Call for papers Babylonia 3/2023 - Questioning Assumptions

2022-09-16

This issue of Babylonia is dedicated to questioning what is often assumed as a given in foreign language classrooms and profiting from “mistakes” (discoveries!) made so that lessons can be learned from them. It aims at looking at ideas that are perhaps counterintuitive but where there’s a thought in there to help foreign language educators and researchers think outside of the box! For instance:

  • Word lists should be organized semantically – or not?
  • Pre-reading or listening always needs explicit vocabulary instruction – or does it?
  • With primary school children literate in the local language before foreign language instruction starts, learners should always hear language before they pronounce it themselves …or should they?
  • “Grammar doesn’t change”, so what and how we were taught 25 years ago should be the same as today…or should it?
  • Teachers should scaffold reading by using the pictures to support what is in the text….or should they? Or should pictures contradict what is in the text to foster good reading skills?
  • We need to help learners through scaffolding…or do we?

For this issue of Babylonia, we are looking for short articles that concisely demonstrate or discuss these and other such issues. We will prioritize articles that start with a "mistake" but lead to a question researched through a clear design (e.g. classroom interventions, case studies, focus groups, interviews, action research…).

We will accept 6-8 articles that are novel in research question, findings and/or design and are asking for abstracts that include:

  • A clearly stated assumption;
  • How the assumption was researched;
  • Brief findings.

Please send your text (500 words including references) in German, French, Italian, Romansch, French or English to Laura Buechel laura.buechel@phzh.ch  or Elisabeth Peyer (elisabeth.peyer@unifr.ch) by December 10, 2022.

 Dates:

  • Abstract due: December 10, 2022.
  • Notification of acceptance: February 2023
  • Article submission (max. 16,000 characters including spaces, 4 pages, please see our website for more details): April 30, 2023
  • Text revisions and final submission: September 2023
  • Publication: December 2023