David Newby was, until his retirement, Associate Professor of English Language Didactics and Applied Linguistics at the University of Graz and subsequently Ad-junct Professor of Language Didactics at the University of Bergen, Norway. He is currently consultant to the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) of the Council of Europe. His main areas of interest are pedagogical grammar, cognitive approaches to second language acquisition and learner and teacher competences. In addition to academic publications, he has written school textbooks, grammar books, dramas and short stories.

Elisabeth Pölzleitner teaches English at a secondary school in Austria and she is a lecturer at the University of Graz and the Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark (University College of Teacher Education Styria), where she teaches a variety of ELT methodology classes and in-service seminars for language teachers. Her main ar-eas of interest are extensive reading, brain-friendly language teaching, creative ap-proaches to writing, cognitive-communicative grammar and the use of technology in language teaching. She also runs a popular website (www.epep.at) with materials and ideas for creative language teachers.