -Social spaces for language learning are fairly new and have been little researched 4)Does it adequately engage with recent scholarship? Does it take existing scholarship forward? The whole book is one big narrative enquiry and Garold Murray does that very well. I have no doubt that it will be rigorously conducted in this book. 5)What are the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal? You may wish to consider structure, organisation, coherence and presentation of material; scope, coverage and breadth of appeal or degree of specialisation; whether there are any obvious omissions; timeliness and likely shelf-life of the research; what proportion of the work, if any, will require substantial re-working? Are any suggested improvements fundamental to the project's success or discretionary matters which might be addressed after the project has been accepted? This is a well-structured project. It arises from a long ethnographic study which suggests that the project is based in solid research. The idea of giving an authorial voice to participants who may otherwise have simply been research subjects is a wonderful approach. It is slowly gaining popularity, see for example Gardner and Miller (2014) which includes data presented in a series of case studies written by self-access centre managers some of whom are not well known as academic writers. Using less well experienced authors, particularly in this case the student writers, is a potential point of weakness but I feel certain the editors will turn it into a strength. While including inexperienced authors need not be an academic weakness there is potential for the relative absence of authors well-known outside Japan to make the book less attractive to potential purchasers. I hope the authors will forgive my perception of their level of fame within the field. My feeling is that the name of Garold Murray would be enough to avoid this but it may be something to be addressed in advertising and in designing the cover. In terms of the text I have one small suggestion the editors and authors might consider. It is too small to be called a weakness and it is probably unfair to even raise this on the basis of short chapter abstracts. However, I will as it may prove to be useful. I notice hints in some of the chapter descriptions that not everything went perfectly and this is to be expected. I suggest that a little more of this self-criticality would be a bonus if it could be incorporated where appropriate in other chapters. Glimpses of what went wrong or what remains to be addressed will strengthen the book. Because this book will appear near the beginning of a phase of interest in social language learning spaces, and because it is likely to be well written it has the potential to endure as a classic. As a study of a specific situation at a specific time it is not a book which will need constant tweaking (like, for example, a textbook). It may indeed create a space for a follow up book in some years' time which looks back over a period of development for which this book was the starting point. 6)Do you feel the author/editor is suitably qualified to produce a high quality book on this topic? Absolutely. Garold Murray has a commendable track record and he also has prior experience of working with Naomi Fujishima. 7)If you are aware that the book is being considered for inclusion in a specific series, please comment on its suitability for that series. Not aware 8)Who would you anticipate the main readership of this book to be (in terms of field and level)? I concur with the points made by the editors under this topic in the proposal. I believe it will be an important book for colleagues involved in work relating to learner autonomy, independent learning and self-access learning. This is an increasingly large group of people. 9)Would this title be suitable for the student market as a core text? If so, would you adopt/recommend this book for any courses you teach? I do not see this as a textbook but as an important resource in Masters of Applied Linguistics or TESOL courses and in Faculty of Education undergraduate and postgraduate courses. 10)Is this book likely to have interdisciplinary and/or international appeal? There is potential for some interdisciplinary appeal perhaps education, applied linguistics, language teaching and some areas of social science research (specifically those interested in narrative enquiry). Definitely an international appeal. Interest in learner autonomy is global. 11)Would this title be suitable/essential reading for a practitioner or policymakers market? If so, please let us know if there are any organisations, institutions or professional networks that would be interested in the work. Markets are as stated above. Professional organisations in which to disseminate information about the book: TESOL and its affiliates, IATEFL, HASALD, JALT, AILA, the ILA biennial conference 12)How does this proposal compare to the main competing titles in this area in terms of quality of writing and content? CONTENT: There is probably no other publication that would directly compete given the very focused nature of this proposed book. It would complement the publications mentioned by the editors in their proposal. QUALITY OF WRITING: it is difficult to judge from the short descriptions of chapters in the proposal how well each author will write. However, given Garold Murray's track record and his known pursuit of excellence it seems likely that the expectations placed on writers will be appropriately high. 13)Would you recommend: I unreservedly recommend publishing this book in the format as proposed. It will be an important addition to the literature in the field and I look forward to reading it. Review 2 - Moira Hobbs, Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand General 1)In your own words, please provide a short outline of the project This book provides a variety of views from practitioners, researchers, managers and learners about social learning spaces dedicated to language learning through informed interactions. It sets the scene by describing the context and giving a literature overview, then a practical description of how a particular space has been developed. It includes administrators', teachers' and students' perspectives and concludes with how this feeds into current theory and practice, and some ideas for future research. 2)Of the different product categories outlined above, which do you feel this proposal best fits and why? I think it fits well with Palgrave Pivot series, as it is a composite of a variety of smaller chapters ranging from 1500-7000 word contributions, with the total being 45-50,000 words. It is a scholarly proposal, about an academic subject, yet it should still have a general readership and be very useful for undergraduate audiences and educators. Proposal 3)Does this proposal offer a useful and/or original contribution to the field? Is it addressing any new/emerging areas? This is certainly pertinent to the discipline at the moment - it is a rapidly changing teaching and learning environment in many of our institutions right around the world, so is very topical. Discussions about use of places and spaces for learning are relatively new in terms of language learner autonomy as well, and is an exciting new area to delve into. 4)Does it adequately engage with recent scholarship? Does it take existing scholarship forward? Yes, I think it is of great interest just now to many of us as we are all thinking about new teaching and learning models, particularly as physical space is an issue for many institutions and as out-of-class learning and elearning is gaining prominence. It is a logical continuation of discussions among peers at recent applied linguistics conferences. 5)What are the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal? This is very timely for the current educational climate we are all living and working in, and I think will be of great interest to many language learning advisors, teachers and managers of learning support centres around the world. It is also great to hear personal voices of some people actively engaged in this piece of work. You may wish to consider structure, organisation, coherence and presentation of material; The overall structure is logical and seems to flow naturally for the reader scope, coverage and breadth of appeal or degree of specialisation; The fact that it is centred around a Japanese university experience may seem rather limited, but I think the concepts will have general appeal and applicability. whether there are any obvious omissions; timeliness and likely shelf-life of the research; This piece of work should have longevity 'on the shelf' as it is one of the first publications solely addressing this new and emerging research area of space, place and autonomy in language learning. what proportion of the work, if any, will require substantial re-working? Are any suggested improvements fundamental to the project's success or discretionary matters which might be addressed after the project has been accepted? 6)Do you feel the author/editor is suitably qualified to produce a high quality book on this topic? Yes, Garold Murray and Naomi Fujishima are very well placed to be editors of this volume - Garold in particular has led the field for some time now, especially in his work with Terry Lamb at the recent AILA (International Applied Linguistics Conference) Research network symposium on this topic, which they convened in Brisbane earlier this year. Both Garold and Naomi are well respected in the field for their work, their previous presentations and their publications. 7)If you are aware that the book is being considered for inclusion in a specific series, please comment on its suitability for that series. Refer to my answer to 2) above Market and Competition 8)Who would you anticipate the main readership of this book to be (in terms of field and level)? I think that researchers and practitioners interested in and involved with language learner support, and managing aspects of general learner support at institutions, would all be interested in this. It would also be of interest to classroom teachers and teacher trainees. 9)Would this title be suitable for the student market as a core text? If so, would you adopt/recommend this book for any courses you teach? This would probably be better as a core text for language Teacher Education students rather than regular language classroom students 10)Is this book likely to have interdisciplinary and/or international appeal? Yes. I think it will have interest for secondary level teachers and managers as well as tertiary level professionals. It would be useful information and ideas for most language teachers (ESOL and other languages) all around the world, for languages being taught both as a foreign language and a second language. There has been some research and presentations in this field by architecture researchers already, so this book about study spaces for students could well be of interest to them as well. 11)Would this title be suitable/essential reading for a practitioner or policymakers market? If so, please let us know if there are any organisations, institutions or professional networks that would be interested in the work. It would be very useful for all people involved with designing language courses and using learning facilities - especially staff working in the area of student learning support (in most tertiary institutions worldwide) and blended learning. 12)How does this proposal compare to the main competing titles in this area in terms of quality of writing and content? As this is a relatively new area, there is not much to compare it with except Conference Proceedings etc., but I know that Garold is a well-respected researcher and writer, and an expert in the field of social language learning spaces (SLLS). Recommendation 13)Would you recommend: a)we publish this book as it stands or after minor revisions As this is at the proposal stage, 13) a) is not really applicable. However, that said, the format proposed looks well thought through and coherent. b)revising the proposal and resubmitting c)rejecting the proposal Thank you. Response to the Reviews: This is very good news. I am impressed by the reviews.

• Introduction 1. Exploring a Social Space for Language Learning; Garold Murray and Naomi FujishimaPART I: ADMINISTRATORS' PERSPECTIVES 2. Creating the L-café: An Administrator's Standpoint; Makoto Tahara3. Five Years at the L-café: The Secret of Its Success; Mariko Uzuka4. Management of L-café; Masumi FujimotoPART II: TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES5. What I Learned From Working at the L-Café; Bob Lamitie6. Writing Tutorials at the L-café; Masumi Igarashi7. Providing Study Abroad Advice as a Viable Use of Social Learning Spaces; Thomas Fast8. Optimizing Affordances: Developing a 'Digital Habitat' for the L-café; Claire UchidaPART III: STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVES9. The Door to the L-café, the Door to the World; Naoko Nakamoto10. My Life in the L-café from Different Angles; Kanako Miyake 11. L-café: The International Home; Kelly Ho12. Defining Experience through the L-café; Daniel Tangonan13. The Dark Side of L-café; Yosuke Hino14. MyCritical Thoughts on English-Café and the L-Café; Saburo Fukuba15. How I Got Involved with the L-café; Yu Miura16. Fulfilling Time at the L-café; Yuya Tanimoto17. L-café: The Source of My Motivation to Study English; Kazunori Kuwada18. Understanding Social Spaces for Language Learning; Garold Murray and Naomi Fujishima