Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Canadian Journal of Teacher Research - Call for Papers

Human life, in and out of school, is complex. Personal, public, and educational changes can be dramatic, and these changes transform how we communicate. How we define and how we teach literacy may also have to change. Because our journal’s focus is Canadian teacher research, we necessarily choose to ground our work in schools – however schools might be designed. In our inaugural issue, dedicated to the teaching of literacy, we want to focus upon what it means to teach literacy and what it means to become literate. Perhaps, we need drastic pedagogical change: perhaps we need to embrace our traditions more tightly.

We have chosen the term “multi-literacies” to highlights two important, related changes. First, Canada is growing more culturally and linguistically diverse. Literacy calls us to negotiate community and global differences, as our lives increasingly interconnect. All languages, English and French included, change and morph. No longer is a single, standard language even possible. Migration, multiculturalism, and global integration intensify this process of change. Second, conceptualizing “multi-literacies” helps us consider the influence of new communication technologies. Meaning is increasingly multi-modal, and written literacy is now only part of a broader literacy that includes visual, audio, and spatial. The Internet is the chief example of literacy’s versatility – the interactive multimedia of a complex, communicating world.

In this context, we invite teacher research about how teachers can help children become literate. What does literacy mean? How can and should “multi-literacies” transform the curriculum and pedagogy of our language and communication? Will old pedagogies cut it? Must we embrace open-ended, flexible, and functional grammars to help language learners consider the cultural, regional/national, technical, contextual differences of language and the multi-modal meanings that seem so crucial to better communication in our world?

The Canadian Journal of Teacher Research is a new, online journal which enables teacher researchers to publish their work in a peer reviewed online journal, present the key ideas from their research in both a published paper and a blog, interact with readers about the issues raised in their papers, and present their ideas (if they chose to do so) using a short video. The Canadian Journal of Teacher Research is a new kind of journal for a new age of teacher-led research. The Journal’s aim is to improve practice on the basis of research evidence and understanding.

The first issue, launched at the beginning of 2014, will focus on literacy, multi-literacies, and the implications of literacy for student and teacher learning, school-based curriculum and instruction, school systems, and for teaching. Submissions should follows the guidelines attached and should be made to Professor Jim Parsons, a member of the Department of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta. Jim will serve as the Executive Editor of the Canadian Journal of Teacher Research

Although our first edition focuses on literacy research, please think expansively about both research and literacy. Submissions should document the article’s rationale for the research, the research process (methods and data) and analysis and then look at the implications of this work for teachers, school administrators, systems administrators and policy makers where it is relevant to do so. If, in addition to the article itself, you submit an opinion piece about the meaning of this work  (between 650 and 850 words) it will appear as a blog on the Journal site.

GENERAL ARTICLE REQUIREMENTS

• Cover Page – The title should be in 14 point, bolded, italicized, in Times New Roman, and centered on the cover page with authors’ name(s) and rank four spaces below the title in 12 point and centered. Include institutional affiliations and authors’ e-mail addresses.

• Abstract Page – All manuscripts should include an abstract following the title page. Include the title of the article above the abstract. Limit the abstract to approximately 150 words or less, single-spaced.

Body of Manuscript:
• Use APA guidelines in preparing the manuscript. See http://www.apa.org/journals/faq.html for formatting information.
• The Canadian Journal of Teacher Research accepts manuscripts of varying lengths – if length adjustments are required, the editors will contact authors.
• Leave a single space before and after headings.
• Use 12 point font size.
• Use Times New Roman font.
• Use 1″ margins throughout the document.
• References and citations should also be prepared using APA guidelines. All table, appendices, footnotes, and bibliographic information will be placed at the end of the article in 12 point Times New Roman.

Please also add this line to your email: This manuscript represents original research and is not under consideration for publication in any other journal, conference proceedings, book, or encyclopedia.

Please submit all articles for submission consideration to jim.parsons@ualberta.ca



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