English+Journal

=__**English Journal Guidelines**__=

Send manuscripts to Ken Lindblom, Editor English Journal Stony Brook University English_Journal@notes.cc.sunysb.edu

• Manuscripts should be sent by email as an attachment to English_Journal@notes.cc.sunysb.edu. Manuscripts should be double-spaced throughout (including quotations, endnotes, and works cited), with standard margins. Word 2000 or later is preferred. Authors using Macintosh software should save their work as Word for Windows. Paper submissions should be sent only when email is impossible. Please save copies of anything you send us. We cannot return any materials to authors.
 * Submission Guidelines**

• In general, manuscripts for articles should be no more than 10 to 15 double-spaced, typed pages in length (approximately 2,500 to 3,750 words).

• Provide a statement guaranteeing that the manuscript has not been published or submitted elsewhere.

• Ensure that the manuscript conforms to the NCTE Guidelines for Gender-Fair Use of Language. (See address below.)

• Number all pages.

• Use in-text documentation, following the current edition of the MLA Handbook. Where applicable, a list of works cited and any other bibliographic information should also follow MLA style.

• List your name, address, school affiliation, telephone number, and email address on the title page only, not on the manuscript. Receipt of manuscripts will be acknowledged by email, when possible, or by mail.

English Journal is refereed, and virtually all manuscripts are read by two or more outside reviewers. We will attempt to reach a decision on each article within five months. The decision on pieces submitted in response to a specific call for manuscripts will be made after the call deadline.

Prospective contributors should obtain a copy of the Guidelines for Gender-Fair Use of Language from the NCTE website at http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/genderfairuseoflang.

=**Beyond Grammar: The Richness of English Language**= =**Deadline: July 15, 2010**= =**Publication Date: March 2011**=

Words create images, connote tone, and indicate register. Words form poetic phrases and harsh commands. They weave meaningful conversations, express deep emotions, explain difficult propositions. Words can be funny or clinical, clear or ambiguous. They can be rude or polite, targeted to a specific audience or designed for broad understanding. English can be obvious and sincere or coded and ironic. Variations in English usage and different English grammars have fascinated linguists and bedeviled language purists for centuries. **This issue of English Journal is devoted to the ways in which you have helped students—especially native speakers, but also English language learners—to understand and appreciate English language in all its complicated glory.** ** We do not seek articles that propose traditional grammar drills or mnemonic devices for memorizing the parts of speech; we do seek articles that engage students in higher-level language study, including examinations of standardized English and other equally legitimate forms of English. ** How does language make emotion, create a joke, clarify ideas, build community, or generate conflict? **__How have you helped students of all ability levels to study different forms of English and to learn to code-switch effectively to communicate in different social contexts__?** What literary works have helped you focus on issues of language, and what issues of language have brought greater interest to literary works? How do you help students learn to give formal speeches, to engage in persuasive conversations, to learn how to interject their thoughts in animated conversations, and to listen effectively to others? How have you helped students learn to argue convincingly in polite and not-so-polite conversation? __**How have your students learned to edit their written work in a manner that shows command of language, understanding of audience, and appropriate tone, register, and usage in a variety of rhetorical situations? How do you help students learn when they can and cannot take risks in their written language?**__ How have you helped students deal with conflict by using language instead of more physical alternatives?

=How We Fit Into this Prompt=

This English Journal issue will focus on language, "beyond grammar." This is a perfect lead in for our question--how can we foster and assess student voice when the "individual student voice is lost in the crowd of large class sizes and the conformity of grammar conventions." Student voice //is// "beyond grammar." We must focus on this aspect of our argument to fit in with EJ's topic.

Our definition of voice may very well connect to this question in the prompt: ** How does language make emotion, create a joke, clarify ideas, build community, or generate conflict? **A strong writer's voice can evoke strong emotions in the form of poetry and fiction; it can clarify ideas and arguments in the form of textual or rhetorical analysis; it can build community in the form of speeches; or it can generate conflict in the form of debates or essays. Strong voice in writing can change the world. I immediately think of the passionate rhetorical devices in MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, and the danger of persuasion in any of Hitler's speeches. Or what about the socio-political effects of texts such as __The Communist Manifesto__, __The Jungle__, and __Silent Spring__? These texts were successful because of the voice behind the words. Ultimately, we want our students to be as strong as these writers. We want our students to use writing as their tools to effect change in our world. And this can be done with strong voice.

Once we propose our problem (or our argument), we can move on to our proposal (or answer). This should connect with EJ's request:


 * **This issue of English Journal is devoted to the ways in which you have helped students—especially native speakers, but also English language learners—to understand and appreciate English language in all its __complicated glory__.**

Our specific lesson activities will connect with this perfectly. We must give concrete examples of **how** we are working to fix this problem in our classroom. I can see one problem with this: Catherine said when she submitted an article, it was rejected because she had never done the lessons in real life. I wonder if Catherine has any ideas of real life lesson plans she has done and knows can work. We must be confident in our lesson ideas, because our readers are teachers who use EJ as a resource in their own teaching.

The following are two additional questions the EJ prompt asks which our research question should address:
 * 1) **How have your students learned to __edit__ their written work in a manner that shows command of language, understanding of audience, and appropriate tone, register, and usage in a variety of rhetorical situations?**


 * How can we teach students to do their own editing so that their best voice shines through?
 * How can we teach students to choose the best voice for the context in which they are writing?
 * How can we teach students about voice? How can we teach students the importance and value of voice?

2. **How do you help students learn when they can and cannot take risks in their written language?**


 * How can we foster and honor student voice?
 * How can we create a space where students can takes risks with their writing?
 * Should students learn the rules before breaking them? Or can students who are still struggling with the basics still take risks in their writing in terms of voice?
 * And once again, back to context--what types of voice are appropriate in what types of settings or writing contexts?