Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies

Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies is an open access double-blind peer reviewed publication, which is published by Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran. It concerns new concepts and innovative technologies in "issues in language teaching". Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies is a quarterly publication, and publishes original research papers related to journal scope. This journal follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and complies with the highest ethical standards in accordance with ethical laws. All submitted manuscripts are checked for similarity through 'ithenticate' software to ensure their authenticity and originality and then rigorously peer-reviewed by expert reviewers. 

Call for Papers 

Quality Issues in Applied Linguistics Qualitative Research

This special issue of the Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies invites submissions that target quality issues in applied linguistics qualitative research.

Guest editors:

Hessameddin Ghanbar, Islamic Azad University, Fereshtegaan International Branch (hessam.ghanbar@gmail.com)

Reza Rezvani, Shiraz University/Yasouj University (rezvanireza@gmail.com)

There have been ongoing debates regarding the quality of qualitative research and what defines good qualitative research. Generally, there are four main positions when it comes to determining the quality of qualitative research: utilizing traditional quantitative research criteria, redefining conventional criteria, creating alternative criteria, or questioning the use of any predetermined generic criteria (Riazi et al., 2023a). Also, Creswell and Miller (2000) suitably delved into the concept of validity in qualitative research and decipher its complexity and labyrinthine nature. In tandem, qualitative researchers have access to various methodological sources with different approaches (e.g., Guba & Lincoln, 1989; Lincoln & Guba, 2005; Maxwell, 1996; Starfield, 2013), which present a complex array of quality terminology (e.g., trustworthiness, credibility, plausibility, validity, rigor, reflexivity, etc.), typologies (e.g., Maxwell, 2013; Tracy, 2020), and perspectives (e.g., Miles & Huberman, 1994).

Given the significance of quality in research methodology, the fluidity of quality across different contexts (Tracy, 2010), the diversity of methodological qualitative approaches (Riazi et al., 2023b) and the variations in quality nomenclature which have been expounded upon above, this special issue aims to ease the tensions surrounding quality in qualitative research by targeting issues including but not limited to the following:

• Credibility in qualitative research and steps to ensure trustworthiness of interpretations in qualitative studies
• Transferability in qualitative research and providing thick description to boost applicability and resonance of qualitative research results in different contexts
• Dependability of qualitative research (reflexivity as well as researchers' positionality)
• Confirmability and objectivity of qualitative research
• Methodological rigor (methodological coherence) and transparency in qualitative research
• Ethics in qualitative research (procedural ethics, situational and culturally specific ethics, relational ethics, exiting ethics)

Types of manuscripts that are appropriate for the special issue include, but are not limited to the following:

• Conceptual or position papers
• Critical reviews (exploring prevalent views relating to quality and validity of qualitative research and offering alternative perspectives)
• Systematic research syntheses
• Methodological syntheses (assessing methodological issues pertaining to quality in qualitative research, for example, data analytic transparency)
• Empirical studies (studies reporting fully-fledged attempts to establish quality of data collection and/or data analysis in qualitative research)

We hope that the contributions will be useful to those in the qualitative research community in Applied Linguistics, providing a platform for new insights, ideas, discussions, and ultimately, more practical guidelines.

Interested authors are invited to send an abstract of no more than 500 words with a title and author information (with references not included in the word count) to Hessameddin Ghanbar (hessam.ghanbar@gmail.com) by 30^th September 2024.

The deadline for submissions of abstracts is 30^th September 2024.

Authors will be notified by 21^th October 2024

Full manuscript deadline is 21^th April 2025

In case of any queries, please feel free to reach out to the Guest editors.

References

Creswell, J. W., & Miller, D. L. (2000). Determining validity in qualitative inquiry. Theory into practice, 39(3), 124-130.

Guba, E., & Lincoln, Y (2005). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 191-215). Sage.

Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage.

Maxwell, J. A. (1996). Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach. Sage.

Maxwell, J. A. (2013). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (3rd ed.). Sage.

Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: A sourcebook of new methods (2nd ed.). Sage

Riazi, M., Ghanbar, H., & Rezvani, R. (2023a). Qualitative data coding and analysis: A systematic review of the papers published in the Journal of Second Language Writing. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 11(1), 25-47.

Riazi, A. M., Rezvani, R., & Ghanbar, H. (2023b). Trustworthiness in L2 writing research: A review and analysis of qualitative articles in the Journal of Second Language Writing. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 2(3), 100065.

Starfield, S. (2013). Researcher reflexivity. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics (pp. 1-7). Wiley-Blackwell.

Tracy, S. J. (2010). Qualitative quality: Eight big-tent criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(10), 837-851.

Tracy, S. J. (2020). Qualitative research methods: Collecting evidence, crafting analysis, communicating impact (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell