Editorial / Éditorial

Regular readers of the Canadian Modern Language Review will note that this is the first editorial in several years that does not also bear the name of Larry Vandergrift. After two full mandates as co-editor and an additional year generously offered to ease the transition to a new editorial team, Larry has come to the end of his years of outstanding service to the CMLR. During his editorship, he worked with three co-editors: Sharon Lapkin from 2002 through 2004; Tracey Derwing from 2004 through 2007; and me during this past year. Under Larry's guidance, the quantity, diversity, and quality of the submissions to the CMLR have steadily increased, as have the international reputation of the journal and the quality of the reviews we are privileged to receive from an impressive range of national and international scholars in the field. Of his numerous contributions to the journal, particularly noteworthy is Larry's mentoring of new scholars, who often express gratitude for the personal encouragement and guidance he provides as they go through the challenging phases of revision involved in converting MA and PhD theses to publishable manuscripts. As a new editor, I too have been the recipient of those exceptional mentoring skills. Larry's extensive experience and wise counsel are always respectfully offered but never imposed, and I have benefited enormously from the collaboration of this past year. Larry has been a tireless ambassador for the journal; the new editorial team will have to work hard to represent CMLR as well as Larry has done over the years! Moving on from the CMLR editorship will allow Larry to devote more time to his numerous other professional activities, including the directorship of the Canadian Centre for Studies and Research in Bilingualism and Language Planning at the University of Ottawa. Hartelijk dank, Larry.

It is my pleasure to welcome Diane Dagenais, currently one of the two associate editors of the journal, as the new co-editor. Diane's nomination for the position was approved at the April 2007 board meeting. Diane is Professor and Associate Dean, Academic, in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC. Diane has been involved with the CMLR in various capacities over the years. She served on the board of the CMLR for six years as regional representative for British Columbia and the Yukon, and was a member of the executive as secretary-treasurer. She has twice guest edited special issues for CMLR: in 2002 Diane and Kelleen Toohey edited an issue on ethnography and language education (59:1), and this year she and Heather Lotherington edited an issue on multilingual literacies (65:1). Diane studies literacy practices among children of diverse language backgrounds, as well as the dynamics of multilingualism and language education for children and their immigrant parents. Her work has appeared in both French and English, in national and international publications. She has participated in several research networks, including the Metropolis Project Centres of Excellence for Research in Immigration and Integration, a Major Collaborative Research Initiative on Teaching Conditions in Canadian Schools, and the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. We are delighted to have her on board, and I look forward to working with her.

I would also like to extend a warm welcome to our new associate co-editor, Gladys Jean, professor in second language education at l'Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). In addition to her expertise in classroom-based research on the acquisition of French as a second language, Gladys also brings extensive experience in national organizations such as the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers (ACPLS / CASLT) and the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics (CAAL/ ACLA).

In this issue of the CMLR you will find three articles that explore participants' perspectives on different aspects of the language learning and teaching experience. Jeanne Rolin-Ianziti and Rachel Varshney examine the views of university-aged learners of French on the use of their first language in their foreign language classrooms in Australia. Janna Fox, Liying Cheng, and Robert Berman explore students' perceptions of the...