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Books by Theron Muller

Re-envisioning Language Teaching & Learning in Asia

Call for Papers Subject: Call for papers: Edited book provisionally titled ‘Re-envisioning Langua... more Call for Papers
Subject: Call for papers: Edited book provisionally titled ‘Re-envisioning Language Teaching & Learning in Asia’

Call for papers
For this edited book project we are soliciting well-researched, practically-oriented investigations into language teaching and learning in Asia. This project follows on from our first two successful edited book projects, Innovating EFL Teaching in Asia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and Exploring EFL Fluency in Asia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). We are envisioning this as the capstone book to a series of three. In it, we hope to present studies that demonstrate language classrooms in Asia are dynamic and inspiring, actively engaging students and/or teachers.

Such positive representations of language learning in Asia are consistent with our experiences as teacher-researchers, and those we have worked with in multiple capacities (as coauthors, editors, postgraduate supervisors, and teacher trainer/educators). We hope to showcase such practically-focused inquiry in this new book, with the working title of Re-envisioning Language Teaching & Learning in Asia. Each of the chapters included in the book will present some original research into a theme of practical interest to readers concerning language learning and teaching.

These chapters need not be classroom-based in the traditional sense nor focused around formal educational contexts; in a (hopefully soon to be) post-pandemic world, we acknowledge that learning is not and has not been bounded by the walls of classrooms or by learners being enrolled in traditional educational systems. Finally, by using the term ‘in Asia’ we are broadly interested in studies concerned with language teaching and learning within the Asian context. Chapters concerning the Asian diaspora, wherever they may be based, are also welcome in light of the changing global landscape and patterns of global migration. Possible themes to be addressed by chapters include, but are not limited to:

1.Approaches to developing student capabilities, such as:
Teaching content through English using approaches such as: EMI, CLIL, CBI, and/or ESP, Active learning, including Task-based language teaching and learning (TBLT), project and/or problem-based learning (PBL)
2.Skills-based teaching, including learner fluency, accuracy, and complexity
3. Approaches to promoting learner autonomy and life-long learning, such as: Self-directed learning, Motivation, agency, and identity
Self-access learning
4. Specific approaches to teaching that may be particularly relevant in a post-pandemic world, such as: Educational technology, CALL, Blended approaches
5. Investigations into teacher education, including pre-service and/or in-service training as well as continuing professional development (CPD)
6. Investigations into multilingualism, translanguaging, and/or translingual practices related to language teaching and learning
… and anything else we may have missed

Submission process
We invite abstracts of 500 words (not including references) in text document format (doc, docx, or odt) as expressions of interest by no later than August 31, 2021 to theron@las.u-toyama.ac.jp. Please also address inquiries to this address.

We will screen the submitted abstracts and notify authors of our decision by the end of September, 2021. We plan to request full papers of up to either 5,000 or 8,000 words (including references) to be submitted by the end of February 2022. In your abstract submission, please indicate whether you are submitting for a practical paper of 5,000 words or a full paper of 8,000 words.

Accepted abstracts will be included in a proposal to a publisher to be submitted as soon as possible after authors have accepted invitations to contribute a chapter to the book. As we are interested in accessibility of scholarship to under-resourced communities, we are considering using an alternative publisher for this project, The International Teacher Development Institute (iTDi). iTDi is a provider of teacher development courses accessible to people throughout Asia and the publisher of Dr. John F. Fanselow’s book, Small Changes in Teaching Big Results in Learning: Videos, activities and essays to stimulate fresh thinking about language learning. Details of the proposal submission and review process will be shared with authors accepted to contribute to the book.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. We’ll look forward to receiving your abstracts, expressions of interest, and questions if you have them.

All the best,
Dr. Theron Muller, Dr. John L. Adamson, Steven Herder, and Philip Shigeo Brown
Editors, Re-envisioning Language Teaching & Learning in Asia (Provisional title)

Dr. Theron Muller is an Associate Professor at the University of Toyama, Japan. He received his PhD from Open University in 2018, research that explored the publication practices of Japan-based language teachers. He is active with JALT Publications and is a founding member of English Scholars Beyond Borders.

Dr. John Adamson is a Professor at the University of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. He is active in editorial work and received his Ed.D. from the University of Leicester. His research has been in the areas of tertiary EAP provision, interdisciplinarity, self-access, and academic publishing.

Steven Herder is an Associate Professor at Kyoto Notre Dame University, Japan. He coordinates the Global English Course, and teaches an Exploring Leadership Seminar. Since 2010, he has been working with Japanese Publisher Suken on Big Dipper Series I, II, III, DUALSCOPE II, and a new series coming in 2022.

Philip Shigeo Brown is Course Director for the iTDi TESOL Certificate, and tutors on the University of Birmingham’s MA TESOL and Applied Linguistics (distance learning) programmes. Phil has been teaching since 2001 and his main interests include vocabulary, fluency development, 21st skills in education, learner autonomy, and teacher development.

While individual teachers interpret fluency differently, most working in EFL agree that it has a ... more While individual teachers interpret fluency differently, most working in EFL agree that it has a considerable influence on the success or failure of students' language learning. In EFL contexts, the absence of fluency-based practice opportunities can lead to low self-confidence, low language learning motivation, and limitations in learners' productive skills. This volume explores fluency in all fours skills (speaking, writing, reading and listening) and through a number of different perspectives to build upon existing research and to expand the fluency discussion to include consideration of classroom strategies for fluency development in EFL contexts. The definition of fluency as a trait of speaking is expanded to encompass all four language skills in an effort to illustrate its importance to all aspects of language learning. This volume includes a mixture of literature review chapters outlining the research paradigm for ongoing fluency research and empirical investigations into fluency development and measurement in the EFL classroom, making it relevant to both researchers and practitioners of EFL.

Papers by Theron Muller

Developing learners’ oral skills is particularly daunting to English as a foreign language (EFL) ... more Developing learners’ oral skills is particularly daunting to English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Asia, where English does not have immediate social and communicative functions within the community where it is learned and speaking is often neglected in EFL classrooms. In view of this, this chapter proposes oral communication strategy teaching as an innovative practice to promote teaching speaking skills in Asia and beyond.

Writing & Pedagogy, 2016

Studies into multilingual, ‘periphery’ scholars’ experiences of English publication for academic ... more Studies into multilingual, ‘periphery’ scholars’ experiences of English publication for academic purposes suggest that they face a number of obstacles in seeking publication in EFL and applied linguistics language journals (Belcher, 2007; Canagarajah, 1996). Some journals located outside of the Anglophone center have sought to adapt their review processes to be more accommodating toward these generally less experienced, potentially ‘off-networked’ (Swales, 1996: 45) scholars (Nunn and Adamson, 2007; Adamson and Muller, 2012). Yet the literature to date tends to approach this topic from one of two perspectives; exploring the editorial, journal review process from the perspective of editors (Adamson, 2012; Belcher, 2007) or author-focused explorations of writing for academic publication practice (Lillis and Curry, 2010; Okamura, 2006). This paper seeks to bridge this gap by outlining the efforts of one Asian-based journal, Asian EFL Journal, to raise awareness among reviewers and editors of the needs of multilingual scholars and data from an investigation into Japan-based authors’ practices of writing for academic publication. How our findings can inform journal policy and implications for reviewing practice more broadly in light of reviewer and author experiences is considered.

International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 2017

This manuscript uses a joint autoethnographic methodology to explore the experiences of two langu... more This manuscript uses a joint autoethnographic methodology to explore the experiences of two language teacher scholars working in the academy outside the global centre in Japan. Emphasis is given to how the methodology used, cycles of reflective writing, reveals commonalities and differences in our respective experiences of working in the Japanese academy. Our accounts are interlinked with literature on global flows of labour and the marginalized position of non-Japanese within the Japanese academy. We present our reflective methodology as a tool of empowerment that allows for otherwise marginalized voices to be explored, heard, and shared with the larger academic community.

Innovating EFL Teaching in Asia, 2012

The theme of this book has been empowering the voices of teacher-researchers in Asia to help them... more The theme of this book has been empowering the voices of teacher-researchers in Asia to help them to better define for themselves what teaching and working in this diverse geographical area means. While the contributions may have demonstrated more diversity throughout Asia than commonality within and between contexts, perhaps this picture of variation among students, teachers, local classrooms, and national contexts is more illustrative of the reality of the Asian context (and likely other contexts) than is implied by Hofstede’s (1980) quantitative separation of nationalities according to different cultural attributes.

This paper considers conversations of the disciplines (Bazerman, 1980) regarding disciplinary wri... more This paper considers conversations of the disciplines (Bazerman, 1980) regarding disciplinary writing norms. Traditionally, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instruction focuses on academic skills generally relevant to the classroom. Our intention is to bridge the academic writing classroom (EAP) with writing for publication (ESP). We realize such a perspective provides a challenge for students and teachers unfamiliar with publishing norms, particularly field-specific norms, which include editorial expectations for the presentation of manuscripts, talk around texts such as author email correspondence, and expectations regarding revision and co-construction of research following editorial review. We feel the keys to overcoming these challenges lie in linking the classroom roles of teacher-as-writer and student-as-writer with a network of supportive literacy brokers. The implications of this are intra- and interdisciplinary in nature, calling ...

Innovating EFL Teaching in Asia

ESBB Journal, 2021

Abstract Despite increasing demands to publish in English, publishing in private publishing house... more Abstract
Despite increasing demands to publish in English, publishing in private publishing houses’ small number of prestige journals remains a benchmark of journal and manuscript quality. How such journals have responded to increasing demand for English language publication has been well-documented. However, the perspectives of editors working in non-prestige journals not affiliated with large, private publishing houses remain underrepresented, particularly concerning academic editorial work. To better present a diversity of editors’ perceptions, this collaborative autoethnography explored the views of five applied linguistics and TESOL journal editors working in journals unaffiliated with private publishing houses. Issues explored included our respective journals’ struggle to compete, such as in bibliometric assessment and maintaining quality review processes. Our explorative narratives of editorial perceptions revealed issues internal and external to journal editorial practice. Internally, ‘quality’ in blind and non-blind reviewing, evaluation criteria, reviewer bias, and field-specific norms of academic writing were problematized. Externally, issues of open access, author publication fees, bibliometric indexing, and our journals’ positionings in their fields were raised. We believe that sharing our views through this collaborative narrativization can help broaden understanding of editorial practices and, by highlighting issues of interest to editors more broadly, can help to foster a sense of common purpose

Key words: collaborative autoethnography, editorial practices, journal editors’ perceptions, non-prestige journals

The Journal of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Toyama, 2021

This paper presents a diachronic analysis of publication frequency and language medium for a Japa... more This paper presents a diachronic analysis of publication frequency and language medium for a Japanese national university's medical faculty. Studies of trends in global writing for academic publication tend to implicate English language publication frequency increasing at the expense of publishing in national languages (Bennet, 2014). However, while increases in English language publication have been demonstrated (Fire & Guestrin, 2019), there remains little quantitative analysis of how the language publication practices of university faculty from outside the Anglophone center of higher education have changed, with Kyvik (1990, 2003), Daizen (2015), and Huang (2015) being notable exceptions. Here we diachronically analyze publication reports for a Japanese university's medical faculty, examining annual university publication reports across two time periods, 1979 to 1980 and 2017 to 2018 for three medical subspecialties; biochemistry, internal medicine, and pathology. Across the subspecialties, English language publication in the most prestigious publication type, original journal articles, has largely come at the expense of Japanese language publication, with Japanese publications and English publications switching places in terms of frequency of publication between 1979 to 1980 and 2017 to 2018. However, less prestigious publication types have increased for both Japanese and English, suggesting that professional communication in Japanese remains important.

Jacet全国大会要綱, Aug 30, 2013

Studies into multilingual, 'periphery' scholars' experiences of English publication for academic ... more Studies into multilingual, 'periphery' scholars' experiences of English publication for academic purposes suggest that they face a number of obstacles in seeking publication in EFL and applied linguistics language journals (Belcher, 2007; Canagarajah, 1996). Some journals located outside of the Anglophone center have sought to adapt their review processes to be more accommodating toward these generally less experienced , potentially 'off-networked' (Swales, 1996: 45) scholars (Nunn and Adamson, 2007; Adamson and Muller, 2012). Yet the literature to date tends to approach this topic from one of two perspectives; exploring the editorial, journal review process from the perspective of editors (Adamson, 2012; Belcher, 2007) or author-focused explorations of writing for academic publication practice (Lillis and Curry, 2010; Okamura, 2006). This paper seeks to bridge this gap by outlining the efforts of one Asian-based journal, Asian EFL Journal, to raise awareness among reviewers and editors of the needs of multilingual scholars and data from an investigation into Japan-based authors' practices of writing for academic publication. How our findings can inform journal policy and implications for reviewing practice more broadly in light of reviewer and author experiences is considered.

This manuscript uses a joint autoethnographic methodology to explore the experiences of two langu... more This manuscript uses a joint autoethnographic methodology to explore
the experiences of two language teacher scholars working in the
academy outside the global centre in Japan. Emphasis is given to how
the methodology used, cycles of reflective writing, reveals
commonalities and differences in our respective experiences of working
in the Japanese academy. Our accounts are interlinked with literature on
global flows of labour and the marginalized position of non-Japanese
within the Japanese academy. We present our reflective methodology as
a tool of empowerment that allows for otherwise marginalized voices to
be explored, heard, and shared with the larger academic community.

Innovating EFL Teaching in Asia, 2011

This paper draws on data from a larger project investigating the experiences of language teachers... more This paper draws on data from a larger project investigating the experiences of language teachers based in Japan, both Japanese and non-Japanese, who are relatively new to writing for academic publication as they seek to publish their work. The principle focus of this paper is on the email interaction between authors and “literacy brokers” (Lillis & Curry, 2006, p. 3) during the process of negotiating changes to manuscripts after they have been submitted to publications for review. The genre of the submission letter to the editor was first examined by Swales (1996) from a discourse analysis perspective, focusing on defining and describing genre norms. While such genre analysis investigations have led to a number of insights regarding the structure and organization of academic texts, how interaction between editor and author is locally constructed between particular interlocutors has not been investigated in detail to date. Research into how manuscripts have been altered post submission has shown the significant impact review and editing have on published manuscripts (see, for example, Lillis & Curry, 2010), but how authors and editors negotiate and mediate these changes remains largely “occluded” (Swales, 1996, p. 46). In examining the co-construction of the editor-author relationship, interactions between two authors, a Japan-based Anglophone author and a non-Anglophone author and their editors surrounding submission of their manuscripts for publication are analyzed and discussed. The emphasis is on how relationships are constructed and negotiated, how roles and responsibilities are assigned, and how Habermas’ (1984) system versus lifeworld dichotomy may assist in understanding interactions, with rhetorical movement between formation of social relationships and addressing the technical process of revision and editor-author expectations regarding the progression of manuscripts from submission to publication or rejection.

The Journal of Liberal Arts and Sciences (University of Toyama, Sugitani Campus), Dec 2014

OnCue 7(2), pp. 76-85, Dec 2013

Brunelli, T., Cowie, N., & Fujishima, N. (Eds.) Professional Development in Language Teaching. (pp.77-82), Conference Proceedings of the Okayama University/JALT Teacher Education SIG Conference, 2007

This paper describes the creation of a research group for postgraduate EFL teacher- researchers w... more This paper describes the creation of a research group for postgraduate EFL teacher- researchers working in a local Japanese tertiary context. It critically analyses the rationale for the group’s existence, including how it is run and sustained. The literature review considers teacher collegiality and development in Japan, and how non-institutional support groups are organized. The methodology is a triangulation of a quantitative analysis of a ‘Yahoo!’ mailing list’s web traffic and qualitative analysis of members’ written reflective narratives and semi-structured interviews. Conclusions specific to the findings will be drawn and implications for further research will be addressed.

Re-envisioning Language Teaching & Learning in Asia

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. We’ll look forward to receiving your abstracts, expressions of interest, and questions if you have them.

All the best,
Dr. Theron Muller, Dr. John L. Adamson, Steven Herder, and Philip Shigeo Brown
Editors, Re-envisioning Language Teaching & Learning in Asia (Provisional title)

Writing & Pedagogy, 2016

International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 2017

Innovating EFL Teaching in Asia, 2012

Innovating EFL Teaching in Asia

ESBB Journal, 2021

Key words: collaborative autoethnography, editorial practices, journal editors’ perceptions, non-prestige journals

The Journal of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Toyama, 2021

Jacet全国大会要綱, Aug 30, 2013

This manuscript uses a joint autoethnographic methodology to explore the experiences of two langu... more This manuscript uses a joint autoethnographic methodology to explore
the experiences of two language teacher scholars working in the
academy outside the global centre in Japan. Emphasis is given to how
the methodology used, cycles of reflective writing, reveals
commonalities and differences in our respective experiences of working
in the Japanese academy. Our accounts are interlinked with literature on
global flows of labour and the marginalized position of non-Japanese
within the Japanese academy. We present our reflective methodology as
a tool of empowerment that allows for otherwise marginalized voices to
be explored, heard, and shared with the larger academic community.

Innovating EFL Teaching in Asia, 2011

The Journal of Liberal Arts and Sciences (University of Toyama, Sugitani Campus), Dec 2014

OnCue 7(2), pp. 76-85, Dec 2013

Brunelli, T., Cowie, N., & Fujishima, N. (Eds.) Professional Development in Language Teaching. (pp.77-82), Conference Proceedings of the Okayama University/JALT Teacher Education SIG Conference, 2007

Theorizing and Analyzing Agency in Second Language Learning

This paper examines and describes students’ written critical reflections during a medical ESP cou... more This paper examines and describes students’ written critical reflections during a medical ESP course, analyzing how they respond to issues raised during the course, asserting their agency and constructing their “future selves” (Markus & Nurius, 1986, p. 957) as medical doctors. The course is intended to bridge the “what” with the “how” (Watson Todd, 2003, p. 148) of ESP course content, introducing selected issues identified through critical discourse analysis from the medical literature and asking students to reflect on the doctor-patient discourse models derived from such research, including topics such as lifeworld versus medical “voice” (Barry, Stevenson, Britten, Barber, and Bradley, 2001, p. 495). The intention of the course is to promote student agency in understanding and evaluating the doctor-patient discourse literature by first introducing key concepts and then asking students to react and respond to those concepts in writing. The purpose of this chapter is to examine students’ reflective essays for evidence of developing agency and construction of their identities as future medical doctors. Analysis of their writing describes how they build an image of themselves as future medical professionals, demonstrate agency in describing the kind of doctors they hope to become, explain the kind of doctor-patient relationships they hope to have, and react and respond to the conclusions of the medical discourse literature. Their reflections demonstrate that they do not simply accept the assertions of the literature, but instead interpret and evaluate the conclusions of the literature based on their life experiences and understanding, coming to their own conclusions regarding how doctors should approach patient communication and the unequal power relationship inherent between doctor and patient. This paper will use student texts to describe their journey of developing an understanding of what critical discourse analysis is and how it can be applied to interactions in health care provider situations. The focus will be on examining the critical understanding students demonstrate through their writing and how they project, predict, and describe their future selves as medical professionals. Conclusions will highlight implications for encouraging student agency in an ESP context and how this might inform language teaching and learning more generally.

References
Barry, C. A., Stevenson, F. A., Britten, N., Barber, N., & Bradley, C. P. (2001). Giving voice to the lifeworld. More humane, more effective medical care? A qualitative study of doctor-patient communication in general practice. Social Science & Medicine, 53, 487-505.
Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41 (9), 954-969.
Watson Todd, R. (2003). EAP or TEAP? Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2, 147-156.

Exploring EFL Fluency in Asia, pp. 163-177, 2014

This chapter xplores free writing as a technique to improve students’ writing fluency at two diff... more This chapter xplores free writing as a technique to improve students’ writing fluency at two different high schools in Japan. It finds that in one high school gains in writing speed are considerable, while at the other they are less compelling, illustrating the importance of conducting contextualized research in order to verify the efficacy of pedagogic interventions.

Action research (AR) as a means for language teachers to critically explore and investigate their... more Action research (AR) as a means for language teachers to critically explore and investigate their practice has been advocated as part of teacher training and masters-level development courses for some time (Nunan, 1990). While models of the AR process vary, central to all is a reflective research cycle of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting (Burns, 2010). However, models presented by AR advocates represent an idealized implementation and may not reflect the lived experience of teachers pursuing classroom-based research. This investigation will explore three cases of classroom AR projects as conducted by the teachers themselves. Data includes examination of different drafts of written research accounts as they were submitted and revised for publication as well as semi-structured interviews (Myers & Newman, 2015) that explore the teachers’ research experiences. Preliminary findings indicate that the literature review was generally conducted after data had been collected. In addition, investigations tended to end after one cycle of the research process, with the research frequently geared toward presentations. The contents of those presentations were later adapted for publication. This investigation has the potential to shed light on the actual lived experiences of teachers as they embark on classroom research projects, which can help to inform how teacher research is conceptualized and taught. Furthermore, the objective of the presentation will be to suggest alternative models of action research which more fully reflect the lived teacher research experience of practitioner-investigators exploring their language teaching practice.

References
Burns, A. (2010). Doing action research in English language teaching: a guide for practitioners. New York: Routledge.
Meyers, M. & Newman, M. (2007). The qualitative interview in IS research: Examining the craft. Information and Organization. 17(1), pp. 2-26.
Nunan, D. (1990). Action research in the language classroom. In J. C. Richards & D. Nunan (Eds.) Second Language Teacher Education. Cambridge: CUP.

This presentation will share the experiences of selected Japanese and non-Japanese trying to publ... more This presentation will share the experiences of selected Japanese and non-Japanese trying to publishing their academic work, their opinions of the process, their motivations, and the complexity of work involved in academic knowledge making. The audience will be invited to draw parallels between the research participants’ experiences and motivations and their own understanding of their efforts to share and disseminate their work. The overlap and interaction between local knowledge making in the form of Japan-based publications and international academic journals based outside Japan will also be discussed.

 Increasing demand for reviewers  Concerned about reviewer competence and development  Content... more  Increasing demand for reviewers  Concerned about reviewer competence and development  Content knowledge vs. Reviewer discourse How about you? Literature on academic review  "Occluded" genre (Swales, 1996, p. 46)  Reviews not commonly published  Reviews not commonly analyzed in the literature  Rare exception: Belcher (2007)  Leads to little consensus on review quality  New reviewers  Want training, feedback, support (Freda, et al., 2009)  Review the way they were reviewed (Lovejoy, et al., 2011)  Our concern: Results in disservice to authors  Echoed by Walbot (2009), "training the pit-bull reviewer"  Error identification  Little praise  Good reviewing = finding flaws

Research into the English writing practices of multilingual scholars has shown that, in addition ... more Research into the English writing practices of multilingual scholars has shown that, in addition to individual language competence, participation in professional networks which mediate access to publication opportunities and provide feedback on academic work is important to successful publishing, particularly outside of Anglophone center contexts (Curry & Lillis, 2010). To date the networks of non-Anglophone scholars have been examined, but the importance of such networks for Anglophones working outside center contexts is less well understood. To further illustrate the importance of networks in writing for academic publication, this presentation examines the publication practices of four Japan-based language teachers, two Japanese and two non-Japanese, paying particular attention to the networks they draw on to access presentation and publication opportunities. Framed as an “intrinsic case study” (Stake, 1994, p. 237), preliminary findings indicate the two Japanese are more aware of local standards of evaluation of academic activity and appear more adept at taking advantage of durable, local networks. In contrast, the two non-Japanese are more likely to seek participation in wider regional and international networks but have more trouble finding and engaging local support. All four draw on a wide range of network contacts to access presentation and publication opportunities and to seek support in writing for publication. They also devote considerable effort to mediating texts among their professional networks. Some possible implications for globalized higher education with respect to difficulties participants faced when educated in (or from) contexts outside those where they were working and how this influenced their ability to decode Japan-local expectations will also be discussed.

Curry, M. J., & Lillis, T. (2010). Academic research networks: Accessing resources for English-medium publishing. English for Specific Purposes, 29, 281-295.
Stake, R. E. (1994). Case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.) Handbook of Qualitative Research. London: Sage.

While the importance of writing and publishing in English in the medical sciences in Japan is wel... more While the importance of writing and publishing in English in the medical sciences in Japan is well established, to date the necessary skills writers need remain largely unexplored. This research seeks to fill this gap through surveying participants of a medical science publishing workshop at a Japanese national university. 29 respondents answered questions about their publishing experience and beliefs regarding the English skills necessary for successful English academic writing using Button’s (1994) construct measurement instrument. Results were analyzed using grounded theory to extract themes of interest for teachers and researchers interested in writing in English for academic publication.

This presentation describes the experiences of language teachers based in Japan, both Japanese an... more This presentation describes the experiences of language teachers based in Japan, both Japanese and non-Japanese, who are new to writing for academic publication. Issues explored include why they
write for publication, where they try to publish and why, and the intended audience of their work.

This presentation will draw on data from a larger project investigating the experiences of langua... more This presentation will draw on data from a larger project investigating the experiences of language teachers based in Japan, both Japanese and non-Japanese, who are relatively new to writing for academic publication as they seek to publish their work. The presentation will focus on email interaction between authors and “literacy brokers” (Lillis & Curry, 2006, p. 3) during the process of negotiating editorial changes to manuscripts as they move through submission, review, and revision. Editorial norms and expectations regarding the genre of the submission letter to the editor were first examined by Swales (1996) from a discourse analysis perspective, focusing on defining and describing genre norms. While such investigations have led to a number of insights regarding the structure and organization of academic texts, how interaction between editor and author comes to be locally constructed between particular interlocutors has not been investigated in detail to date. Research into how manuscripts have been altered as a result of of the editorial review process has shown the significant impact review and editing have on published manuscripts (see, for example, Lillis & Curry, 2010), but how authors and editors negotiate and mediate these changes remains largely “occluded” (Swales, 1996, p. 46). In order to examine the co-construction of the editor-author relationship, this presentation will share analysis of interactions between Japan-based Anglophone and non-Anglophone scholars and their editors surrounding submission of their manuscripts for publication. Analysis will concentrate on how the relationship is constructed and negotiated, how roles and responsibilities are assigned, and the analytical models available for examining such interaction. Preliminary analysis suggests that Habermas’ system versus lifeworld dichotomy may be at play in at least some of the interactions, with rhetorical movement between formation of social relationships and addressing the technical process of revision and editor-author expectations regarding the progression of manuscripts from submission to publication or rejection.

The teacher development paradigm of top-down dissemination of methods is shifting toward teachers... more The teacher development paradigm of top-down dissemination of methods is shifting toward teachers conducting their own classroom based investigations to develop local understanding and expertise (Mann, 2005), where part of this reflective cycle includes teachers writing about their classroom research. This phenomenon has lead to language teachers being increasingly interested in writing for publication, particularly university faculty who find themselves pressured to publish (Curry & Lillis, 2013). What remains unclear, however, is how well prepared teachers are for writing for academic publication, particularly as many teachers working in Japan have graduate qualifications which may not have socialized them into the practice. The position I take in this presentation is that writing for publication, similar to Mann’s (2005) conception of teacher development as a networked, negotiated process, requires the engagement of a number of different resources to be successful. This research investigates what resources are entailed in language teachers in Japan writing for academic publication through examination of four cases of Japan-based language teachers, two Japanese and two non-Japanese, outlining their career progression and exploring issues they face as they pursue publication. Emphasis is given in the research to exploring how they came to achieve their first publications, the resources engaged in successfully publishing their work, including literacy and network broker resources (Curry & Lillis, 2010; Lillis & Curry, 2010), and the place they see publication having in their professional lives. The implications of this information for understanding teachers’ professional lives, and for the teacher development conversation, will be discussed.

This presentation describes the experiences of two language teachers based in Japan, both new to ... more This presentation describes the experiences of two language teachers based in Japan, both new to writing for academic publication. Issues explored include why they write for academic publication, where they try to publish and why, and the intended audience of their work.

This presentation will describe the experiences of two Japan-based language teachers pursuing aca... more This presentation will describe the experiences of two Japan-based language teachers pursuing academic publication. Both presenters are relatively new to writing for academic publication. One is a Japanese teacher of Japanese and the other is an expatriate teacher of English. Issues explored in this presentation include why they are interested in writing for academic publication, where they are trying to publish and why, the intended audience of their published work, and the challenges they face in pursuing publication.

There is increasing pressure for language teachers in Japan to publish, which can be stressful. T... more There is increasing pressure for language teachers in Japan to publish, which can be stressful. This stress can be alleviated through peer collaboration. The JALT Peer Support Group (PSG) is a group of peer-readers who work together with writers to assist them in developing their manuscripts for publication. This workshop will give participants tips on navigating the writing process, a chance to discuss their own writing ideas, and information on working with the PSG.

Academic writing instructors, editors, and reviewers often have the difficult responsibility of a... more Academic writing instructors, editors, and reviewers often have the difficult responsibility of addressing issues of language in the papers that they evaluate and work with. That standards of ‘good’ language in the academy are often implicit, and associated with such terms as ‘clear’ and ‘concise’ makes the task of addressing language problems in papers all the more complex (Turner, 2011). This interactive workshop will discuss providing constructive comments on and suggestions for revising samples of academic writing, both for teachers and students, to make the kind of changes necessary to meet expectations of language in academic writing more explicit. Samples will largely be taken from the field of TEFL/TESL, but the principles discussed should be applicable to a variety of genres. Participants should expect to increase their awareness of how to evaluate written work intended for publication, and gain understanding in how to formulate comments that are easily comprehended and hopefully readily implementable by authors. The strategies discussed will help participants gain perspective when commenting on student work, editing colleagues’ manuscripts, and completing academic reviews.

This discussion will consider conversations of the disciplines among ESP/EAP teachers, students a... more This discussion will consider conversations of the disciplines among ESP/EAP teachers, students and content faculty regarding disciplinary writing norms. Traditionally, ESP/EAP instruction focuses on academic skills generally relevant to the classroom. Our intention is to bridge the academic writing classroom with writing for publication. We realize such a perspective provides a challenge for students and teachers, both perhaps unfamiliar with publishing norms, particularly those that are field specific. These norms include editorial expectations for the presentation of manuscripts and talk around texts, such as author email correspondence, along with expectations regarding revision and co-construction of research following editorial review. We feel the keys to overcoming these challenges lie in linking the classroom roles of teacher-as-writer and student-as-writer with a network of supportive literacy brokers. The implications of this are intra- and interdisciplinary in nature, calling for improved interconnection between EAP and content faculty and flattening of the hierarchical relationship that exists between them. Important for classroom practice, this involves a pedagogical approach moving beyond a focus on academic text production in the university curriculum toward the importance of specifically preparing classroom participants for writing for academic publication.

This interactive workshop will be divided into two parts. The first part will discuss the practic... more This interactive workshop will be divided into two parts. The first part will discuss the practices of teacher-researchers as research-practitioners writing for academic publication in TEFL/TESL, paying particular attention to the obstacles they encounter and strategies for successfully overcoming those obstacles. One of the objectives will be to share with participants the importance for forming networks of support for facilitating the planning, execution, and writing up of practitioner-research. This will be accomplished through uncovering the often hidden practices and expectations behind writing for publication, helping participants to better understand their own experiences of pursuing academic publication and to facilitate success in getting their work published.

The second part of the workshop will turn to examining examples of the process of negotiating publication, discussing samples of writing submitted for review alongside the comments of editors and reviewers. Discussion will center around how the writing requires transformation as part of the dialog of academic review and editing. The dual objective of this part of the presentation will be to offer more specific details of the process of writing for academic publication and to prepare participants for the kinds of things that require attention as papers go through review and editing. Participants interested in preparing their own manuscripts for submission to academic publications will learn more about the process they should expect their papers to undergo once sent to academic journals and how to go about selecting potential publications for their work.

Student production is often evaluated through measurements of accuracy, fluency, and complexity, ... more Student production is often evaluated through measurements of accuracy, fluency, and complexity, but in the push to operationalize these variables the voices of the students themselves, the stories they share, and their personal aspirations for learning are often lost. This presentation takes a step back from measuring different dimensions of student writing to reflect on the voices of students and what insights they may reveal regarding the classroom experience.

In academic publishing literature, the storyline is about increasing pressure on academics to pub... more In academic publishing literature, the storyline is about increasing pressure on academics to publish, often described as publish or perish. What’s largely missing from this picture is discussion and consideration of authors’ motivations for pursuing academic publication. In this presentation Theron Muller will share preliminary data from research into emerging scholars in Japan pursuing academic publishing and how those authors describe their motivations and goals toward academic writing.

References
Burns, A. (2010). Doing action research in English language teaching: a guide for practitioners. New York: Routledge.

Meyers, M. & Newman, M. (2007). The qualitative interview in IS research: Examining the craft. Information and Organization. 17(1), pp. 2-26.

Nunan, D. (1990). Action research in the language classroom. In J. C. Richards & D. Nunan (Eds.) Second Language Teacher Education. Cambridge: CUP.

ELTED Journal, English Language Teacher Education and Development, has as call for papers for a s... more ELTED Journal, English Language Teacher Education and Development, has as call for papers for a special issue on the theme of Innovative writing in English language teacher education and development out, with an extended deadline of October 31.

ESBB, 2021

Despite increasing demands to publish in English, publishing in private publishing houses’ small ... more Despite increasing demands to publish in English, publishing in private publishing houses’ small number of prestige journals remains a benchmark of journal and manuscript quality. How such journals have responded to increasing demand for English language publication has been well-documented. However, the perspectives of editors working in non-prestige journals not affiliated with large, private publishing houses remain underrepresented, particularly concerning academic editorial work. To better present a diversity of editors’ perceptions, this collaborative autoethnography explored the views of five applied linguistics and TESOL journal editors working in journals unaffiliated with private publishing houses. Issues explored included our respective journals’ struggle to compete, such as in bibliometric assessment and maintaining quality review processes. Our explorative narratives of editorial perceptions revealed issues internal and external to journal editorial practice. Internally, ‘quality’ in blind and non-blind reviewing, evaluation criteria, reviewer bias, and field-specific norms of academic writing were problematized. Externally, issues of open access, author publication fees, bibliometric indexing, and our journals’ positionings in their fields were raised. We believe that sharing our views through this collaborative narrativization can help broaden understanding of editorial practices and, by highlighting issues of interest to editors more broadly, can help to foster a sense of common purpose