TESL CANADA JOURNAL
Call for Papers - 2020 Special Issue
Corrective Feedback in Language Teaching and Learning: Connecting Research and Practice
Guest Editors:
Antonella Valeo, York University
Eva Kartchava, Carleton University
Corrective feedback remains in focus in large part because, for many teachers, it exemplifies the role of the teacher and the relationship between teaching and learning (e.g., Ellis, 2017). Teachers make decisions about how and when to provide corrective feedback on a daily basis in the classroom. For learners, the teacher’s role is often defined by feedback, and corrective feedback remains a distinguishing feature of instructed language learning over natural language learning outside the classroom. Embedded in classroom interaction, corrective feedback has been the source of both pedagogical innovation and theoretical development. It is also a quickly growing area of research with publications that are both practitioner- and research- oriented. As a pedagogical practice, it cuts across contexts, occurring in higher education, child education, virtual classrooms, and community-based contexts. Empirical studies have largely been concerned with investigating the effect and effectiveness of different strategies in the provision of corrective feedback in various modes (oral, written, computer-mediated), with more recent research expanding the focus to examinations of peer feedback, gesture use, as well as such processes as noticing, timing, and explicitness involved in corrective feedback (for an overview see Nassaji & Kartchava, 2017).
Despite the wealth of literature, however, what has been missing is a direct examination of contextual features that characterize the language classroom experience. Contextual features and dimensions of teaching and learning have emerged as critical considerations for both researchers and teachers (e.g., Gass & Loewen, forthcoming; Heift & Hegelheimer, 2017; Storch, 2017; Valeo, forthcoming; Ziegler & Mackey, 2017). Hence, there is a growing need to foreground the mediating role of contextual factors in a range of contexts, including virtual classrooms, higher education, and settlement programming. The goal of this Special Issue is to examine how features of the macro and micro context continue to play a role in the questions we ask, the ways in which we examine corrective feedback, and how these features influence the findings and conclusions we draw.
In an effort to draw on the expansive work of graduate students as emerging scholars and teacher researchers, many of whom are drawing from recent experiences in the classroom and contribute to the agenda for future research in ways that are relevant to the classroom, we invite co-authored submissions that bring together established scholars and emerging researchers, including graduate students and classroom teachers. By engaging with these communities, this Special Issue will speak to the complexity of instructional contexts across Canada while acknowledging the growth and development of new scholars and the contributions of practitioners. In this way, it will also address the continued disconnect that plagues research in general, and in academic journals in particular.
This Special Issue will examine research that investigates corrective feedback in a range of instructional contexts and theoretical perspectives situated in classroom practice. We invite submissions that report on and discuss empirical research as well as theoretical perspectives relevant to multiple dimensions of corrective feedback, including, but not limited to, oral and written feedback, technology-mediated corrective feedback, teacher-directed feedback, and peer-feedback.
Primary consideration will be given to manuscripts which are aligned with the goals of this issue: a) highlight the role of context in empirical studies and theoretical discussions; and b) contribute co-authored texts that include the work of graduate students, teachers, and other partners, in collaboration with established scholars and researchers. In line with the mandate of The TESL Canada Journal, we invite submissions from international authors whose work and discussion are relevant to the Canadian context and meaningful to practitioners in Canada.
To review Author Guidelines, for Full-Length and Perspectives Articles, please refer to: https://teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl/about/submissions#authorGuidelines
Interested authors should submit an initial 300-word (maximum) abstract to teslcanadajournal@tesl.ca along with a 50-word (maximum) bio and the TESL Canada Journal Submission Form by December 31st, 2019. This initial abstract will be vetted to ensure applicability to the Special Issue’s focus. Authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to submit a full manuscript for peer review by March 31st, 2020. Publication is expected for September 2020.
As part of the submission process, authors must download the TESL Canada Journal Submission Form and send it to: teslcanadajournal@tesl.ca as an attachment, along with their manuscript.
Questions regarding this special issue should be directed to: teslcanadajournal@tesl.ca.
Abstracts are due December 31st, 2019.
