Call for Papers—Deadline October 30, 2009

Special Theme Inaugural Issue:

It takes a Village to Educate an English language learner

A variety of school- and service-based professionals are essential to ensure that the personal, socio-cultural, and academic needs of English language learners are addressed effectively. While ESOL specialists and mainstream classroom teachers are at the visible forefront of this endeavor, others such as school counselors, speech pathologists, school nurses, or social workers all contribute to the overall well-being and educational success of ELLs.

For the inaugural issue, to be published in December 2009, The Tapestry Journal is seeking original manuscripts, including 1) research and/or theory articles 2) effective practices from the field descriptive pieces, and 3) commentaries by October 30, 2009, focusing on the following topics or on author-proposed topics related to the issue theme:

Research and Theory Articles

Description of and research on innovative approaches that address the educational needs of ELLS. This may include a variety of disciplinary perspectives, focusing both on instructional and support services. For example:

Description of and research on innovative models of teacher training or of collaboration between ESOL-specialists and mainstream teachers and other school personnel.
Discussion of policy making, standards or assessment development that directly impact English language learners and their families.

Effective Practices from the Field Articles

Description of successful application of best practices in instructing and providing support services to ELLs. For example:

Descriptions of how standards and assessment influence classroom instruction.
Descriptions of the roles of school- and support personnel directly charged with the education of English language learners.

Commentaries

Discussion of issues of concern to ELLs and their families, supported by research and/or theory. For example:

Increasingly, departments and ministries of education assign the main responsibility for educating English language learners to mainstream classroom teachers. Does this change in responsibility diminish the TESOL profession?

Manuscripts, including the abstract of less than 150 words, and any figures, drawings, and tables should ideally not exceed 6,000 words, and should conform to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th or 6th edition). Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references and citations. Please list the names, institutions, e-mail addresses, and if applicable, World Wide Web addresses (URL(s)), of all authors. Also include a brief biographical statement (maximum 50 words, in sentence format) for each author. (This information will be temporarily removed when the articles are distributed for blind review). All identifying information should be removed from the body of the paper for the review.

To meet our production schedule deadlines for a December 2009 publication, we have developed an expedited production schedule. Manuscripts should be submitted as an e-mail attachment to tapestry@mail.ucf.edu by Oct. 30, with a preference given to articles received prior to this deadline. The anticipated turn-around for review is two weeks. If the reviewers request revisions, the authors will be expected to complete them in a 2-week period.