JALT Journal turns 30: A retrospective look at the first three decades

With the JALT Journal having entered its fourth decade, this retrospective of the first 30 volumes surveys some aspects of papers published in the journal, including characteristics regarding research methodology, research focus, and pedagogical level, as well as several other factors. Results of the review of 297 articles revealed that the publication has mirrored other journals in applied linguistics by adopting an empirical focus with quantitative methods being used in most of the published studies. The primary research focus was language teaching pedagogy; however, other areas receiving attention in the first three decades were pragmatics, motivation, and test reliability, with these three appearing prominently in the latter half of the 30 volumes. Copyright © 2010 the Author(s).