Dear Readers,
Welcome to the 88th issue of TESL-EJ, with a special treat — our Special Issue on “Teacher Education” ably edited by Thomas Farrell of Brock University. Please see Tom’s own Special Issue Editorial for the rationale behind this issue as well as the lead article, “Inconvenient Truths About Second Language Teacher Education (SLTE)“, also crafted by him.
In addition we have two other feature article contributions, concerning “Developing Autonomy through Conversation Exchange” and “Demotivating factors in Reading and Writing“. We also have our usual fare of an “On the Internet” article, and book and media reviews. The “On the Internet article” is an opus magnum by faculty members of Brigham Young University describing the development of a guide to online materials for the teaching of pronunciation, with an important focus on the teaching of prosody.
And we have some very good news! TESL-EJ has been, at long last, accepted for indexing by SCOPUS. It will still take a few months for the actual indexing to be completed.
We are also excited to announce yet another “Special Issue”, this one on “Study Abroad in TESOL” to be edited by Laura Baecher (Hunter College) and Kristen Lindahl (University of Texas, San Antonio). The announcement follows below.
Enjoy!
Thomas Robb, Editor, for the TESL-EJ Team
Special Issue: Study Abroad in TESOL (to appear February 2020)
Guest Editors: Laura Baecher, Hunter College, City University of New York & Kristen Lindahl, University of Texas, San Antonio
Call for Abstracts
Research on study abroad in second language learning indicates that students gain more globally-informed and critical perspectives and improve their foreign language skills. This special issue of TESL-EJ will provide current insight into how study abroad experiences designed specifically for both learners and teachers of ESL/EFL are being conceptualized, theorized, implemented, and researched.
This special issue seeks articles focused either on students of English or teachers of EFL/ESL engaged in either short or long term study abroad programs. Participant type, countries of origin and destinations for the study abroad experience should be explicitly named in the abstract.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Impact studies of study abroad on participants’ English language development, for instance in the areas of pragmatics, pronunciation, academic discourse, vocabulary, learning strategies, etc. as well as impact on the host community
- Investigations of how factors such as age/stage of learners, feedback, anxiety, length of stay, socialization and other features interact with English learning in study abroad contexts
- Explorations of how study abroad shapes pre- and in-service English language teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, skills, identity, knowledge and practices before, during, and immediately after their participation, especially in regard to developing a critical perspective and enhancing teacher language awareness
- Examination of conceptual frames for the design and implementation of the study abroad program, such as critical language teacher education, service learning, cultural exchange, internationalization, and features such as World Englishes, Inner/Outer Circle, and English as an International language
- Contextual factors that contribute to English language learning, such as features of the host country, aspects of the program design, faculty facilitation and programmatic activities
Please send an abstract of no more than 350 words in length with at least ten references along with institutional contact information for all authors, as one MS Word document to lbaecher@hunter.cuny.edu by June 1, 2019. Abstracts will be reviewed for fit to the theme. You will be informed if the full manuscript is invited for review by June 10, 2019. Full manuscripts are due by August 30, 2019.
Submissions should conform to TESL-EJ’s ethical and stylistic guidelines, available at http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/sub_howto/ethics/and http://tesl-ej.org/EJ_Style.pdf respectively.