It is our great pleasure to launch the latest long-awaited volume edited by Adrianne Verla Uchida and Jennie Roloff Rothman. Cultivating Professional Development through Critical Friendship and Reflective Practice: Cases from Japan,  shows us an innovative bottom-up approach to professional development for educators. A critical friendship is where “two teachers come together willingly to explore facets of their development as decided by the friends” (Farrell, Foreword). These individuals might be colleagues, close friends or acquaintances who are an “invaluable, integral aspect of your personal growth as a professional” (Verla Uchida & Roloff-Rothman, Introduction). This volume enhances our knowledge of reflective practice and makes a valuable contribution to the field. The editors and contributing authors show how reflective practice can foster critical friendships as a means of professional development for educators.

The book contains

• Details of the event and its participants
• Chapters based on two of the plenary talks, one by Leni Dam (Denmark) and the other by Jo Mynard (Japan)
• Summaries of other talks and posters
• A conference report written by first-time attendee Masako Wakisaka
• Photos from the event
• Personal action plans from several participants
• An overview of previous and upcoming Nordic workshops

It is available in print and ebook formats. See details here:
https://www.candlinandmynard.com/nordic14.html

Congratulations to the editors and all the contributors!

Candlin & Mynard ePublishing was incorporated on the 23rd November 2012 and in that time we have published 23 books with contributors from all around the globe. To celebrate our 10th birthday, we are holding a half-price sale on selected titles. You can order print and Kindle books from Amazon and ePubs from Smashwords. Don't forget, if you subscribe to Perlego or Scribd then you have free unlimited access to our ebooks.

By now, maybe you are familiar with many of the titles in the Autonomous Language Learning series published by Candlin & Mynard. It's an amazing collection which includes work from colleagues from literally all around the world. Most of the books are edited volumes, many of them inspired by learner autonomy events held in various cities: Aberdeen, Antwerp, Brno, Chiba, Exeter, Graz, Hannover, Liverpool and Venice.

The latest book in the series, however, is a monograph by Diego Mideros. It is called Am I an Autonomous Language Learner? Self-Perceived Autonomy in Trinidad and Tobago: Sociocultural Perspectives and explores sociocultural elements and conditions that enable individuals to see themselves as autonomous learners in formal educational settings in Trinidad and Tobago. What makes this book unique is that the author uses an in-depth interpretative phenomenological analysis to bring the stories of students majoring in Spanish at university to life. Through these stories, we start to understand the learners’ autonomy, identity and agency and grasp the importance of social dimensions.

I found it to be an extremely engaging and readable book, and many of the observations resonated with me even though I teach in a completely different context. The research was presented in a way that makes you want to replicate it. Working with Diego on this book over several years was a pleasure, and he benefited enormously from the feedback from the title advisor Garold Murray. Garold helped Diego tell the story in an accessible way, and I believe this was achieved.

​The book contains seven chapters, and the author's narrative takes us effortlessly through each. ​In chapter 1, the author lays out the theoretical groundwork by discussing autonomy in language learning, paying particular attention to the agency and sociocultural perspectives. He also looks at the role of autonomy in classrooms and exam-focused contexts. In chapter 2, Mideros introduces a focus on students’ approaches to studying Spanish at the university to provide valuable information about their autonomy. In chapter 3, the author presents students’ self-assessments and identifies three groups that emerged from this analysis. We learn about the characteristics of each group in terms of self-identified autonomy. In chapter 4, the author focuses on the actions students from each group take to study and practise Spanish and how those actions are linked to their sense of autonomy. In chapter 5, the author looks into the students’ past lived experiences as students of Spanish. This process uncovers sociocultural elements that played a role in each group's identity and how it connects with identity construction. In chapter 6, the author draws on the theories to show that the students’ experiences inform and are informed by ideas in the learner autonomy field and sociocultural perspectives applied to autonomy and L2 learning. Finally, in chapter 7, the author summarises the main findings and discusses the lessons he learned. He also provides some beneficial implications for research and practice. Throughout the book, we are guided by the executive summaries and reflection questions, which make the reader feel part of the process. As I read the findings of this study, I naturally connected them with my own teaching and learning context. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding their learners better and promoting autonomy in their language classrooms.

I interviewed Diego in May 2022 and asked him about how the study came about, his background and the process of writing the book. Diego provides some valuable pointers to scholars who wish to turn their PhD thesis into a book which is what he did. It certainly wasn't as straightforward as he had first imagined, but it was a rewarding process. The video interview premiers on YouTube on Tuesday 7 June at 8am Japan time which is June 6, 7pm in Trinidad and Tobago and  June 6 at midnight in London

The book is an eye-opening opportunity for me to participate in Diego’s exploratory journey into his engagement with a group of Spanish language learners in Trinidad and Tobago. Documenting this journey in a highly accessible, engaging narrative, Diego has shown how the learners’ autonomy can be understood as ‘a sociocultural strategic academic endeavor’ with reference to the exam-driven learning culture and their prior lived experiences. While Diego discovered ‘a great source of information’ by inviting his students to share and reflect on their experiences, I am excited to see how he uses the full potential of language learners’ experiences to generate critical insights into their autonomous language learning. The book also convinces me that language teachers should engage language learners in discussing and reflecting on language learning to get better control over it.  
​
Xuesong (Andy) Gao, University of New South Wales, Australia 


​This book offers a welcome exploration of how sociocultural perspectives might enrich our understanding of learner autonomy. In doing so, it takes a detailed look at the ways in which sociocultural elements can impact the development of language students’ identity as autonomous learners. Notably, it provides insights into the role teachers can play in fostering the emergence of this aspect of their learners’ identity. Although it focuses on a particular language learning situation, the book is wide enough in scope to be of interest to researchers, teachers and administrators working in various contexts.

Garold Murray

​Some friends and colleagues have asked me to recommend some of our books that are particularly relevant to the Japanese context, so I will share a few of my favourites in this blog post. Hopefully, these recommendations will set you up nicely for the new academic year. Many thanks for supporting independent publishing and fellow language educators' work within and outside Japan.

One of our aims is to facilitate links between research and practice, so all our books are either practical books that are theoretically grounded or have a research focus but with practical applications. The following books will interest colleagues looking to enhance their own research skills and apply research to practice.
 
Research focused
 
1. Fostering Learner Autonomy: Learners, Teachers and Researchers in Action.
Edited by Christian Ludwig, Annamaria Pinter, Kris Van de Poel, Tom Smits, Maria Giovanna Tassinari, and Elke Ruelens (2018)
 
This volume, known as 'The Antwerp Collection,' is one of our most popular books and contains 16 chapters that bring together language learner autonomy and action research. Among the contributors are well-known European scholars, notably Leni Dam, Carol Everhard and Lienhard Legenhausen. In addition, there are chapters by Hideo Kojima and Mizuka Tsukamoto that are based on action research in Japanese classrooms. 
 
Read more: https://www.candlinandmynard.com/antwerp.html
Access options: Kindle | ePub | Print | Apple | Scribd | Proquest]
 
2. An Autoethnography of Teaching English in Japan: Bridging Life and Academia.
Sanae Oda-Sheehan (2022)
 
This book integrates L2 pragmatics and grammar pedagogy to promote the implementation of communicative language teaching. However, it offers a unique take on bridging gaps through autoethnography. In his review, Gregory Hadley of Niigata University says that the book "should be a primary text for anyone in second language education interested in autoethnography." 
 
Read more: https://www.candlinandmynard.com/odasheehan.html
Access options:  [Kindle | ePub | Print | Scribd | Apple] 
  
3. Conversation Strategies and Communicative Competence.
Christian Jones (2021)
 
The book reports on research into teaching conversation strategies as a means of developing communicative competence. Specifically, we experience four research projects that all of us can relate to and replicate that have important implications for our practice. Chapter 4 describes research conducted in Japan. In his review Scott Thornbury describes it as an "eminently readable, evidence-based book" and that conversation strategies should be "at the forefront of any pedagogy aimed at developing the ability to manage and sustain informal talk in a second language."
 
Read more: https://www.candlinandmynard.com/conversationstrategies.html
Access options: [ Kindle | ePub | Print | Scribd |  Proquest | Apple] 
 
4. Supporting Learners and Educators in Developing Language Learner Autonomy. 
Edited by Jo Mynard, Michelle Tamala and Ward Peeters (2020)
 
In this volume, known as 'The Liverpool Collection,' we look at different aspects of learner autonomy that support both students and educators as they become more autonomous in their practice. Several contributors are based in Japan, making this book particularly relevant for educators based here.
 
Read more: https://www.candlinandmynard.com/liverpool.html
Access options: [Kindle | ePub | Print | Scribd | Apple | Proquest]

Practice focused
 
5. Voicing Learning.
Tim Murphey (2021)

​This book is described as a 'multi-voiced narrative' and is an engaging read inspired by interactions with the author's language learners in Japan. It's packed with creative ideas to help educators understand the worth and procedures of ideal classmates, action logging, social testing, juggling, songlets, storytelling, and class publications for developing educational well-being, meaningfulness and positive psychology.
 
Read more: https://www.candlinandmynard.com/voicinglearning.html
Access options: [ Kindle | ePub | Print | Scribd | Apple] 
​ 
6. Collaborative Leadership Through Leaderful Classroom Practices: Everybody is a Leader.
Soyhan Egitim (2022)
 
This book was published just last week and contains ideas for classroom practices that support learner growth and leadership. As the author says, "Establishing an open, democratic, and participatory learning environment for all learners is a major leadership responsibility of teachers, and this book intends to demonstrate how to accomplish this mission both in theory and practice."
 
Read more: https://www.candlinandmynard.com/egitim.html
Access options:  [ Kindle | Print | ePub​ | Scribd | Apple ]

​In 2020, we launched an exciting new series called 'Life and Education in Japan' with the publication of three unique books that are still popular sellers. The titles speak for themselves, and they are all must-read resources for all educators in Japan. The series editors are Diane Hawley-Nagatomo and Melodie Cook, who are currently overseeing several more books for this series that will be published over the next couple of years – I can't wait! For more information about the series, see: https://www.candlinandmynard.com/japan.html
 
The first three books in the series were:
 
7. Foreign Female English Teachers in Japanese Higher Education: 
​Narratives From our Quarter. 
Edited by Diane Hawley Nagatomo, Kathleen A. Brown, and Melodie Cook. (2020)
 
Read more: https://www.candlinandmynard.com/female-teachers.html
Access options: [Kindle | ePub | Print | Scribd | Apple | Proquest] 

8. Intercultural Families and Schooling in Japan: Experiences, Issues, and Challenges. 
Edited by Melodie Lorie Cook and Louise George Kittaka (2020)

Read more: https://www.candlinandmynard.com/families.html
Access options: [ Kindle | ePub | Print | Scribd | Apple ] 

9. Teacher Narratives from the Eikaiwa Classroom: Moving Beyond "McEnglish."
Edited by Daniel Hooper and Natasha Hashimoto (2020)

Read more: https://www.candlinandmynard.com/eikaiwa.html
Access options: [Kindle | ePub | Print | Scribd | Apple | Proquest]

10. Learning Japanese: Voices of Experience.
Belinda Kennett and Yuriko Nagata (2017)
 
This book deserves to be a best-seller, but it is still relatively undiscovered for some reason. My last blog post was dedicated to it, and it might be just what you (or your Japanese learners) need to stimulate enthusiasm for learning Japanese regardless of your age or current proficiency level.
 
Read more: https://www.candlinandmynard.com/learningjapanese.html
Access options: [Kindle | ePub | Print | Scribd | Apple | Proquest] 

​Of course, we’d love you to purchase a copy of one or more of our books, and we genuinely hope that you enjoy them and that they contribute to your professional growth. Let us know what you think by posting an online review or by contacting us directly. If there are some titles that you think might be of interest to your colleagues and students, why not talk to your librarians and recommend that some of the titles be purchased for your institutional libraries? When Chris Candlin and I were setting up the company ten years ago, it was our dream to make the books accessible to anyone who wants to read them. Finally, if you feel inspired to write for us, have a look at our guidelines for authors and get I touch if you have a book idea. We love working with authors and helping them to bring their ideas to print.

We published Learning Japanese: Voices of Experience by Belinda Kennett and Yuriko Nagata in 2017, and it remains one of my favourites in the Autonomous Language Learning Series. As a long-time learner of Japanese, I never cease to be inspired by the stories contained in this volume. The diverse 'voices' share their struggles and tips related to learning Japanese, while Belinda and Yuriko skillfully bring them all together alongside some general strategies and worksheets that are useful for all of us. It also contains lovely artwork by Shin Koyama to accompany each story.
 
How did the book come about?
We were initially put in touch via a mutual friend, and then I had the chance to meet Belinda and Yuriko in Tokyo in December 2015 when they were over on a visit from Australia. We talked through the project over a cup of tea in a cafe in the Oazu building near Tokyo Station, and I was really impressed with their creative ideas and energy. I knew immediately that I would love to help them to bring their project to life. Their idea was to inspire learners of Japanese to identify a purpose for learning Japanese - and to keep going. As someone who has worked in self-access and with language learners outside formal classroom learning, I could immediately see the appeal.​

What's inside the book?
The book contains 13 unique chapters by diverse contributing authors - all of them learners of Japanese. Their stories cover many aspects of language learning that we all struggle with, for example, motivation. In Chapter 1 (Lockie’s story), we hear about Lockie's missed opportunities to learn Japanese while he was in Japan but how a passion for Kendō gave him a reason to focus. In 'Sensei’s Tips' in the second part of the chapter, we learn about motivation and how powerful it can be to set goals and make a plan to achieve them. The other chapters continue in the same way, covering themes such as using different media, finding suitable reading materials, keeping going and seeing your progress, persistence, changing needs, remembering vocabulary, listening to and connecting with people, studying abroad in Japan, resuming study after a long break, using humour, gendered language, identity, finding social groups online and issues for learners of Japanese or mixed heritage.

Who is the book for?
Originally, we imagined the book would be useful for learners of Japanese in high schools and universities. However, it is also very suitable for lifelong self-directed learners of Japanese of all ages. In addition, many teachers of Japanese have told us that they use it as a classroom resource to help students to find their purpose and to get inspiration from the contributors. Through sharing voices of role models that other learners can identify with, the book provides insights into the learning journey along with practical information and strategy ideas. 

Publication date: 2017
Series: Autonomous Language Learning
ISBN: 9781370629985 (ebook) / 7981973329 (print)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47908/6
Series editor: Jo Mynard
Series advisors: Sally Candlin, Satoko Kato and Hisako Yamashita
Artwork: © Shin Koyama

How to purchase

• Smashwords (ePub)
• ​Amazon.com
• Amazon.co.uk
• Amazon.de
• Amazon.co.jp

In 2022, we (Candlin & Mynard ePublishing) will celebrate our 10th birthday and publish our 12th book in the Autonomous Language Learning Series. To celebrate, I have finally started blogging about books. It seems natural to start with this little gem: Autonomy in Language Learning: Opening a Can of Worms as I believe this book was the reason I got interested in publishing. I have wanted to start this blog for a long time as people often ask me for advice on which of the books should they read first. Answering with 'they are all good' isn't that helpful so one of the aims of this blog is to give a sense of what each of the books is about to help people decide where to start, especially if they are new to the field of learner autonomy.

How did the book come about?
The chapters were originally short articles published in Independence,  the newsletter of the IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) Learner Autonomy SIG (special interest group). The project was initiated by Carol Everhard who thought it would be a fun way to invite experts around the world to contribute on a range of themes associated with learner autonomy. Each theme was represented by its own worm, with a 'keeper' taking the lead on soliciting articles from other experts in the field. The concepts are deep but the tone is light and often humorous, making the book very accessible to newcomers to the field. You feel like you are joining the autonomy family as the personalities certainly shine through.  At the end of the project, we had 47 articles on ten themes written by 50 experts. Carol and I, along with Richard Smith who had been the newsletter editor in charge of the original editing for most of the articles, decided it would be a nice idea to bring the collection together into an edited book. 
​
What's inside the book?
The 'worms book' contains ten themes, each representing an area of the multifaceted notion of learner autonomy. These themes are: Assessment, Classroom research, Counselling / advising, Culture, Learner training, Motivation, Self-access, Teacher autonomy, Teacher education, and Technology. 

Each chapter is special but a few stand out as my favourites. For example, taking the first theme, assessment, Hanne Thomsen writes about self-assessment,  Viljo Kohonen writes about peer assessment, and Gina Oxbrow writes about guided reflection. These are themes that still occupy a lot of space in my workplace. Reading about these crucial aspects of learner autonomy makes us understand that the work we are doing now is possible thanks to the fundamental concepts that were mapped out in 2006 or earlier.

Under the theme of classroom research, we see evidence of transition. Lienhard Legenhausen articulates what has now become accepted: theory and practice are linked by means of research. Naoko Aoki discusses how learner autonomy has become part of our personal and professional identity. Maybe I didn't grasp that back in 2006, but now I do. She also notes the shift in research paradigms from a positivist to a constructivist one which has continues to be the case in our field.

The theme of Advising/Counselling is particularly interesting to me and re-reading Marina Mozzon-McPherson's discussion of the role of advisers is a treat. I feel proud of what we have done collectively to develop the field thanks to the fundamental concepts that began with Marina and other colleagues, many of them contributors to this book.

The theme of learner training is still a topical one (and the terminology is still up for debate). Barbara Sinclair's engaging narrative resonates with anyone who has tried to learn another language. Her approach to gradually giving responsibility for learning along a continuum depending on the learner has greatly influenced my role as an educator. Leni Dam explains the 'two sides' when developing autonomy in learners: teacher directed and learner directed with discourse linking the two sides and calls for more clarity. Are we there yet? I'm not sure.

Ema Ushioda sends the motivation worm on an interesting journey of metaphors involving apples, books, ears and even wormholes. It seems like this group of writers were the most creative! I am particularly grateful to Martin Lamb for helping me to understand the relationship between autonomy and motivation. It has taken me a while to sort out the difference/overlap between autonomy (from the language learning literature, sense 1 as he calls it) and autonomy (from a self-determination theory perspective, sense 2), but Martin's chapter really helped with this. (If this interests you too, look out for a new book published by Multilingual Matters coming out later this year!)

The final section I will mention is self access which begins with a humorous narrative by Richard Pemberton going back to the origins of self-access in Hong Kong. I also feel a renewed sense of gratitude to Lucy Cooker when I re-read her chapter about creating the original self-access center at the university where I work in Japan. The field of self-access has shifted somewhat since this collection of chapters were written, but we owe so much to the founders for paving the way.