Lawrence Jun Zhang

Xiaolong Cheng

Frontiers in Psychology

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BOOK REVIEW
published: 09 June 2021
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.697603
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 1 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 697603
Edited by:
Zhengdong Gan,
University of Macau, China
Reviewed by:
Fulan Liu,
Jiangxi Normal University, China
*Correspondence:
Lawrence Jun Zhang
lj.zhang@auckland.ac.nz
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Educational Psychology,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Psychology
Received: 19 April 2021
Accepted: 10 May 2021
Published: 09 June 2021
Citation:
Cheng X and Zhang LJ (2021) Book
Review: Pedagogies and Policies for
Publishing Research in English: Local
Initiatives Supporting International
Scholars. Front. Psychol. 12:697603.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.697603
Book Review: Pedagogies and
Policies for Publishing Research in
English: Local Initiatives Supporting
International Scholars
Xiaolong Cheng 1 and Lawrence Jun Zhang 2*
1 School of Foreign Languages, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, China, 2 Faculty of Education and Social Work,
University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Keywords: academic publishing, English as an additional language, pluralingual/multilingual writers, international
publishing, English for publication purposes
A Book Review on
Pedagogies and Policies for Publishing Research in English: Local Initiatives Supporting
International Scholars
James Corcoran, Karen Englander, and Laura-Mihaela Muresan (New York, NY: Routledge), 2019,
299 pages, ISBN 9781138558090
With the globalization and internationalization, English has become a lingua franca in the modern
world, and it serves a significant role in publicizing research findings for international communities
(Schreier et al., 2020; Cheng and Zhang, 2021). To establish the authority identity in academia
around the world, there is a pressing need for scholars outside Anglophone center contexts
to disseminate their research in English. Such a need places great demands on English-as-an-
additional-language (EAL) researchers, as they are confronted with a variety of obstacles in
their attempt to publish studies in English (Mu and Zhang, 2018). Against this background,
Corcoran, Englander, and Muresan’s book, Pedagogies and Policies for Publishing Research in
English, is a welcome and timely addition to the extant literature in this filed. By examining the
pedagogical initiatives in diverse contexts, this volume is poised to provide scholars with practical
guidance and recommendations, which would smooth their journey of writing in English for
international publication.
This book starts with an introductory chapter, co-authored by the three editors. In this
chapter, they establish the rationale for their work, explicate the aims of this volume, offer
reasons for employing a pluralistic approach to such a volume, and detail the difficulties facing
pluralistic/multilingual writers while they publish in English. In what follows, we review and
evaluate the 17 chapters that are arranged according to the geolinguistic contexts: Latin America,
Northern Europe, Eastern and Southern Europe, East Asia, South Asia, Africa, and Persian Gulf.
Part 1 (Chapters 2–4) focuses on the local support for researchers in Latin America.
Chapter 2 written by Janssen and Restrepo introduces a tutoring service for publishing in
English in a Colombian university, which is designed to enhance the academic and research
production. In this service, novice EAL writers are offered hand-on suggestions and guidelines
from experienced researchers, which can help them to understand ways of disseminating their
research internationally. In Chapter 3, Encinas-Prudencío, Sánchez-Hernández, Thomas-Ruzic,
Cuatlapantzi-Pichón, and Aguilar-González reports a longitudinal case study that investigated the
factors which constrained, or helped promote, EAL teachers’ scholarly English publication. They
report that collaboration, mentoring network, and workplace demands have a great influence
Cheng and Zhang Pedagogies and Policies for Publishing
on such teachers’ research publishing practices in their
trajectories toward authorship. Chapter 4 (Waigandt, Noceti, and
Lothringer) reviews and comments on four institutional policies
implemented to satisfy research students’ and scholars’ needs of
having their research published in English.
Part 2 looks at the initiatives supporting scholars in Northern
Europe. In Chapter 5, Arnbjörnsdóttir reveals, through a
mixed-methods study, the challenges confronted by Icelandic
scholars (e.g., inadequate English writing ability and the lack
of genre awareness). Accordingly, the contributor introduces
a research-driven English for research publication purposes
(ERPP) workshop. As regards the supporting policies available to
Norwegian researchers, Muir and Solli in Chapter 6 investigate
the relevant initiatives and put emphasis on new instructional
approaches to emerging scholars’ academic writing.
Part 3 addresses the scholarly writing for researchers based in
Eastern and Southern Europe. Chapter 7 opens this part, where
Muresan and Pérez-Llantada offer a case study on a veteran
researcher’s development in academic literacy and competence.
Furthermore, the authors highlight that in order to get published
globally, plurilingual writers should read and write extensively,
and be aware of the rhetoric and linguistic characteristics of
English texts. In Chapter 8, Burgess, Martín, and Balasanyan
elaborate on an ERPP course for doctoral students, which takes
a critical pragmatic approach to teach research writing. Such a
course affords a better understanding of scholarly publication
in English.
Parts 4 and 5 turn to the support for researchers in East
Asia and South Asia, respectively. Chapter 9 by Li and Cargill
characterizes and details a “master-class” methodology, which
empowers English for academic purposes (EAP) teachers to
impart their students the skills and knowledge in relation
to English publishing in China. Administering a large-scale
questionnaire, Zheng and Cao in Chapter 10 explore EAL
researchers’ ERRP beliefs and practices. They find that the
majority of respondents believe it is equally important for
researchers to publish in English and Chinese. As a sole
contribution, Chapter 11 by Nauman represents the region
of South Asia. In this chapter, the contributor discusses the
effects of English language teaching reforms carried out by
the Higher Education Commission on Pakistani researchers’
language and research skills. He ends this chapter with
suggestions on how to meet such scholars’ publishing needs in
their professional career.
Part 6 is specific to the pedagogies and initiatives for
publication in Africa. Chapter 12 drafted by Messekher and
Miliani identifies the difficulties and obstacles that novice
scholars encounter while they seek to publish their theses in
the form of journal articles. To ease their publishing journey,
the contributors recommend a grounded approach to academic
research writing, which aims to prepare Algerian emerging
scholars for publishing their studies in international journals.
In Chapter 13, Omobowale, Akanle, and Akinsete look into
the colonizing effects of English on research publication in
Nigeria. The three authors point out that Nigerian English is in
an unrecognized status and considered non-standard. As such,
Nigerian scholars are disadvantaged while intending to publicize
their research in English journals with high quality and earn
recognition internationally.
The final part (Part 7) shifts attention to the publishing
practices in the Persian Gulf. Shahriari andGhonsooly in Chapter
14 begin this part, delving into the status quo of research
publication in Iran. They show a range of challenges that novice
and experienced scholars encounter, including the potential
biases against submissions from Iranian researchers, the limited
access to the research resources, and the lack of a solid academic
network. Chapter 15 (Mirhosseini and Shafiee) identifies a
tendency that Iranian researchers have to publish their studies
in English journals with high impact factors due to the policies
valuing and encouraging English publication. Consequently, the
researchers in Iran bear great pressure with regard to producing
English research articles. The following chapter (Chapter 16
by Nunn and Deveci) presents an instructional approach to
scholarly writing: “holistic argumentation creation.” With such
an approach, research students have opportunities to foster their
awareness of academic writing conventions and enhance their
ability of research writing. This part is concluded by Swales with a
short envoi. In this envoi, he argues that native English-speaking
researchers are also faced with constraints and challenges in the
course of publishing in English. In addition, he provides EAL
scholars with recommendations, which are expected to benefit
their English publishing practices.
This whole collection, which is different from the previous
books on the same topic that focus on research writing itself
(e.g., Oliver, 2014; Parija and Kate, 2018), brings the policies
and initiatives for plurilingual researchers’ writing for publication
to the fore. In reading this collection, we have found several
commendable features. First, this volume is characterized by
its coverage of possible themes. Specifically, it encompasses
17 chapters, spanning different themes such as the polices
supporting English writing for publication in different local
communities (e.g., Chapter 4 and 6), the initiatives for conserving
local languages and developing EAL scholars’ bi- or multi-
literacies (e.g., Chapter 7 and 10), the challenge of the privileging
use of English to convey scientific knowledge (e.g., Chapter 13
and 15), and the social practices enabling emerging scholars to
participant in academic activities and enhance their research
writing (e.g., Chapter 2 and 5).
Another strength that merits mention is the breadth of
contexts. This volume introduces and describes the pedagogical
writing interventions and policies for English publishing in
seven different geolinguistic regions outside the Anglophone
center. As the introductory chapter points out, much attention
has been paid to how researchers publish their work in native
English-speaking contexts because of the hegemony of English
in transmitting knowledge for global academia. Thus, such a
volume not only fills an important niche, but also provides
us with a global perspective on and deep insight into how
EAL researchers are scaffolded to publish research articles
in English outside English-as-a-native-language areas. We can
compare and understand the similarities and differences of these
policies, which are implemented in different EAL regions. This
would offer important implications for research practitioners
and policy-makers. Also, it should be noted that the editors
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 2 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 697603
Cheng and Zhang Pedagogies and Policies for Publishing
of this volume include areas such as South Asia and Africa.
Due to the economic and politic disadvantages, such regions
are often underrepresented and under-researched in the current
literature. As a result, this volume makes a contribution with
regard to advancing our existing knowledge about the endeavors
made by these regions to improve non-native English-speaking
writers’ publication.
Furthermore, what we should emphasize is that the
contributors are mainly novice and less prolific scholars,
rather than experienced and renowned researchers. In general,
such scholars are in a relatively disadvantaged position vis-à-vis
their established counterparts. Consequently, their voices about
publishing research articles remain unheard. Considering that
they represent the majority of front-line researchers, their
stories, experiences, and initiatives of getting their research
published in English academic journals should be heard. In
this sense, we should commend the editors in that they have
successfully provided a platform for such researchers to raise
their voices in the mainstream scholarship and make their efforts
in trajectories toward authorship visible to the international
academic community.
Finally, this volume should be praised because of its unique
arrangement or design of its contents. Prior to the elaboration on
each chapter in the seven EAL regions, the editors have provided
a guide to readers. Such a brief introduction prompts readers to
understand the main points of each chapter easily, making this
collection extremely accessible to readers. Various tables, figures,
and examples deserve mention as well, since they enable readers
to catch the gist in each chapter promptly.
The volume would have been more comprehensive had been
added contributions from Japan and South Korea in East Asia.
Although they are EAL countries, their researchers actively
participate in academic conferences and express their thoughts
in influential English-language research journals. Therefore,
it would have been a perfect collection if their pedagogies
and polices for scaffolding the researchers’ English publishing
practices were included, which may generate useful information
for other similar EAL countries and contexts. Besides, more
pages could have been devoted to the comparison of the
difficulties between native and non-native English-speaking
researchers while writing for English publication. Given that
English publishing is a demanding undertaking and imposes
great pressure on both native and non-native English-speaking
writers, these two groups of researchers possibly share similar
challenges and the native/non-native dichotomy probably is not
the only reason for their success/failure in the enterprise of
scholarly publication.
These minor limitations do not dim the contributions
made by such a volume and it is worth a wide readership,
including novice/experienced researchers, course designers,
pedagogues, higher institution administrators, and policy-
makers. To facilitate the use of this book, we would like to attempt
to offer some advice for emerging researchers. Firstly, they should
foster a habit of self-reflection on their publishing practices,
especially the difficulties and challenges that they face. In doing
so, they can garner suitable and targeted solutions from this book,
which can make them benefit from this volume and improve the
effectiveness. Additionally, since such a book provides them with
feasible and general suggestions from experienced researchers,
including how to convert their PhD theses into journal articles
and how to become veteran researchers, among other things,
it is imperative that emerging scholars incorporate them into
their normal English scholarly publishing activities. Doing so
probably will enable them to have a better understanding of
such valuable recommendations. Lastly, they need to make clear
about the features of the contexts for their publishing practices, as
some guidelines and principles offered in this book are context-
specific. In this sense, they should not follow them uncritically.
Instead, they need to adjust such guidance according to their own
distinctive contextual needs in order to maximize the value of
this book.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
XC wrote the first draft. LZ revised the first draft. Both authors
approved the revisions.
REFERENCES
Cheng, X., and Zhang, L. J. (2021). Teacher written feedback on
English as a foreign language learners’ writing: Examining native
and nonnative English-speaking teachers’ practices in feedback
provision. Front. Psychol. 12:629921. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.6
29921
Mu, C., and Zhang, L. J. (2018). Understanding Chinese
multilingual scholars’ experiences of publishing research in
English. J. Schol. Publish. 49, 397–418. doi: 10.3138/jsp.4
9.4.02
Oliver, P. (2014).Writing Your Thesis. London: Sage.
Parija, S., and Kate, V. (2018). Thesis Writing for Master’s and Ph.D. Programs.
Singapore: Springer.
Schreier, D., Hundt, M., and Schneider, E. W. (2020). “The making of englishes,” in
The Cambridge Handbook of World Englishes, eds D. Schreier, M. Hundt, and
E. Schneider (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 23–142.
Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a
potential conflict of interest.
Copyright © 2021 Cheng and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use,
distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original
author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication
in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use,
distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 3 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 697603


Book Review: Pedagogies and Policies for Publishing Research in English: Local Initiatives Supporting International Scholars

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Book Review: Pedagogies and Policies for Publishing Research in English: Local Initiatives Supporting International Scholars

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