We are excited to announce a call for proposals for our edited collection, Addressing Current Issues in Teaching First-Year Writing to Multilingual Learners: Plurality, Linguistic Justice, and Decolonization.
Call For Chapters
Proposals Submission Deadline: January 4, 2026
Full Chapters Due: May 10, 2026
Introduction
Multilingual students in Canadian higher education institutions (HEIs) are a prominent demographic, with the number of international students attending postsecondary institutions increasing from 7% to 18% of enrolled students across Canada during the last decade (Statistics Canada, 2024). The increasing linguistic and cultural diversity of Canadian university classrooms carries significant implications for the conceptualization and teaching of first year academic literacy courses, which are a foundational, introductory requirement at many institutions. It has been suggested that writing and composition theory/practice in Canada has traditionally assumed a monolingual, monocultural mindset (Cumming, 2023), approaching academic literacy through identifying and conforming to the conventions of scholarly discourse communities distinguished by discipline, and thus teaching learners standardized language norms and expectations that are required for success. Studies in the last decade, however, have begun to shift the theoretical and pedagogical focus, highlighting the need to move beyond a deficit-oriented mindset characterized by Western-dominated, monolingual, academic English and cultural references (e.g., Canagarajah, 2023) and toward a more linguistically just or inclusive pedagogy. This is particularly relevant given the broad range of cultures, languages, ethnicities, and world views that come together in Canadian first-year writing classes (e.g., Ahmed, 2024; Bhowmik & Chaudhuri, 2023; Chaudhuri & Stouck, 2024).
Objective
Linguistic justice scholars in the U.S. have recognized that justice-informed, equitable and inclusive learning opportunities are essential for language learning and literacy development. These educational leaders have a stance against racism, publishing demands for Black linguistic justice, and endorsing pedagogical models that center culturally and linguistically diverse students, their socio-cultural realities, and experiences of historical inequities (CCCC 2024). Such scholarship informs the Canadian context; however, it does not fully encompass the experiences of Indigenous, bilingual, multilingual and international students in first-year writing classrooms. The edited collection seeks to address this gap with a specific focus on three scholarly approaches: building pluricultural and plurilingual practices into Canadian first-year academic writing classes (e.g., Galante, 2020; Marshall & Moore, 2018; Van Viegen & Zappa-Hollman, 2019); challenging colonial attitudes, biases, and practices that privilege monolingual Anglophone students (e.g., Santos & Sohn, 2024; Walsh Marr, 2023); and promoting linguistic justice in multilingual writing classrooms (e.g., Blaauw-Hara, 2023; Charnley, Stouck, & Comeau, 2024; Gentil, 2023).
Target Audience
This project is a one-of-a-kind strategic response to linguistic justice and decolonization efforts in Canadian writing studies. We see our intended audience across Canada to be faculty members in communications and rhetoric, language and literacy education, English and cultural studies, and English as an additional language programs who research and teach first-year writing to multilingual learners, graduate students as emerging scholars and teaching assistants, and writing center specialists.
Recommended Topics
This publication will impact the research community’s efforts to:
- move theory into practice,
- recognize how the Canadian context can foreground Indigenous, bilingual and multilingual worldviews that promote more equitable multilingual and multicultural teaching practices, and
- understand linguistic diversity and linguistic justice possibilities when responding to student writing.
The book will be organized in three sections on theory, practical context (examples of innovative practices and/or actionable strategies), and assessment to enhance linguistic justice and decolonization efforts.
We invite researchers to address any of the following topics. We encourage co-authored chapters which include graduate students as co-contributors and seek submissions from diverse Canadian contexts and perspectives to inform innovation and leadership in post-secondary writing instruction.
- Frameworks to practice plurilingual, raciolinguistic, Indigenous, and social justice for multilingual learners
- Linguistic justice in Canadian writing classrooms – Code meshing and translingualism for teaching and assessing academic writing
- Linguistic citizenship
- Pedagogical and theoretical innovations in teaching courses for multilingual Indigenous students
- Land-based and student-centred approaches to writing instruction
- Family literacies that support scholarly voice for multilingual writers
- Home languages and cultures in university writing and rhetoric courses
- Crosslingual reading and writing instruction
- Inclusive writing instruction
- Ways to challenging linguistic discrimination in higher education
- Pluralism and linguistic justice assessment practices
- Antiracist and decolonial writing pedagogies
- Accessible and inclusive discourses in higher ed
- Teaching and assessment practices of non-White or multilingual instructors
- Articulate a future of linguistic equity and justice enhanced by artificial intelligence
Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before January 4, 2026, a chapter proposal of about 1,000 words clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors will be notified by February 1, 2026 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters of a maximum of 10,000 words (word count includes references and related readings) are expected to be submitted by May 10, 2026, and all interested authors must consult the guidelines for manuscript submissions at https://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write/ prior to submission. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-anonymized review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.
Note: There are no submission or acceptance fees for manuscripts submitted to this book publication, Addressing Current Issues in Teaching First-Year Writing to Multilingual Learners: Plurality, Linguistic Justice, and Decolonization. All manuscripts are accepted based on a double-anonymized peer review editorial process.
All proposals should be submitted through the eEditorial Discovery® online submission manager.
Important Dates
January 4, 2026: Proposal Submission Deadline
February 1, 2026: Notification of Acceptance
May 10, 2026: Full Chapter Submission
July 5, 2026: Review Results Returned
August 16, 2026: Final Acceptance Notification
September 13, 2026: Final Chapter Submission
Inquiries
We welcome inquiries and conversations ahead of the proposal due date. Please send your questions to us at linguisticjustice.canada@gmail.com and submit proposals using IGI-Global’s eEditorial Discovery® online submission manager.