English Practice, the journal of the BC Teachers of English Language Arts, is a peer-reviewed, open access, online publication published annually.
We accept submissions under the following categories:
- Teaching Ideas (classroom lessons and strategies)
- Investigating our Practice (teacher inquiry)
- Salon (Literary & arts-based pieces)
- Check this Out (book reviews)
Please see our Criteria and guidelines for submission:
English Practice provides educators with the opportunity to write and be read. Your viewpoints, lessons, opinions, research (formal or informal) are welcomed in formats ranging from strategies, lesson plans and units, to more formal compositions and narratives exploring big ideas in teaching and learning, to creative writing.
English Practice publishes contributions on all facets of language arts learning, teaching and research, focusing on the intermediate, middle and secondary grades. The journal offers teachers of a practical, user-friendly guide to research-based practices.
Our four sections have the following guidelines to assist you in preparing and submitting your writing:
Teaching Ideas (teaching strategies, lesson plans, unit plans)
Articles should:
- have a clear purpose (i.e. articulate specific learning goals for students)
- acknowledge your perspective/background/role (i.e. grade 6 teacher; have used reading workshops for 10 years; trying to embed more targeted strategy instruction in my teaching)
- provide a description of instruction that outlines how modeling or scaffolding is used
- offer specific classroom practices that are grounded in research (backed up with current thinking, research reference(s))
- be well organized and clear
- ensure that any student samples, graphic organizers, and/or handouts are readable and reproducible
- ensure that formative and summative assessment are aligned with instruction
- include information on any student and/or professional resources that may be useful for readers
- include a summary and/or reflection
Investigating Our Practice (action research, reflection on practice over time, narrative)
Articles should:
- introduce and outline the purpose and process of inquiry
- explore a big idea in teaching and learning over time
- acknowledge your perspective/background/role in relation to issues, big ideas, and/or inquiry question(s) (i.e. “I believe in democratic schooling, but I hadn’t recently looked at how what I do was or was not working”; “I have been teaching for 18 years and oral language has always been important to me. However, I want to know how I can help my students actually improve their speaking and listening abilities.”)
- include reflections made before and after the teaching practice
- typically be narrative in style
- relate your own thinking and practice to current thinking and research
- be well organized and clear
- include synthesis and/or next steps
- include a list of references in APA format
Salon (literary and arts-based explorations, or opinion pieces)
Pieces should:
- be related to teaching and learning, curriculum theory and philosophy, language and literacy, or English language arts
- use form effectively
- be engagingly written (first person, present tense, ideas are effectively linked and language choice heightens meaning)
- acknowledge your perspective/background/role, especially in opinion pieces
Check This Out (includes reviews, announcements of contests and conferences)
Articles should
- acknowledge your perspective/background/role (i.e. teach grades 9-12 English; looking for novels related to the theme of…; “I am always looking for new ideas related to diversity in the classroom”)
- have clearly explained and supported ideas and/or opinions
- Book, website, or other resource reviews should include a target audience and some ideas for application in the classroom.
- Authors must not have a personal or a financial stake in what is being announced or reviewed.
English Practice and other BCTELA periodicals are distributed to BCTELA members throughout British Columbia and exchanged with other provincial specialist associations of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation. They are also distributed to other specialist associations across Canada. English Practice is a member of both the CCTELA and the NCTE Affiliate Information Exchange Agreement. English Practice is registered with the National Library of Canada under International Standard Serial Number ISSN 0315-2189.
Letters to the editors and other opinion pieces are welcomed as long as they are author-signed, free of libel, and in good taste. Such material may be edited for length at the discretion of the editors. English Practice invites contributors to submit manuscripts for publication. All contributions will be carefully considered, but the journal assumes no responsibility for damage to or loss of unsolicited manuscripts. Your contribution to English Practice may be reprinted in the publications of our affiliate organizations. Furthermore, your contribution may be published on the BCTELA website, unless the editors receive explicit direction not to do so.