Assist. Prof. Scott Douglas
BC teachers, administrators, and researchers working with students speaking English as an additional language will benefit from a new journal created by the Association of British Columbia teachers of English as an additional language (BC TEAL), and edited by a UBC researcher.
The BC TEAL Journal was created as a resource to promote scholarship related to the teaching and learning of English as an additional language in British Columbia. Articles explicitly reflect the various contexts and settings of the province.
“With increasing numbers of newcomers from diverse linguistic backgrounds of all ages coming to British Columbia, the time was right to create an additional language teaching and learning journal focused on research related to what is happening in our province,” says Scott Douglas, assistant professor in the Faculty of Education on UBC’s Okanagan campus and editor of the journal. “It was also important that the journal be peer reviewed and the articles be open access and freely available so that everyone can benefit from quality scholarship.”
In November 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada passed a ruling to restore clauses to the BC teachers’ contract dealing with class size, English language learners, the number of special-needs students who can be in a class, and the number of specialist teachers required in schools.
The BC government is now in the position of hiring specialist K-12 teachers, like those with TEAL certification.
“People in the field of additional language teaching and learning are always looking for new ideas as well as research to challenge and confirm current practice,” says Douglas. “By giving teachers, administrators, and researchers access to the scholarship in the BC TEAL Journal, BC TEAL and UBC are supporting opportunities for professional development that will have positive impacts on English language learning in our province.”
Examples of research and scholarship presented in the journal include: creating effective conference abstracts, reducing the affective filter with canine assisted therapy, feedback for writing centres, student growth in EAP programs, academic language in K-12 classrooms, support for learners with refugee experiences, and the positive impacts of service learning.
The journal invites the submission of original previously unpublished contributions from all sectors and experience levels related to English as an additional language teaching and learning in British Columbia. Novice scholars are mentored through the submission process. The latest issue of the BC TEAL Journal, as well as the latest call for submissions, can be found on the journal’s website.