Submission Guidelines

Information for Contributors

The Tapestry Journal seeks manuscript submissions of previously unpublished work on any topic related to the education of English Language Learners in English-speaking countries or regions where English is the primary language of schooling. In an effort to look at education holistically, some areas of interest are counseling, child-family-school connections, or social and community services, in addition to topics related to instruction and accountability. Manuscripts are being solicited in three categories: Research and Theory, Effective Practices from the Field, and Commentaries. Detailed descriptions of these categories and other pertinent information for submissions are provided below.

Category Descriptions

Articles should report original research, present an original framework that links previous research, educational theory, and teaching practices, or present promising practices involving a variety of school-based personnel or social and community services. Full-length articles should contain no more than 7,000 words, including any figures, drawings, and tables, as well as an abstract of no more than 150 words. Commentaries should not exceed 3,000 words.

Manuscripts are being solicited in the following categories:

Research and Theory Articles
Description of and research on innovative approaches that address the educational needs of ELLS. This may include perspectives from a variety of disciplines, focusing both on instructional and support services. For example:
  • Description of and research on innovative models of teacher training or of collaboration between ESOL-specialists and mainstream teachers and other school personnel.
  • Discussion of policy making, standards or assessment development that directly impact English language learners and their families.
  • Description of and research on innovative applications of technology in the teaching of language skills that foster academic growth.
Effective Practices from the Field Articles
Description of successful application of successful or promising practices in instructing and providing support services to ELLs. For example:
  • Descriptions of classroom instruction that fosters student achievement.
  • Descriptions of how standards and assessment influence classroom instruction.
  • Descriptions of the roles of school- and support personnel directly charged with the education of English language learners.
  • Descriptions of clinical experiences or special programs for school- and support personnel (guidance counselors, speech pathologists, school nurses, social workers).
Commentaries
Discussion of issues of concern to ELLs and their families, supported by research and/or theory, including reactions to issues presented in books or articles.

Submission Guidelines

All submissions should conform to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) (6th edition). Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references and citations.

Manuscripts, including the abstract of less than 150 words, and any figures, drawings, and tables should not exceed 7,000 words for articles and contain no more than 3,000 for commentaries.

Submissions may be made in Microsoft Word documents or RTF documents, and should be sent electronically to the Associate Editor, Carine Strebel, at tapestry@mail.ucf.edu. Each submission should consist of two separate files:

  1. Article or commentary, including the title, and an abstract (~150 words). The body should be free of identifying information.
  2. Contact information containing the manuscript title, names, institutions, e-mail addresses, and if applicable, World Wide Web addresses (URLs), of all authors. Also include a brief biographical statement (maximum 50 words, in sentence format) for each author, as well as a brief statement that the work has not already been published elsewhere and is not currently under review elsewhere.

General Publication Policies

The following policies are applied to all articles, reviews, and commentaries submitted for consideration or published:

  1. All submissions must conform to the requirements of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references and citations, which must be in the required format. Manuscripts may be rejected if they do not meet the APA requirements.
  2. Manuscripts that have already been published elsewhere or are being considered for publication elsewhere are not eligible to be considered for publication in The Tapestry Journal. The (first) author is responsible to inform the editor of the existence of any similar work that is already published elsewhere or is under consideration for publication elsewhere.
  3. Authors of accepted manuscripts will assign to The Tapestry Journal the permanent right to electronically distribute the article.
  4. The editors of The Tapestry Journal reserve the right to make editorial changes in any manuscript accepted for publication for the sake of style or clarity. Authors will be consulted only if the changes are substantial.
  5. The views expressed in The Tapestry Journal do not necessarily represent the views of the journal editors, the institutions associated with the ESOL MIAMI grant, or the U.S. Department of Education.
  6. The Tapestry Journal expects authors to adhere to ethical standards for research involving human subjects. All manuscripts submitted for consideration must meet the human subjects review established by your institution.

Review & Publication Process

All article manuscripts submitted to The Tapestry Journal go through a multi-step review process.

Initial internal review. The editors and associate editor of the journal first review each manuscript to see if it meets the basic requirements for articles published in the journal (i.e., fit with one of the three categories; that it reports on original research or presents an original framework linking previous research, educational theory, and teaching practices, or present promising practices involving a variety of school-based personnel or social and community services), that it is of sufficient quality to merit external review, and that it conforms to APA (6th edition) format. This initial step takes approximately 1–2 weeks.

External review. Submissions that meet the requirements above are then sent out for blind peer review from two experts in the field. Reviewers are typically selected from the journal’s editorial board. In cases where the article’s topic does not match current reviewers’ expertise, the editors may solicit additional reviewers that possess the necessary experience. This second review process takes approximately 6 weeks.

Editorial review. Following the external review, the editors discuss the reviewers’ findings and make publication decisions. Authors are sent copies of the external reviewers’ comments and are notified as to the decision (accept as it is, accept pending changes, revise and resubmit, or reject). Articles and commentaries that require minor changes will be reviewed by the editors when the manuscripts are resubmitted. Contributions requiring major revisions will be sent back to the initial reviewers for a second review.

Once an article or commentary has been accepted for publication, the associate editor sends an Assignment of Copyright form to the (first) author that must be signed and returned before the work can be published.

The Tapestry Journal seeks to publish three to five full-length articles and up to two commentaries in each issue. Articles and commentaries accepted for publication are typically included in the next available issue, except if the work represents a good fit with an occasional special themed issue. The editors discuss this option with the author upon the initial notification of the publication decision.

For more information about the journal or the submission guidelines, please contact the Associate Editor (Carine Strebel) at tapestry@mail.ucf.edu. To discuss ideas for a manuscript please contact the Journal Editors, Joyce Nutta (University of Central Florida—e-mail: jnutta@mail.ucf.edu) and Kouider Mokhtari (Iowa State University—e-mail: kouiderm@iastate.edu) directly.