TESL CANADA JOURNAL

Call for Papers

2018 Special Issue of TESL Canada Journal

The Shifting Landscape of Professional Self-Development for ELT Practitioners

Guest Editor: Li-Shih Huang, PhD

Over the past decade, the ways in which English language teaching (ELT) professionals pursue self-development have transformed across space and time. Today they include both traditional approaches (keeping abreast with research, attending courses and workshops, joining professional associations, attending conferences, conducting action research, etc.) as well as newer technological channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, weblogs, to name a few). Meanwhile, an emerging body of research on professional self-development exists more broadly

in teacher education, while in TESL, with its diversity of approaches, methods, resources, and tools, both researchers and teachers have shown growing interest in understanding teachers’ commitment to the profession. At the same time, over the past decade the work of ELT professionals has become more complex, a result of demographic and sociocultural shifts as well as changes in technology, educational practices, and standards and assessments. Yet although the importance of professional development for teachers is well recognized, work is lacking in TESL devoted to the shifting landscape of this critical activity for all ELT professionals and the challenges thereby posed to the professionalism and professionalization of TESL. We have thus decided this to be an opportune time for this special issue of the journal on a subject that lies at the very heart of our profession.

This special issue will therefore be devoted to examining the place of teachers’ professional self-development in English language teaching and learning. Theoretically and methodologically, the volume invites manuscripts grounded in different conceptual models and theoretical frameworks and using different research methods to address questions relevant to different contexts and perspectives. Practically, the volume’s central goal is to provide a mirror readers may use to reflect on, rethink, and reassess their research and/or professional development practices and experiences, thereby enabling them to see new possibilities and continue critical dialogues. Thus we invite papers about, though not limited to, the following areas:

Full Length Research Articles. Focused on research, these may range from surveying professional development practices in Canada and those mediated through social networking sites, to addressing the creation and maintenance of professional learning networks or communities:

• Research into practice: The professional development practices of ELT teaching in Canada
• Professional development using technology
• Professional development through professional learning networks or communities
• Professional development through action research or collaborative inquiry
• Conceptualization of integrated professional learning systems at the institutional level

Perspectives Articles. Geared toward the needs of practitioners in specific contexts, these should seek to connect theory, research, and direct experience and translate these connections into insights and strategies for integrating professional development into teachers’ own teaching contexts:

• Professional development in K-12 teaching and learning
• Professional development in private-school teaching and learning
• Professional self-development in post-secondary teaching and learning
• Professional development for teacher educators

To review the Author Guidelines, please refer to
http://www.teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl/about/submissions.

As part of the submission process, authors must download the TESL Canada Journal Submission Form on that page and to send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as an attachment, along with their manuscript.

Questions regarding this special issue should be directed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Deadline: Full manuscripts are due June 15, 2018.