Human life,
in and out of school, is complex. Personal, public, and educational changes can
be dramatic, and these changes transform how we communicate. How we define and
how we teach literacy may also have to change. Because our journal’s focus is
Canadian teacher research, we necessarily choose to ground our work in schools
– however schools might be designed. In our inaugural issue, dedicated to the
teaching of literacy, we want to focus upon what it means to teach literacy and
what it means to become literate. Perhaps, we need drastic pedagogical change:
perhaps we need to embrace our traditions more tightly.
We have
chosen the term “multi-literacies” to highlights two important, related
changes. First, Canada is growing more culturally and linguistically diverse.
Literacy calls us to negotiate community and global differences, as our lives
increasingly interconnect. All languages, English and French included, change
and morph. No longer is a single, standard language even possible. Migration,
multiculturalism, and global integration intensify this process of change.
Second, conceptualizing “multi-literacies” helps us consider the influence of
new communication technologies. Meaning is increasingly multi-modal, and
written literacy is now only part of a broader literacy that includes visual,
audio, and spatial. The Internet is the chief example of literacy’s versatility
– the interactive multimedia of a complex, communicating world.
In this
context, we invite teacher research about how teachers can help children become
literate. What does literacy mean? How can and should “multi-literacies”
transform the curriculum and pedagogy of our language and communication? Will
old pedagogies cut it? Must we embrace open-ended, flexible, and functional
grammars to help language learners consider the cultural, regional/national,
technical, contextual differences of language and the multi-modal meanings that
seem so crucial to better communication in our world?
The Canadian
Journal of Teacher Research is a new, online journal which enables
teacher researchers to publish their work in a peer reviewed online journal,
present the key ideas from their research in both a published paper and a blog,
interact with readers about the issues raised in their papers, and present
their ideas (if they chose to do so) using a short video. The Canadian
Journal of Teacher Research is a new kind of journal for a
new age of teacher-led research. The Journal’s aim is to improve practice on
the basis of research evidence and understanding.
The first
issue, launched at the beginning of 2014, will focus on literacy,
multi-literacies, and the implications of literacy for student and teacher
learning, school-based curriculum and instruction, school systems, and for
teaching. Submissions should follows the guidelines attached and should be made
to Professor Jim Parsons, a member of the Department of Secondary Education at
the University of Alberta. Jim will serve as the Executive Editor of the Canadian
Journal of Teacher Research.
Although our
first edition focuses on literacy research, please think expansively about both
research and literacy. Submissions should document the article’s rationale for
the research, the research process (methods and data) and analysis and then
look at the implications of this work for teachers, school administrators,
systems administrators and policy makers where it is relevant to do so. If, in
addition to the article itself, you submit an opinion piece about the meaning
of this work (between 650 and 850 words) it will appear as a blog on the
Journal site.
GENERAL
ARTICLE REQUIREMENTS
• Cover Page
– The title should be in 14 point, bolded, italicized, in Times New Roman, and
centered on the cover page with authors’ name(s) and rank four spaces below the
title in 12 point and centered. Include institutional affiliations and authors’
e-mail addresses.
• Abstract
Page – All manuscripts should include an abstract following the title page.
Include the title of the article above the abstract. Limit the abstract to
approximately 150 words or less, single-spaced.
Body of
Manuscript:
• Use APA
guidelines in preparing the manuscript. See http://www.apa.org/journals/faq.html for
formatting information.
• The Canadian
Journal of Teacher Research accepts manuscripts of varying lengths –
if length adjustments are required, the editors will contact authors.
• Leave a
single space before and after headings.
• Use 12
point font size.
• Use Times
New Roman font.
• Use 1″ margins
throughout the document.
• References
and citations should also be prepared using APA guidelines. All table,
appendices, footnotes, and bibliographic information will be placed at the end
of the article in 12 point Times New Roman.
Please also
add this line to your email: This manuscript represents original research and
is not under consideration for publication in any other journal, conference
proceedings, book, or encyclopedia.
Please submit
all articles for submission consideration to jim.parsons@ualberta.ca
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