The Editors: John Flowerdew is Professor in the English Department, City University of Hong Kong. He has edited Academic Listening: Research Perspectives (1994); English for Academic Purposes: Research Perspectives (with M. Peacock) (2001); and Academic Discourse (2002). His most recent book is Second Language Listening: Theory and Practice (with L. Miller) (2005). He has also published widely in the leading Applied Linguistics and Discourse Analysis journals. Maurizio Gotti is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Bergamo. He is currently President of the Italian Association of University Language Centres and Director of CERLIS, the research centre on specialized languages based at the University of Bergamo. His main research areas are the features and origins of specialized discourse, English syntax, and English lexicology and lexicography.