Guiding Questions

These are Guidelines, not strict requirements; they are intended to clarify core expectations. More information about each category can be found on the Reviewer Guidelines page. If you are preparing a submission that does not correspond to the Guidelines, or some aspect of the Guidelines, please get in touch with the Editors before submission.

(I) Scholarship Papers/Articles

Though the following guiding questions are intended to help you determine whether your submission is a good fit for STiLE, there is no expectation that your submission would answer every question directly.

How is your work motivated by language teaching and learning?
Have you been able to make useful connections between theory and practice?
How do your findings point to gaps in our understanding, whether within existing research or in language teaching?
How does your collected data, if any, address your research question(s)?
What is original/interesting about your submission?
What new insights can you contribute to language teaching and learning? Are there any policy and practice implications?
What follow-up questions and/or areas for exploration does your work lead to?

(II) Reviews: (a) Review of Scholarly Research

What have you chosen to review? What is the publication about (e.g. content, findings and discussions)?
What is the purpose of your review? What did you learn? What insights/takeaway can readers gain?
How does the publication contribute to our understanding of, or approach to, language teaching and learning?
How is your review significant to language educators?
What are your views on the ideas of language education? If you have views beyond language education, are they relevant enough for language educators?
Do you have any constructive suggestions that address any shortcomings you might have highlighted?
Does the publication make a unique contribution to language teaching and learning? How do the claims/ideas in the publication relate to existing research and theoretical understanding?

(II) Reviews: (b) Other Reviews (e.g. Teaching Resources/Conferences)

Though the following guiding questions for a review of teaching resources are intended to help you determine whether your submission is a good fit for STiLE, there is no expectation that your submission would answer every question directly.

What is being reviewed? How is it relevant to the scholarship of teaching and learning?
How do the materials relate to existing research and theoretical understanding?
What essential information about the teaching resources do you want to share with readers (e.g. intended learning outcomes, objectives and target readers/users)?
How do you find the effectiveness of the teaching resources? How are they relevant and useful? What are the potential pitfalls?
What are your recommendations about using the teaching resources? How can they be used in the classroom and/or outside of the classroom, for self-access purposes?
Do you have any suggestions for improvement?

Though the following guiding questions for a review of conferences are intended to help you determine whether your submission is a good fit for STiLE, there is no expectation that your submission would answer every question directly.

What concept(s) or idea(s) from the conference do you want to share with other language practitioners. These may (or may not) relate to the stated theme(s) of the conference. Have you included any reference to the literature related to that concept/idea in a way that is informative?
Have you been clear on the essential details of the conference: Name, organizer, theme, participants, perhaps mission, etc.?
How is your review useful to other language practitioners? Even better, how is it useful for language teaching and learning?
Have you oriented your thoughts reflectively or are you presenting the review from a more neutral stance?
What is your evaluation of the conference overall? To what extent was the theme and choice of keynote speakers and presenters of the conference relevant and useful to language education?
In what way(s) can your conference experience inspire you and/or your readers? Have you formulated any ideas to develop as a scholarship project after the conference?

(III) Reflection: (a) Critical Reflections and Projections

What are you reflecting on? How is the topic relevant to language teaching and learning?
How does your reflection relate to theory and/or existing research?
Are you reflecting on a new initiative or teaching method? Did you try implementing this in your teaching? What were the intended learning outcomes/objectives you wanted to achieve?
How did you measure the effectiveness of this (new) measure? (Note: The method/initiative/practice does not necessarily have to work effectively, but it should demonstrate a thoughtful, informed move towards improvement of something)
How will you adjust the way of implementation based on this reflection?

(III) Reflection: (b) Scholarly Squibs/Stories/Takeaways

What is your reflection about? How is it relevant to teaching and learning?
What is your reflection based on? Is it based on your teaching experience/anecdote? Alternatively is it related to your understanding of the literature?
Does your work reflect contemporary understanding of teaching and learning?
Does your work reveal any weaknesses or inadequacies about existing theories or accounts related to language teaching and learning?
What do you want readers to gain/benefit after reading/listening to your piece?
In what way is your work thought-provoking, useful, innovative and/or impactful?
Is the output clear and engaging in presentation and (for videos) high in production value?

(IV) Plug and Play

Does the submission present content which is widely taught and therefore useful for a wide range of teaching contexts?
Is it innovative or original in some sense? (perhaps something closely equivalent is not already available; or it may be original in its presentation of the content; or it is more useful or better prepared than alternatives; or it fully exploits the affordances of technology.)
Is it freestanding (rather than referring to or presupposing familiarity with a particular course, program, assignment, text, etc.)?
Can other teachers use it without adapting it?
Are the production values sufficiently high to make it clear and attractive?
Is the content accurate and reflective of current scholarly thinking in language education?
Is it engaging?
Does it allow for interaction? (perhaps using a link for student output via an app or website)

Note

For languages other than English or Chinese, please get in touch with the Editors in advance so that we can ensure that we have Reviewers who can evaluate your submission.