Teaching English Reflectively with Technology

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Frequently Asked Questions

What should I put in my proposal?
How do I get a mentor? What can I expect from him or her?
What is a "primary member" of the TESOL CALL-IS? How do I know if I am one?
When will the book be published?
What are my chances of being selected?
Can I be both a contributor and a mentor?
Will my submission be peer reviewed?

What should I put in my proposal? Your proposal should be similar to a proposal submitted to a conference. State a brief background rationale and then describe the setting and technology integration you have done, along with any evidence of formal or informal data collection and/or reflection. In particular, let us (and eventually your audience) know a couple of things you have learned from the project. We are looking for evidence of reflection, not just enthusiasm toward a particular technology. If you can relate your work to existing research or theory, that would also be helpful.

How do I get a mentor? What can I expect from him or her? We assume that a certain number of proposals will come from first-time authors, those with limited publishing experience, especially in English. We want to give you the best chance possible for having a successful paper, and that's why we are planning to offer mentors to those who request them during the writing process. The role of the mentor is to help you organize the paper, include appropriate content, and especially guide you in finding published sources to refine and support your claims. We want you to enrich your work by appropriately linking it to that of others.
     Please note that 1) the mentor is a volunteer, a more experienced colleague, not an assistant or co-author 2) the mentor's job is not to be your copy editor or to write substantial portions of the paper for you, and 3) having a mentor does not guarantee publication--the mentor's role is to assist you, not to insure that you are published. We assume that regardless of the outcome, if you work with a mentor you will gain from the process.
    Not everyone will want or need a mentor. In some cases, the editors will recommend that you accept one, and in others, the request will come from you as an author. It is also possible that a mentor will be needed more in either initial or late stages. Be advised that this is an experiment. We will do the best we can to select, assign, and monitor mentors so that the overall experience is positive for everyone involved, but we ask for your patience and understanding if everything doesn't work perfectly.

What is a "primary member" of the TESOL CALL-IS? How do I know if I am one? In IATEFL, membership in more than one SIG requires paying additional annual dues. That was the case in TESOL at one time, but more recently, TESOL has been restructured so that membership allows you one primary interest section and as many secondary memberships as you wish at no additional charge (secondary members simply receive the electronic newsletters of their chosen interest sections). Because anyone in TESOL could choose CALL-IS as a secondary section, this would undermine the collaborative principle of getting together CALL-IS and LT SIG members for this project.
    As a TESOL member, you may log in and check your profile (see the update interest section link) to confirm you are a CALL-IS member or shift your primary membership over. Note that the proposal form requires that you verify this is true.

When will the book be published? We are anticipating that the book will be in print and ready for distribution by the 2015 IATEFL Conference. Present plans call for authors and LT SIG members to receive the print version. An ebook will made available to others, including CALL-IS members who are not authors.

What are my chances of being selected? We want to include as many papers as we can that meet the publication criteria and are submitted by the deadlines. We anticipate 20-25 papers overall. If your proposal is not accepted, the editors will let you know why, and if it is accepted, we will provided further guidance as to what we want to see in the full paper. Please note the following, however: 1) acceptance of the proposal does not imply acceptance of the paper; 2) the quality of the writing as well as the content will be taken into account; 3) we are looking for balance in the topics covered, and so we may have to be more selective if we get too many proposals in one area; 4) because this is underwritten and published by the IATEFL LT SIG, at least 50% of the contributions must be from LT SIG members.

Can I be both a contributor and a mentor? Yes, we are happy for anyone who is qualified to be a mentor to participate, and we don't want to exclude on the basis of also contributing a chapter to the volume. Information on mentor qualifications and how to apply is on the Mentoring link.

Will my submission be peer reviewed? Due to time constraints and other considerations, we will not be sending submissions out to external peer referees. The papers will be reviewed by the two editors, who will then make a joint decision regarding whether a submission will or will not be accepted for the volume. If a submission is conditionally accepted the editors will note what changes will need to be made prior to incorporating it into the final work.