As the new co-editors of Studies in Second Language Acquisition, we are proud to assume the helm of this top-tier journal, which—for almost forty years—has produced high-quality research in second language acquisition. The premier status of the journal is attributable, of course, to the vision and leadership of Albert Valdman, who founded and guided the journal from 1977 to 2015. Along with colleagues and students at Indiana University, Professor Valdman helped to forge a much sought-after venue for publication and a journal with an international reputation for excellence. To honor his immeasurable contributions, we have established a new award in his name: The Albert Valdman Award for Outstanding Publication in Studies in Second Language Acquisition. We can think of no better way to memorialize his legacy with the journal. Last year’s recipient was Sible Andringa from the University of Amsterdam for his article “The Use of Native Speaker Norms in Critical Period Hypothesis Research.” We will announce the 2016 recipient on the journal’s website later this spring.
With the 2016 volume of SSLA, we are pleased to announce new features. We are instantiating several new categories of shorter articles. The first are Squibs. These articles are essay in nature and seek to make a contribution in any area falling within the scope of the journal. The next category is titled Research Reports. These, again, are short empirical studies with a narrow focus that explore a particular topic or issue. The final category is Replication Studies. In this category, we aim to publish exact and conceptual replication research on any area covered by the journal. For all of these newly established types of articles, there is a 6,000-word limit. For more information, we invite the reader to visit the journal’s website http://journals.cambridge.org/SLA. To make room for these new categories, we have retired the Book Review and Book Notices sections.
The field of second language acquisition has evolved quickly since the founding days of the journal. Indeed, we are seeing the field make links to bilingualism more generally, heritage language acquisition and use, third- (and subsequent) language acquisition, as well as other related areas. This is both encouraging and daunting as the field matures and the journal attempts to keep up with the changes. We have adjusted the scope and the mission of the journal to reflect these developments while maintaining the centrality of second language acquisition and use as the core of the journal. We look forward to the continued success of the journal and would like to thank all contributors, reviewers, editorial board members, staff, and the folks at Cambridge who have supported the journal. We are also grateful for the entire Indiana University SSLA graduate students and staff who contributed to making this an outstanding journal that has significantly contributed to the development of the field of SLA. We look forward to continue receiving the best research on non-native and bilingual language acquisition and use from around the world.
