Journal of Second Language Writing (JSLW) is accepting proposals for a special topic issue to be published late 2026 or early 2027 from interested guest editors. We seek proposals that address a theme that will be of interest and relevance to the journal’s international readership of L2 writing scholars. We are especially interested in special issue themes that will highlight work in underrepresented contexts and areas of inquiry in second language writing. Past and upcoming special issues have addressed the following topics:

• Emotions in teaching L2 writing
• Generative AI in L2 writing
• Critical language awareness
• Innovation in L2 writing task design
• L2 writing assessment in the digital age
• Adult L2 writers with emergent literacy
• Multimodal composing
• Thesis and dissertation writing in a second language
• L2 writing in computer-mediated contexts
• Complexity in L2 writing
• Corpus assessment in L2 writing
• Exploring L2 writing-SLA interfaces
• Textual appropriation and source use in L2 writing
• Adolescent L2 writing in U.S. contexts

Articles to be included in the issue may be invited by the guest editors, or the guest editors may put out an open call for papers for the issue.

Proposal Content: Proposals should include: (a) a general description of the issue and its potential contribution to the field; (b) relevance and important features of the issue; (c) an outline of the proposed authors and content (with abstracts), if the pieces are to be invited; (d) a call for proposals/abstracts, if there will be an open call for submissions; (e) name(s) and qualifications of the guest editor(s), including relevant editing experience; and (f) a proposed timeline. Please create one PDF document including each of these elements with clear headers.

Guest editors: Guest editors should have previous experience with journal editing and/or be making significant contributions via service on a journal editorial board.

Deadline: Email proposals in a single PDF file to Mimi Li <[email protected]> by August 30, 2025.

Proposals will be screened initially by the journal’s editors and then passed on to the editorial board for a second-stage review. The issue will appear in late 2026 or in 2027. Please contact Dr. Mimi Li with any questions.

Aims and Scope of JSLW: The Journal of Second Language Writing is devoted to publishing theoretically grounded reports of research and discussions that represent a significant contribution to current understandings of central issues in second and foreign language writing and writing instruction. Some areas of interest are personal characteristics and attitudes of L2 writers, features of L2 writers' texts, L2 writers' composing processes, readers' responses to L2 writing, assessment/evaluation of L2 writing, contexts (cultural, social, political, institutional) for L2 writing, L2 writing and technology, and any other topic clearly relevant to L2 writing theory, research, and instruction. Manuscripts should take care to emphasize the pedagogical implications of the work.

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
General Linguistics