TESOL Quarterly 2024 Special Issue on Assessing the effectiveness of corpus-based approaches to English language teaching 

Call for Abstracts

Guest Editors:

J. Elliott Casal, University of Memphis: jecasal@memphis.edu

Matt Kessler, University of South Florida: kesslerm@usf.edu

Corpus linguistics has had a profound impact on L2 English language instruction in terms of available resources and the design of syllabi (i.e., indirect), as well as in terms of pedagogical activities and tasks themselves (i.e., direct; Leech, 1997). A robust body of scholarship supports the adoption of corpus-based language learning tasks in L2 English instruction, with particular emphasis on L2 writing and vocabulary development, learner perception data, and the Data-Driven Learning approach (Johns, 1990). However, attention to reading, listening, speaking, pragmatic knowledge, and other areas (e.g., use of learner-compiled corpora; integration of corpus-analysis activities with other pedagogical activities) is comparatively limited. Currently, there is room for more research investigating how corpus-based pedagogies impact learner development from quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches that look for changes in production, metacognition, identity, and other areas of communicative competence.

One of two TESOL Quarterly 2024 Special Issues, Assessing the effectiveness of corpus-based approaches to English language teaching aims to address such matters. Submissions to this special issue should be both theoretically grounded and rooted in practice with a strong emphasis on analyzing the impacts of the pedagogical activities on L2 English learner development. Preference will be given to submissions which focus on less commonly taught skills, linguistic features, and innovative corpus-based pedagogies through rigorous means of assessing development. Submissions should clearly motivate and outline the corpus-based pedagogical approach adopted, theoretically motivate the operationalization of development, provide careful and robust analysis of learner data, and include implications which may be generalizable to other English language instruction contexts.

For the special issue, we are accepting submissions for Full-Length Articles, Brief Reports, Research Issues, and Teaching Issues. Those interested in potentially contributing to the special issue should email the following information to both guest editors by January 31, 2023: a) the intended manuscript submission type/section, b) a title, c) an abstract of up to 300 words; and d) author bios (150 words max each) with contact information of the authors. All invited full submissions will undergo double-anonymous peer review

Expected timeline:

Abstracts due to Guest Editors: January 31, 2023

Authors notified of full submission invitation: February 28, 2023

Full submissions due: August 1, 2023

Reviews sent to authors: October 31, 2023

Final revisions due: January 1, 2024

Final revisions accepted: March 1, 2024