Submissions

Author Guidelines

Per Linguam is an accredited journal which welcomes previously unpublished articles on topics of interest to teachers, researchers, academics, language practitioners or any people involved in applied language studies. The journal focuses on topics related to language learning and applied linguistics, as well as issues related to multilingualism and educational psychology.

Per Linguam accepts articles that are data-driven, using qualitative and quantitative analytical tools. We will also consider conceptual articles if they are based on the analysis of documents (like curricula, policies, etc). Literature surveys or purely argumentative articles will not be considered.

Page fees are R250 per page. The average length of articles in printed issues varies between 15 to 20 pages (approximately 7000 words).

The journal does not seek to promote particular orthodoxies.

All contributions will be evaluated by at least two referees. The editor reserves the right to make the final decision.

Presentation of texts / Guidelines for contributors

A. Author details and affiliation (to be included separately and not in the article submitted for review).

1. Author details should include an ORCID link, the unit, department or school the author works in, as well as the organisation, the city and country of each author (e.g. Prof M Pule, ORCID link, Department of African Languages, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa).

2. Authors should include a short biographical statement (maximum 50 words) and indicate any special areas of interest and their e-mail address. The biographic note should also be added to the author details online.

B. Format of submission

 1. The text should preferably not exceed 7 000 words, excluding bibliographic details.

 2.  Texts should be submitted online at http://perlinguam.journals.ac.za . Texts should be prepared using MSWord.

 There should not be any direct indication of who the author is in the text, nor in the Reference List. In the reference list, simply write Author (date) or Author & Co-author (date), without article or book titles.

1. The abstract should include the context of the study (problem and setting of the study); description of the research undertaken (participants, research approach, research instruments) and main findings. It should not exceed 200 words and should not contain references or abbreviations/ acronyms. Author(s) should also add the SDG code(s) in a separate paragraph following the the abstract, e.g. SDG: 3,5.
2. The following layout should be used for the article:

2.1    Times New Roman, font size 12 (except for the title of the article which should be in font size 14).

2.2    1.5 spacing.

2.3    Margin justification.

2.4    Margins of 2,5 cms.

2.5    Italics for emphasis and book and journal titles.

2.6    All main headings (e.g. Literature Review, Theoretical Framework, Methodology, Results, etc.) should be in upper case. Subheadings should be in sentence case.

Numbering should follow the following pattern:

1. MAIN HEADING

1.1 First level sub-heading

1.2 Second level sub-heading

Please do not include sub-headings beyond the third level.

2.7    Acronyms should be used sparingly, and then only after the full reference has been made to the relevant term (e.g. ‘cognitive academic learning proficiency’ (CALP)).

2.8   The Harvard system should be used for references in the text, for example (Davids, 1992: 45). The complete citation must appear at the end of the text (after the end notes, if any) under the caption 'REFERENCES'. We increasingly see the use of paraphrasing instead of direct quotations, which is acceptable. However, a convention has developed whereby page numbers are not included in such cases. This is problematic because it becomes almost impossible to verify a particular claim attributed to a particular author. For that reason we require authors to include page numbers when it is clear from the reference that it must have appeared on a particular page. The only reason why a page number would not be appropriate, would be when the reference is to a study as a whole. We ask our authors to be circumspect when paraphrasing and to include page numbers in in-text references wherever possible.

Please note the use of capital letters, punctuation marks and italics in the following examples:

Richards, JC & T Rodgers. 1986. Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.

Rivers, WM. 1973. From linguistic competence to communicative competence. TESOL Quarterly, 7(1):25-34.

Canale, M. 1983. From communicative competence to language pedagogy. In Richards, JC & RW Schmidt (Eds), Language and communication. London:  Longman. 25-33.

Oxford, RL, M NyikosS & M Ehrman. 1988. Vive la difference? Reflections on sex differences in the use of language learning strategies. Foreign Language Annals, 21(4):321-329.

BBC News. 2008. Factory gloom worst since 1980. Available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/785432/htm [Accessed: 19 June 2012] 

Referencing AI tools: Since most academic journals are still feeling their way in terms of referencing AI tools, Per Linguam will follow the strategy whereby AI tools are cited as a 'software' whereby the company is considered the author and the software is the product's name. (From Referencing and acknowledging the use of artificial intelligence tools | UNSW Current Students)

2.9   References in the text need to be to the original source of citations; i.e., no secondary citations are accepted. E.g. the following is wrong: Cummins claims that “cognition in a second language develops over time” (in Smith 2010:4). The citation must be to Cummins and not to another author citing Cummins.

2.10 References should be current, with at least 50% from the previous five years.

2.11    Superscript numbers to the right of any punctuation marks should number notes serially throughout the text. The notes should appear at the end of the manuscript, but before the references, under the caption 'END NOTES'.

2.12 Paraphrased quotations need to include page numbers too, particularly when prefaced by statements like Cummins claims that cognition develops over time (2009:34). Introductory verbs like state, indicate, allege, disagree, agree etc indicate that something appeared on a particular page and in the interests of tracing and verifying references, page numbers need to be included. Unless a paraphrase refers to several pages (i.e. more than five pages), or to a study as a whole, a page number or range of pages needs to be included in the in-text reference. 

2.13    Double quotation marks are to be used.

2.14   Data availability: In the case of qualitative data collection, instruments such as interview and observation schedules should be included as addenda. In the case of surveys the survey should be included as an addendum. Addenda should be numbered A, B, C, etc. and should be cross-referenced in the text.

2.15   Ethical clearance statements: These should be included in the text when the methodology of the study is discussed. The parties consulted for ethical clearance must all be mentioned (e.g. institutions, government entities, heads of departments, participants and parents). The details about the ethical clearance certificate must be included. If the ethical clearance information would enable reviewers to identify the authors, a statement like the following should be included: "Ethical clearance and informed consent were requested and granted. [Precise detail to be included should the submission be accepted for publication.]"

2.16    Copyright: The copyright of the article(s) lies with the author(s), and the copyright of the journal lies with Per Linguam.

2.17   Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools and Resources: At the moment guidelines are being developed by the Academy of Science of South Africa, the Department of Science and Innovation and by Scielo in a discussion document. For the moment the following guidelines for authors are reproduced from this discussion document to support authors:

"Authors need to take sole responsibility for the authenticity of the content of their manuscripts. The use of tools and resources that may assist authors in the preparation of their manuscripts is recommended, as long as attribution rules are followed, and ethics and scientific integrity are maintained.
Authors may use tools and resources that aid in the preparation, methodology, review, and translation of their articles, book chapters, or books. Many of these tools and resources are provided by AI applications, for example grammatical and punctuation error detection tools.
However, it is important to note that only humans can be considered authors, following the following rules and practices:
- The sources of materials used in research and manuscript writing are referenced. Any use or content generated by an AI application must be mentioned in the abstract and in the methods section or equivalent. 

See also the journals Policy on the use of AI assisted tools

- All cited material needs to be properly attributed, including full citations, and that the cited sources support the claims made by the AI application, as it is not uncommon for AI to generate references to non-existent works, i.e., all citations need to be checked. Content generated by AI tools should be cited and referenced as an unrecoverable source, similar to a personal communication, following the guidelines for citing this type of resource in the chosen reference style of the relevant journal. [See 2.8 above.]
- Commonly used AI tools such as spelling, and grammar checks do not need to be disclosed.
- Need to assume public responsibility for their work as authors.
- Concealing the use of AI tools is unethical and violates the principles of transparency and honesty in research."

3.16    Contributions must be submitted online at http://perlinguam.journals.ac.za  and follow the directions for authors. Other correspondence can be directed to The Editor, perlinguam@sun.ac.za.