Special Issue:Teaching and Learning of Academic Vocabulary in EMI Contexts

(Download the full CFP here)

 

Guest Editors

Dr. Barry Lee Reynolds, Faculty of Education, University of Macau, BarryReynolds@um.edu.mo

Dr. Sophia Skoufaki, Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex, sskouf@essex.ac.uk

 

Aims and Scope

Given the dominance of English as the language of instruction across educational levels around the world (e.g., Melitz, 2018) and students' diverse English language learning needs, English language teaching and learning in English Medium Instruction (EMI) contexts have received considerable research interest. EMI refers to the use of the English language to teach academic subjects in contexts where the first language (L1) of the students is not English. As a recent review of English Language Teaching (ELT) in EMI indicates (McKinley & Rose, 2022), the challenges students face with using the traditional four language skills in EMI settings have been investigated extensively. By contrast, research into students' learning of vocabulary and grammar has been limited. As applied linguists specialising in vocabulary studies, we wish to redress this imbalance and explore vocabulary teaching and learning in EMI settings.

 

In particular, we are interested in how academic vocabulary (i.e., vocabulary used more frequently in academic writing and speech across disciplines than in non-academic discourse) is learned and taught in EMI contexts. Academic vocabulary is worthy of investigation because, although it poses challenges to both English as a second language (L2) and L1 students, it is not typically taught at school (e.g., Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2013) or in subject-area courses at university (e.g., Mudraya, 2006). Thus, in this special issue we aim to examine issues such as the following:

 

-Factors affecting incidental academic vocabulary learning

-Instruction and/or learning of lexicalised research-related concepts

-Empirical evaluation of innovative approaches to academic vocabulary instruction

-Instruction and/or learning of meaning senses of polysemous academic words; these meaning senses can be shared across disciplines or not

-Instruction and/or learning of academic phraseology

-Instruction and/or learning of academic vocabulary in the context of academic reading/writing/listening/speaking instruction

-Technology use for increased salience of academic vocabulary

-Interaction between academic vocabulary learning and instructors’ perceptions of EMI

-Teaching and learning of academic vocabulary in early years education

-Incidental learning of academic vocabulary through listening to EMI lectures

 

We welcome the following paper types: full-length research articles (7000-9000 words), brief reports (5000-7000 words), and review articles (5000-7000 words). Descriptions of the paper types can be found on the journal’s aims and scope page.

 

Important Dates

Abstract submission: January 15, 2023

Abstract review results: January 31, 2023

Full manuscript due: May 15, 2023

Anticipated publication date: June 2024

 

 

Special Issue: English in a Changing Globalized, Multilingual World

(Download the full CFP here)

 

Guest Editors

Dr. Ester de Jong, University of Florida

Dr. Zhuo Li, Southern University of Science and Technology

Dr. Chiuhui Wu, Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages

Dr. Aliya Zafar, COMSATS University Islamabad

 

Aims and Scope

Teaching English in multilingual contexts is the norm in countries around the world. Patterns of superdiversity (Li et al., 2021) have led to the learning of English (1) as integral to the process of becoming multi-lingual (and not just bi-lingual) and (2) being part of a complex constellation of identities and contexts.   

In this special topic issue, we want to explore how English language teaching and learning is being transformed in multilingual contexts in response to global developments, including but not limited to the pandemic. Specifically, we are interested in qualitative studies that critically examine how opportunities for English teaching and learning have changed in response to increasingly diverse contexts and under unprecedented conditions (pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and migration). We intend to examine what English language teaching (ELT) dimensions have been impacted, for whom, how, and what mediating conditions have supported or constrained access to ELT. Articles in this special topic issue would address this intersection between diversity, ELT, and global developments from different perspectives, including students, teachers, and administrators.

Under unprecedented conditions and current global developments, articles in this issue would examine,

--how do learners access and engage in traditional and new opportunities to learn and use English?

--how do English language teacher candidates access opportunities to teach English as an additional language?

--what role does technology play in mediating superdiversity in ELT contexts?

--how do school and district/state leaders provide leadership for quality ELT programs?

--how do English language teachers and English learners negotiate superdiversity (cultural, economic, racial, and linguistic) in their local context?

--how can pedagogical practices in English language teaching support the goal of multilingualism?

--how do English language teachers support and value the construction of diverse identities?

 

Important Dates

Abstract submission: December 31^st, 2022

Notification of acceptance: January 15^th, 2023

Full manuscript due: May 31^st, 2023

Revised manuscripts due: August 15^th, 2023

Anticipated publication date: December 2023