TESL CANADA JOURNAL
Call for Papers, Special Issue of TESL Canada Journal
Guest Editors:
Joel Heng Hartse, Simon Fraser University; James Corcoran, York University;
Ismaeil Fazel, University of British Columbia; Anita Chaudhuri, University of British Columbia
Second Language Writing in Canada: Research, Theory, and Instruction
Second language writing (hereafter L2 writing) emerged as a field or sub-discipline in the United States at the nexus of the fields of rhetoric and composition, applied linguistics, and TESOL, whose members often teach L2 writing under the label of EAP / ESP / ESL (Matsuda, 2021). However, theory, research, and practice about L2 writing in Canada is less clearly defined. Canada has been a home for a number of important scholars in this area, but attempts to understand and distinguish Canadian L2 writing have been few and far between. In recent years Cumming (2016) and Wright-Taylor (2021) have attempted to situate Canadian L2 writing in its historical context, finding that it has emerged and evolved in a somewhat haphazard and interdisciplinary manner. This leads us to questions regarding the case of L2 writing in Canada. Where do its boundaries begin and end? What scholarship is occurring under this banner? What innovative pedagogical approaches exist in the field? How might we best understand the liminal space(s) between L2 writing, English for academic purposes, and related areas?
Despite the seemingly peripheral nature of L2 writing studies in Canada, the past decades have seen research addressing L2 writing in a variety of Canadian scholarly journals, covering diverse areas: L2 writing and pedagogy, assessment, corrective feedback, technologies, culture and identity, academic integrity, undergraduate and graduate EAP/ESP, and bilingualism / plurilingualism / translanguaging, among others. However, there has yet to be a comprehensive overview of this important “field” in Canada. Thus, this special issue seeks to explicitly address L2 writing as a construct, a discipline, and an area of research, practice, and teaching in the Canadian context, while bringing to the fore cutting-edge research and pedagogy that fall under the potentially contested, dynamic, and fluid label L2 Writing.
Specific areas we are interested in include (but are not limited to):
- Studies involving L2 writers at the university, graduate, and adult education levels
- Current issues in Canadian L2 writing pedagogy
- L2 writing in / across disciplines
- Disciplinary relationships and distinctions (e.g., L2 writing, EAP, communication, etc.)
- L2 writing teacher/scholar identities
- Writing centre scholarship and perspectives
- Writing in EAP
- Multi/pluri/trans-lingual writing
- Biliteracies
- French as a second language (FSL) writing
- Digital technology in L2 writing instruction
- L2 writing assessment and corrective feedback
- Voice and identity in L2 writing
- Multimodal composition
- Raciolinguistic perspectives on L2 writing
- The history of L2 writing in Canada
Papers/proposals written in English or French will be considered. We welcome proposals for inclusion in one of three sections: “Full-Length Research Articles” (original research), “Perspectives” (theoretical explorations of relevant issues), and “In the Classroom” (pedagogical focus). Please refer to the TESL Canada Journal author guidelines for more information: http://www.teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl/about/submissions
Interested authors are invited to submit a 400-word abstract (including references) to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by December 31, 2022. Notice of abstract acceptance will be emailed in January. Full manuscripts are due May 15th, 2023 and will be subject to a double-blind review process. The special issue will be published in Fall 2023. If you have any questions or queries about this special issue, please contact Joel Heng Hartse at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
References
Cumming, A. (2016). Studies of second language writing in Canada: Three generations. In T. Silva & J. Paiz (Eds.), Second language writing in the global context: Listening to represented, underrepresented, and unrepresented voices (pp. 32-47). Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Matsuda, P. K. (2021). On the disciplinary identity of second language writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 52, 100796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2021.100796
Wright-Taylor, C. (2021). “Sorry If My Words Aren’t Right”: Writing Studies’ Partnership with Second Language Writing to Support Translingual Students in the Anglo-Canadian Classroom. Unpublished doctoral dissertation: University of Waterloo. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/17684
TESL Canada
Teachers of English as a Second Language - Canada