The AsiaCALL Online Journal [ACOJ] (ISSN 1936-9859) is a fully peer-reviewed international publication of AsiaCALL, the Asia Association of Computer-Assisted Language Learning. It is an Open Access journal in the sense that it makes its contents available to all with no restriction.
Focus and Scope
The purpose of this international peer-reviewed online Open Access journal is to advance international scholarship and pedagogic practice in the area of Computer-Assisted Language-Learning (CALL) or Technology-Enhanced Language-Learning (TELL). The journal is multidisciplinary, international, multi-paradigmatic, and multicultural in scope and welcomes original contributions from all points in the theoretical spectrum.
Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) or Technology-Enhanced Language-Learning (TELL) is defined as any scholarship and pedagogical practice from researchers and practitioners, which values and gives priority to the uses of modern technology in language/culture learning and teaching across all learning settings. While the primary focus of the journal is the enhancement of language-learning (in all its forms, including culture) and teaching, the journal may accept contributions where the focus may not be language in the strict sense, provided the submitted material could, arguably, contribute to language learning and teaching in due course.
Different approaches to CALL/TELL have emerged since the beginnings of the “modern era” of CALL/TELL in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Of critical importance to the field is the notion that CALL/TELL is essentially an intellectual matter and not a technical one. As a consequence, diverse perspectives are welcomed despite the possibility of irreconcilable contradictions and disagreements between them. Creating a space for a collision between conflicting ideologies and practices should nurture the development of an intellectual setting where important questions and tensions will emerge as scholars across this burgeoning field provide rich, valuable, and different perspectives on the problem of CALL/TELL. This deliberate focus on the difference will help ward off intellectual stagnation: the greatest danger we face in a world where quality education demands more creative and divergent thinking than ever before.
The AsiaCALL Online Journal is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary publication located within, across, and between the Humanities, the Social Sciences (including Education/Pedagogy), and Information/Computer Technology as well as other developing technologies. It accepts theoretical and practical contributions, including intellectual/conceptual research as well as data-driven research, book, and software reviews, reflective notes, and commentaries.
Finally, in keeping with making research available rapidly to the community, the journal accepts contributions at any time of the year and will seek to publish accepted articles within a period of eight weeks from the time of receipt.
All contributors and readers with an interest in broadly-defined and dynamic perspectives on CALL/TELL and closely-related areas are warmly welcomed.
Section Policies
Articles
- Purely conceptual and/or methodological papers;
- Intellectual and empirical research;
- Description of and reflection on innovative educational practices related to CALL/TELL;
- “Special issue” – collections of thematically-related papers.
Editorials
Occasional essays and reflective papers on topics of special interest by the Editor(s) of the journal and by invitation.
Reviews
Reviews of books, films and videos, conference presentations, websites, and other types of publications and/or events relevant for CALL/TELL.
Reports on projects and conferences
- Reports on interesting research and pedagogical projects about CALL/TELL;
- Reports about conferences, seminars, meetings relevant for CALL/TELL;
- In reports please provide hyperlinks, places, dates, info about participants, as necessary;
- Reports should not be longer than 2000 words;
Peer Review Process
The peer-review process works as outlined below. It is expected to be completed within 8 weeks for articles selected for publication.
1) Submission of an original manuscript via electronic online submission;
2) Quick judgment by the Executive Editor of whether the manuscript fits the Focus and Scope of the Journal. If it does not, the Author will be notified immediately with an e-mail of rejection;
3) Assignment of one or more managing editors to the manuscript by the Executive Editor;
4) The managing editor(s) will decide, on the basis of the Aims and Scope of the Journal and the quality of argumentation and of the text in general, whether the manuscript is fit to undergo the peer review process;
5) Where a manuscript shows promise but suffers from severe problems (textual or otherwise) the managing editor(s) may send the manuscript back to the author(s) for corrections and upgrading;
6) The managing editor(s) select a minimum of 2 competent referees in the field and send them the manuscript aiming at the 3-week review. Selection of the referees will occur when the manuscript is accepted for the peer review phase of the process. The referees provide a recommendation to the editors, justifications, and suggestions (if appropriate) and place the manuscript into one of the following categories: “reject”, “resubmit”, “accept with minor revisions”, or “accept as is”;
7) The managing editor(s) make their decision based on the Referees’ Comments and their own judgment: (“reject”, “resubmit”, “accept with minor revisions”, or “accept as is”). If they cannot make the decision, the Executive Editor is assigned to make it;
8) The paper is either accepted for final publication, or sent back to the authors for minor or major revision (with readability improvement suggestions by the editors), or else it is rejected.
On receipt of the corrected manuscript, the editorial team finalizes the formatting, and provided all necessary changes have been made, the manuscript is published in the journal.
Every effort will be made to publish accepted manuscripts within an 8-week window.
Anonymity, attribution, and collaboration
a) Authors are encouraged to nominate referees for their manuscript (using the special section in the online submission form). Referees should be experts in the addressed area. The Executive Editor of the Journal is under no obligation to invite any suggested referee to review any of the papers submitted.
b) Authors who submit papers for blind review are asked to consult the appropriate section (Ensuring a Blind Peer Review) to ensure that they comply with the requirements.
c) Referees will remain anonymous.
Publication Frequency
The journal is volume-organized (except for any special issues, such as Proceedings, or thematically-related collections of articles). All unrelated articles are published as soon as they are ready for publication. The journal volume is defined by the year of publication of articles.
Every effort will be made to publish accepted manuscripts within an 8-week window.
Open Access Policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content. AsiaCALL believes that it has an obligation to make new information, research findings, and novel ideas available to the community as rapidly as possible.
Genres, Format, Styles
- The journal is volume-organized (except for any special issues, such as Proceedings, or thematically-related collections of articles). All unrelated articles are published as soon as they are ready for publication. The journal volume is defined by the year of publication of articles.
- The journal's core peer-reviewed genres:
- Conceptual and/or methodological papers;
- Empirical research with conceptual analysis and "thick descriptions";
- Description of and reflection on innovative CALL/TELL educational practices;
- “Special issue” – a collection of thematically related papers.
- Video/audio recorded articles in lieu of traditional written articles
- Some reflective notes (depending on context),
- Some commentaries (depending on context).
- The journal's auxiliary non-peer-reviewed genres:
- Video/audio recorded or transcripts of innovative CALL/TELL educational practices with the possibility of fragment-by-fragment analysis of records and their discussions;
- Commentaries on published articles (both impressionistic and focused) (invited or volunteered);
- Book reviews (invited or volunteered);
- Announcements for conferences and calendar events;
- Links for other websites related to CALL/TELL and education;
- Reflective notes;
- Commentaries.