Launching TESOL Today: A New Hub for English Language Education Research

Abstract

As an academician, I have always believed that I have to allocate time for editorial services to profession in the field of my work. That said, I attempted to launch a new journal in the field of English language education in Kurdistan with the help of a public university, but the attempts remained unsuccessful for a number of reasons. My driving interest of working for scientific journals pushed me to work as an editor and reviewer for a few journals over the past few years with the dream of learning how to become familiar with editorial services in the line of my work, and eventually launch a new journal in the field of English language education research. Over the past two decades, an increasing number of Kurdish scholars and researchers have turned their interest and attention into the English language education phenomenon, investigating its learning and teaching in the context of Kurdistan. However, researchers in the field of English language across the region did not have a venue to publish their research findings and contributions with journals specifically designed for the English language education research. The reason for this was that all the journals published by public and private universities publish broadly-defined subjects and disciplines in humanities and social sciences, leaving no specific rooms for English language research only. As such, the main driving force to launch TESOL Today came from the understanding that no journals in the field of TESOL and Applied Linguistics exist neither in Iraq nor in Kurdistan to date. However, it is worth mentioning that TESOL Today doesnot aim to remain within the context of Iraq and Kurdistan. Rather, the journal seeks to publish a wide range of perspectives on English language internationally. Based on this, TESOL Today covers a comprehensive range of topics within the field of English language teaching and learning including, English language planning and policy, innovative methods in English language teaching and learning, curriculum design and materials development, pragmatics instruction in ELT, and technology integration into English language classroom, to name a few.

Responding to the rising scholarly interest in the field of English language, we are launching TESOL Today with the ambition to become a hub for TESOL and Applied Linguistics researchers across the globe. In other words, TESOL Today aims to become an international room for researchers of TESOL and Applied linguistics in the world. We also intend to be a teaching journal to less experienced researchers who work hard to get their research findings published. TESOL Today; therefore, encourages submissions of empirical and theoretical scholarship from younger and novice researchers that contribute to the professional knowledge base of TESOL, promoting a collaborative exchange of ideas that can inform and shape future practice and policy in English language education. The journal is committed to upholding rigorous academic standards while embracing innovative research that challenges traditional paradigms and promotes progressive teaching methods. While it is our hope that TESOL Today will be especially useful to younger scholars, we also encourage seasoned scholars to submit their research findings to TESOL Today. We intend to continue to serving as a prime venue for the development of English language research through publishing original contributions and exciting new research by figures in the field. As such, we humbly feel this journal will play a key part in the increasing academic respectability of researchers all over the world. In doing so, we are committed to bring this journal into a higher level of scholarship and get it indexed by international databases including Clarivate Analytics and Scopus. 

In our endeavor, we are fortunate to be supported by an editorial team of members across different countries who work hard in pursuit of the success of TESOL Today. We work together closely to enrich the journal and shape its development, engagement and its future. However, we continue to strive for adding new members to our board. In closing, then, we extend our sincere invitation to TESOL and Applied Linguistics researchers across varying geographical areas around the globe to join us and submit their research and shape TESOL Today into a path-breaking academic journal by addressing different critical questions in the field of TESOL and Applied Linguistics.