Call for papers for the Special Issue 18.1 LAIC

Call for papers for the Special Issue 18.1 LAIC

Due for publication February 2018

Editors: Melinda Dooly & Claudia Vallejo

Working Title: Bridging across languages and cultures in everyday lives: new roles for changing scenarios

We are accepting two types of submissions:
• Full research articles (8000 words maximum, all inclusive). Up to eight
articles may be admitted however we will prioritize quality over quantity.
• Short reports of pedagogic practices related to intercultural
communication (3000 to 5000 words maximum, all inclusive). Up to four
reports may be admitted. Again, we will prioritize quality over quantity.

Theme of the Special Issue:
In this age of communication revolution and intense globalization there is a growing expectation that everyone be conversant in more than one language and familiar and comfortable with multicultural contexts. As languages and cultures come into contact -driven by conflicts, migration, media and the Internet, transnational capitalism and many other factors- more and more individuals find themselves in the role of mediating between diverse languages and cultures in
their daily lives. These may be professionals in fields as varied as health services, travel agents, interpreters, shopkeepers, teachers, workers at multinational companies or NGO workers as well as young, multilingual children and youth acting as language and culture mediators between their family and society (known as ‘language brokers’).

In a world of transcultural ‘mash-ups’, multilingual rap and multi-party videoconferencing apps for cellphones, there is a need for a theoretical shift towards an understanding of ‘languaging’ and ‘culturing’ as transformative practices involving social activities that go between and beyond ‘fixed’ and separate systems; practices that take place in the interstices of languages and cultures where new meanings and new understandings can emerge. Along these lines, the articles should demonstrate critical engagement with the notion of mediating between cultures and languages. We are interested in research articles and pedagogical reports that:
• explore the role of technology in bridging between diverse languages and cultures;
• explore the role of ‘broker’ in cross-cultural situations, including growing instances of ‘child language brokers’;
• promote understanding of how language brokering is perceived by researchers and practitioners from cross-cultural situations;
• provide a critique of existing analytical models of culture and language mediating practices that integrate current theories of language and intercultural communication;
• discuss ways in which research into language and culture mediation can inform teachers’ praxis.

The submitted texts should follow the author instructions on the journal website. All submitted texts, including the pedagogical reports, upon passing preliminary review and acceptance by the editors, will be blind peer reviewed. Please do not send partial drafts or outlines for Special Editors’ opinions on the feasibility for publication, only send completed articles. Texts must be written in English although data that is in other languages can be included, with a proper description and if possible, translation of the relevant content.

Deadlines
• Authors should submit the full article to this email address
(ialicbarcelona2016@gmail.com) by 13 March 2017. Contributors will
be notified about their submissions by 5 June 2017.
• Revised manuscripts should be submitted by 31 July 2017.
• Any further revisions requested by the editors must be submitted by end
of August 2017.

Please find attached Call for papers for the Special Issue 18 for the Special Issue related to the Annual IALIC Conference 2016 held in Barcelona this past November. Following the IALIC publishing policy for SIs, only papers that were presented at the conference will be taken into consideration for publication.