The idea for this special issue on self-regulation in foreign language learning arose from a symposium we held from December 7-8, 2013, at Shimonoseki City University. We convened the symposium with the support of a grant-in-aid for scientific research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. This grant was awarded to help with the investigation of the use of supplementary learning materials designed to develop language learners’ self-regulatory strategies, a four year research project that is nearing conclusion. The aim of the symposium was not so much to showcase our own work, but to create an opportunity to learn from others and to share findings from practice and research. Through our participation at various conferences reporting on the results of our project, we had come to realize that there was significant interest in the application of self-regulated learning to foreign language studies, and, indeed, that there was a growing body of people engaged in research and educational practices related to this topic. We also noticed that many people involved in learner autonomy and self-directed learning were reporting findings similar to our own, so we were interested in achieving some sort of collaboration or discussion between educators working in these fields. The symposium brought up many issues which have influenced our own research and practices, and we hope that by sharing this with the wider community that the conversation will continue to grow.
Editorial
