Working Papers in Educational Linguistics

• In Event: Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: The Promise and Pressures of Student-Run Academic Journals: Voices From the Field

Abstract

Working Papers in Educational Linguistics (WPEL) is a student-managed journal that presents work primarily by students and faculty within the University of Pennsylvania community. WPEL's focus is on research related to areas of Educational Linguistics, defined as the study of the role of language in teaching and learning. Areas of interest include second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, interlanguage pragmatics, language planning and policy, literacy, TESOL methods and materials, bilingual education, classroom research on language and literacy, discourse analysis, computer assisted language learning, language and gender, language and the professions, and language related curriculum design.

The first issue of WPEL was published in 1984 with a foreword by Dell Hymes, who was then dean of University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. Since 1986, WPEL has been published once or twice yearly, with teams of student editors from the Educational Linguistics program at Penn GSE guided by more seasoned student editors-in-chief. Faculty from the Educational Linguistics and Reading/Writing/Literacy programs serve as an advisory board. WPEL consistently publishes work by both faculty and students from various programs at Penn GSE as well as the occasional external submission. Occasional special issues are drawn from seminar papers. WPEL has been disseminated widely from its beginnings, sent out to colleagues and university departments nationally and internationally, often in exchange for their working papers series. As of the early 2000s, WPEL editors designed and developed a website, gradually also adding a PDF archive of all past issues, and continues to explore ways to strengthen our online presence.

Recently, WPEL has been considering how best to disseminate the journal in this age of digital research and reading. While the journal continues to exist in a paper format that is sent to colleagues around the world, we have also explored ways to upgrade our internet presence. We will discuss our process of moving online in both the editorial process and publishing of the journal with particular reference to the affordances and challenges of the internet for a student-run journal. In the editorial process, we discuss the importance of free online tools for collaboration and training new students editors through apprenticeships. Publication online has affordances including increased access for readers around the world, but logistical challenges abound.

Author

• Miranda Weinberg, University of Pennsylvania