Reflections on My First Publication: A Journey of Reframing and Persistence

This post documents the journey of my first academic publication—an experience filled with learning, collaboration, and more than a few unexpected turns.

The initial idea for the paper was sparked at IALIC 2024 in Cyprus, where one of the conference themes focused on the emotional dimensions of intercultural communication. This prompted me to revisit my narrative data through a different lens. While some of my participants had shared emotional responses to their intercultural experiences during the global pandemic, their stories didn’t explicitly address this thematic focus. Unsure of how to approach this, I arranged a supervisory meeting with Richard to explore potential ways forward.

Our in-depth discussion revealed a key insight: there was a palpable tension in my participants’ narratives between what they had expected from their academic sojourns and what they actually experienced. This tension, in turn, gave rise to and revealed a range of emotional responses. With this newly uncovered aspect of my data, a new question emerged—what conceptual framework could help make sense of this dynamic?

Given that my participants were invited to reflect on their intercultural experiences, it became clear that reflection played a central role in their narratives. I began exploring models related to reflective practice and came across Schön’s reflective model, which seemed like a promising fit. However, as I wasn’t particularly familiar with this framework, Richard suggested we bring in a co-author with expertise in this area. We invited Nahielly to join the project, and she kindly accepted.

The conference presentation in Nicosia went well, and the encouraging feedback gave me the confidence to develop the idea into a co-authored paper. As soon as I received the call for papers from Language and Intercultural Communication(LAIC), we began drafting. We divided the workload based on our respective areas of expertise, and the structure of the paper closely followed the version presented at the conference.

After a long wait post-submission, we received a positive but challenging response from LAIC. The reviewers and editors saw potential in the paper but requested substantial revisions to strengthen its contribution. While the scope of the revisions seemed daunting, the opportunity was simply too valuable to pass up.

Initially, I was highly motivated to begin the revision process. However, a packed schedule—teaching responsibilities, thesis writing, and preparing for another IALIC presentation—left me with very little time or headspace. On top of that, I was struggling to justify the use of Schön’s reflective spiral in the paper. Without Nahielly’s input (she was on maternity leave by this point), I found it increasingly difficult to articulate why this model was truly the best fit. Feeling stuck, I decided to set the revision aside and focus on other pressing duties.

By mid-November, once I had completed my independent teaching, I finally had more mental space to return to the paper. With the resubmission deadline fast approaching, I also felt a growing urgency to act. My lack of confidence in using the reflective spiral led me to interrogate my own reasoning—was I relying on this model because of Nahielly’s expertise, or because I genuinely believed it was the most appropriate choice? When I realised it was likely the former, I knew it was time to explore alternative frameworks more thoroughly.

In another thought-provoking meeting with Richard, I suggested that Holliday’s Grammar of Culture might offer a more fitting conceptual lens. He saw the potential but encouraged me to conduct further research. At our next meeting, I returned more confident, and with that clarity, I began revising the paper—now under considerable time pressure.

As it happened, I was simultaneously finalising both my paper and my thesis, with their respective deadlines just one day apart (ugh!). Richard was incredibly supportive, working closely with me during this intense period. Thanks to his guidance and encouragement, I managed to submit both on time.

And, to my great joy, the day before my viva, I received confirmation from LAIC: our paper had been accepted for publication.