Special Issue on African Linguistics. Guest Editor: Professor Lendzemo Constantine Yuka, University of Benin, Nigeria

Papers in this issue include: (1) Ana María Díaz Collazos & Diego Pascual y Cabo, Vocalic instability in L3 acquisition: The case of falling diphthongs [aj] [oj] among Japanese learners of Spanish; (2) Samuel Atechi, Pidgin English in Cameroon: To teach or not to teach; (3) Mostafa Zamanian & Reza Mobashshernia, A survey of PhD programs in TEFL: Curricular strengths and weaknesses in Iranian universities; (4) Saeed Taki, Cross-cultural communication and metaphorical competence; (5) Mohammad Ali Salmani Nodoushan, The place of genre analysis in international communication; (6) Kamal Heidari Soureshjani & Nasser Rashidi, On the Iranian EFL learners' working memory in reading: Does gender make any difference? (7) Shih-min Li & Huei-ling Lai, Hakka aspectual Ted4 constructions: A constructional approach; (8) Parviz Birjandi, Parisa Daftarifard & Rense Lange, The effects of dynamic assessment on Rasch item and person hierarchies in second language testing

Papers in this special issue on Figurative Language: (1) Cecilia BJÖRKÉN-NYBERG: Vocalising motherhood: The metaphorical conceptualisation of voice in listener responses to The girl on the train by Paula Hawkins (pp. 1-28); (2) Danielle CUDMORE: Prophet, poet, seer, skald: Poetic diction in Merlínusspá (pp. 29-60); (3) Kristina HILDEBRAND: "As fayre an handid man" Malory's figurative language (pp. 61-74); (4) Birgitta SVENSSON: The development of figurative competence in narrative writing: A longitudinal case study (pp. 75-102); (5) Monica KARLSSON: Book Review (pp. 103-106); (6) Keith ALLAN: Book Review (pp. 107-113).

Language acquisition socialization: Sociocognitive and complexity theory perspectives; by Assia BAGHDADI (pp. 1-22); The impact of background knowledge on test performance: A multivariate G-theory approach; by Seyyed Mohammad ALAVI & Hossein KARAMI (pp. 23-44); A pragmatic analysis of diminutives in Palestinian society; by Mahmood K. M. ESHRETEH (pp. 45-62); Second language teacher education: Preparing teachers for the needs of second language learners; by Aseel KANAKRI (pp. 63-94); Exploring a novice Chinese EFL teacher's writing beliefs and practices: A systemic functional perspective; by Xiaodong ZHANG (pp. 95-118); A pragma-semiotic analysis of the Catholic bishops' communiqué on the Ebola epidemic: Impact on the University of Ibadan Catholic faithful; by Patience Obiageri SOLOMON-ETEFIA & Gerald Okechukwu NWEYA (pp. 119-142); Book Review by Azizeh Chalak (pp. 143-151).

1) Speech acts or language micro- and macro-games? by Mohammad Ali SALMANI NODOUSHAN; (2) Rituals of death in Odisha: Hindu religious beliefs and socio-cultural practices by Kalyanamalini SAHOO; (3) Analysis of authentic legal negotiation: Implications for teaching contract negotiation to undergraduate law students by Anthony TOWNLEY & Mehdi RIAZI; (4) Politeness in the Yoruba and French Languages by Temitope Michael AJAYI & Kudrat Olayinka BALOGUN; (5) Conversation proficiency assessment: A comparative study of two-party peer interaction and interview interaction implemented with Thai EFL learners by Ratchawan USSAMA & Kemtong SINWONGSUWAT; (6) Prosodic Analysis: An Italian case study by Alessia D'ANDREA, Fernando FERRI & Patrizia GRIFONI; (7) The final goodbye: The linguistic features of gravestone epitaphs from the nineteenth century to the present by Manel HEART; (9) Teacher- and peer-enhanced scaffolding: Self-regulated learning of collocations in CALL by Abbas Ali REZAEE et al.