Douglas i BC TEAL Journal Volume 5 Number 1 (2020): i–iii https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.392 Editorial Local Milestones in Scholarly Publishing: Five Years of the BC TEAL Journal Scott Roy Douglas University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus) Abstract This editorial marks the fifth anniversary of the BC TEAL Journal. Remaining committed to free and open access scholarly publishing that draws connections to English as an additional language (EAL) teaching and learning in British Columbia, the journal has met a number of important milestones over the past five years. These milestones include bringing together the large number of people involved in producing each issue of the journal, reaching a wide audience of readers, being listed in a range of scholarly databases and indexes, assigning digital object identifiers (DOIs) to each article and issue, and joining the respected ranks of other important open access journals in the field of EAL teaching and learning. The editorial also outlines the key themes in the current issue related to K–12 contexts, English for academic purposes (EAP), language instruction to newcomers, workplace English, research methods, and critical whiteness studies. Finally, the editorial concludes with a recognition of the challenging times EAL teaching and learning faces and an expression of gratitude to everyone in the BC TEAL Journal community. From the Editor The completion of this issue marks the fifth anniversary of the BC TEAL Journal. Five years ago, the journal started with a commitment to the free and open access exchange of knowledge, with a focus on publishing peer-reviewed scholarly articles that draw explicit connections to British Columbia and English as an additional language (EAL) teaching and learning in this province. While welcoming submissions from researchers familiar with the demands and idiosyncrasies of academic publishing, the journal also set out with a determination to provide an outlet for meaningful work that might not necessarily be published elsewhere through positive support and developmental feedback that strengthens and encourages scholarship and eventual publication— all without submission, processing, or publication fees for authors. This endeavour requires countless hours contributed by journal board members, reviewers, editors, and librarians. Just the list of BC TEAL Journal peer reviewers alone contains 45 names, many of whom have given their time and expertise to more than one article submission. The result has been 30 articles, four book reviews, and five editorials written by 48 different authors, all of which have been viewed over 33,000 times and downloaded over 19,000 times in the past five years—a wonderful contribution to BC TEAL’s mission to support “English language education by raising awareness, providing professional development, and sharing expertise” (BC TEAL, 2021). The journal has also continued to grow in its impact and recognition as a respected scholarly publication. An early milestone the journal achieved was being indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), which lists high quality peer reviewed journals and provides the BC TEAL Journal with increased visibility and contributes to its reputation for high academic standards (DOAJ, 2020). In addition to the DOAJ, the BC TEAL Journal is also listed https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.392 https://ojs-o.library.ubc.ca/index.php/BCTJ/about/editorialTeam https://doaj.org/toc/2369-4211 Douglas ii BC TEAL Journal Volume 5 Number 1 (2020): i–iii https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.392 in Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory, which provides libraries with a database of academic journals and increases discoverability through libraries around the world (Ulrichsweb, 2021). Rounding out some of the major databases and indexes where readers can find the BC TEAL Journal, the journal is now listed in the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) database, which is an important database and repository for educational research on a wide range of topics (ERIC, n.d.). Finally, 2020 was the year that the BC TEAL Journal started assigning digital object identifiers (DOIs) to its issues and articles. DOIs provide a stable link to the journal’s articles on the internet, and they are a generally recommended good practice in scholarly publishing. Thus, in terms of discoverability, the BC TEAL Journal has joined the ranks of other important open access journals in the field of EAL teaching and learning, such as the Asian Journal of English Language Studies, the Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, CATESOL Journal, MEXTESOL Journal, MinneTESOL Journal, NYS TESOL Journal, ORTESOL Journal, the TESL Canada Journal, and TESL-EJ, just to name a few. The fifth anniversary of the BC TEAL Journal also brings readers the longest issue to date, with a total of 124 pages, not including this editorial. Six key themes arise out of this latest issue: K–12 contexts, English for academic purposes (EAP), English language instruction to newcomers, workplace English, research methods, and critical whiteness studies. For K–12 educators, Gillman & Norton (2020) presented their work on an open access multilingual digital platform that has stories for elementary school learners in English, French, and a wide variety of languages spoken by newcomers to Canada. Also related to teaching in K–12 classrooms, Hernberg (2020) provided an analysis on the literature related to additional language learning and metacognition to support English language learners in elementary, middle, and high schools. Moving away from K–12 classrooms and into college and university settings, articles on collaborative written feedback (Maatouk & Payant, 2020) and incidental vocabulary learning (Freimuth, 2020) will particularly interest readers working and researching in EAP programs. Language teaching and learning for newcomers to Canada is also an important theme in this issue, with Mudzingwa (2020) writing about standardization in federally funded EAL programs for newcomers to Canada and Balyasnikova (2020) writing about volunteer experiences in an EAL learning program in Vancouver. Workplace English is another important topic covered in this issue. Hu and Gonzales (2020) found that writing accuracy is valued in the workplace, but users of EAL aren’t necessarily prepared by their university programs for these real-life writing demands. Next, for novice researchers interested in getting an overview of a variety of research methods in Applied Linguistics, Landry (2020) has written a thorough book review of Paltridge & Phakiti (2015). Finally, of importance to everyone working in the field of EAL teaching and learning, Gerald (2020) examined how English language teaching centres whiteness, how this centring negatively impacts teaching and learning, and how the field can move towards decentring whiteness and counteracting its harmful effects. In closing, this editorial wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the challenges and stressors that have faced EAL teaching and learning in British Columbia over the past year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, classrooms have gone virtual, workloads for some have increased, jobs for others have been sadly lost, and the field has been wrought by changes that could not have been imagined just over a year ago. Through all of this, members from all sectors of the BC TEAL community have pulled together to produce this issue of the journal. What you read in these pages is the work of many people taking place over many months during a time when https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.392 http://ulrichsweb.serialssolutions.com/title/1610584375146/825869 https://eric.ed.gov/?q=BC+TEAL+Journal https://ajels.ust.edu.ph/ https://ajels.ust.edu.ph/ https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/CJAL http://www.catesoljournal.org/ https://www.mextesol.net/journal/ http://minnetesoljournal.org/ http://journal.nystesol.org/ https://ortesol.wildapricot.org/Publications https://teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl https://teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/ Douglas iii BC TEAL Journal Volume 5 Number 1 (2020): i–iii https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.392 uncertainty and the unknown loomed large. It would have been easy to put aside the extra task of copy editing, peer reviewing, or writing an article. However, that didn’t happen. Instead, the journal is able to present its longest issue ever to both BC TEAL’s members and to people interested in EAL teaching and learning wherever they may be. Many thanks and much appreciation goes out to everyone in the journal’s community of volunteers, writers, and readers. References Balyasnikova, N. (2020). An insider view: Understanding volunteers’ experiences within a peer- to-peer language learning program in Vancouver’s downtown eastside. BC TEAL Journal, 5(1), 75–90. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.314 BC TEAL. (2021). About BC TEAL. Retrieved from https://www.bcteal.org/about/ Directory of Open Access Journals. (2020). Find open access journals and articles. Retrieved from https://doaj.org/ ERIC. (n.d.). ERIC institute of education sciences. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/ Freimuth, H. (2020). Are academic English words learned incidentally? A Canadian case study. BC TEAL Journal, 5(1), 32–43. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.344 Gerald, J. (2020). Worth the risk: Towards decentring whiteness in English language teaching. BC TEAL Journal, 5(1), 44–54. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.345 Gilman, M., & Norton, B. (2020). Storybooks Canada, English language learners, and the school curriculum. BC TEAL Journal, 5(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.340 Hernberg, S. (2020). Metacognition and language learning: Creating effective K–12 learners. BC TEAL Journal, 5(1), 109–122. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.375 Hu, J., & Gonzales, L. (2020). English-as-an-additional-language employees’ perspectives on writing in the workplace. BC TEAL Journal, 5(1), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.343 Landry, M. H. (2020). Review of Paltridge, B. & Phakiti, A. (2015). Research methods in applied linguistics: A practical guide, 2nd Ed. London, UK: Bloomsbury. BC TEAL Journal, 5(1), 123–124. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.371 Maatouk, Z., & Payant, C. (2020). Moving beyond individual peer review tasks: A collaborative written corrective feedback framework. BC TEAL Journal, 5(1), 19–31. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.341 Mudzingwa, C. (2020). The quest for standardization: The Canadian federal government and the language instruction for newcomers to Canada (LINC) program. BC TEAL Journal, 5(1), 55–74. https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.347 Paltridge, B., & Phakiti, A. (2015). Research methods in applied linguistics: A practical guide, 2nd Ed. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic. Ulrichsweb. (2021). Ulrichsweb global serials directory. Retrieved from http://ulrichsweb.serialssolutions.com/ The BC TEAL Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Copyright rests with the author(s). https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.392 https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.314 https://www.bcteal.org/about/ https://doaj.org/ https://eric.ed.gov/ https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.344 https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.345 https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.340 https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.375 https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.343 https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.371 https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.341 https://doi.org/10.14288/bctj.v5i1.347 http://ulrichsweb.serialssolutions.com/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/