Special issues

Special issue information

The Editorial Board of Language and Intercultural Communication (LAIC) invites researchers and practitioners in the field of intercultural communication to submit proposals for Special Issues on themes of interest to scholars and researchers in the area covered by the journal.

A Special Issue should present a collection of articles that focus on a theme or issue relevant to the journal’s aims and scope. Usually Special Issues consist of around eight papers (c. 60,000 - 70,000 words) on a particular theme, although it is possible to include more papers in consultation with the Executive Editor of the journal. Each Special Issue is produced by one or more Guest Editor(s), who are responsible for liaising with contributing authors and overseeing the peer-review process.

How to submit an Initial Proposal

The proposed Guest Editor(s) provide an outline proposal (maximum of two A4 pages). Inter alia, an initial proposal should address the following (though not necessarily in this order, and some may coalesce).

I think that this, plus perhaps the second bullet point, could also usefully say something about how it will engage with existing discussions in the field – perhaps either taking further or opposing dominant views.

• A well-defined and delimited title for the Special Issue;
• A rationale which sets out compelling reasons why the Special Issue is worthy of commissioning, and how it will engage with existing discussions in the field.
• A clearly defined focus for the Special Issue (rather than a general subject area)
• The aim(s) of the Special Issue and an explanation of why these particular aims and focus is of current concern within the field of intercultural communication;
• Suggestions as to the coverage of the Special Issue;
• An indication of what the specific contribution of the Special Issue will be to the field of intercultural communication.
• A summary of why the guest editor(s) are particularly qualified/experienced to undertake the Special Issue.

In particular, we have found in the past that a successful special issue proposal is able to identify a clearly defined niche or ‘gap’ within the field of intercultural communication which it is able to address; and/or takes further or opposes dominant views in the field.

The initial proposal will be reviewed by two members of the Editorial Board, who will decide whether the proposal meets the journal’s aims and scope. If approved, the Special Issue Guest Editor(s) will be asked to submit a full proposal.

Forthcoming Special Issues:

Diversity and Epistemological Plurality: Thinking interculturality ‘otherwise’(2022 Lisbon IALIC Conference Special Issue)
Guest edited byAna Sofia Pinho & Ana Luísa Paz

Dialoguing inter-epistemically: intercultural knowing, knowing the intercultural
Guest edited by Vivien Xiaowei Zhou, and Hans J. Ladegaard

Researching vulnerable multilinguals: Developing an inclusive research practice
Guest edited by Sara Ganassin, Alexandra Georgiou, Judith Reynolds & Mohammed Ateek

Published Special Issues:

Volume 23, Issue 6, 2023 
Intercultural Knowledge Production: Against Epistemic Violence and Towards Restorative Integration
Guest edited by Alison Phipps, Fernando Fernandes, Hyab Johannes, Jailson Silva 

Volume 23, Issue 3, 2023
Nationalism: threat or opporunity to critical intercultural communication?
Guest edited by Hanne Tange and Christopher J. Jenks 

Volume 23, Issue 1, 2023
Language, culture and interculturality: global debates, local challenges
Guest edited by Beatriz Peña Dix and John Corbett

Volume 22, Issue 5, 2022
Intercultural teaching and learning in Chinese higher education: integrating practices and perspectives
Guest edited by Jan Van Maele and Lixian Jin

Volume 22, Issue 3, 2022
Twentieth Anniversary Special Issue: Issues, Controversies and Difficult Questions
Guest edited by Malcolm N. MacDonald

Volume 22, Issue 2, 2022
Beyond and besides language: Intercultural communication and creative practice
Guest edited by Lou Harvey, Gameli Tordzro, Jessica Bradley

Volume 21, Issue 6, 2021
From Ivory Tower to Social Arena: Critical Approaches to Cultural Identity in the Public Sphere
Guest edited by Mélodine Sommier, David Bousquet, Alex Frame

Volume 21, Issue 4, 2021
Critical pedagogy and quality education (UNESCO SDG-4): the legacy of Paulo Freire for language and intercultural communication
Guest edited by John Corbett & Manuela Guilherme

Volume 21, Issue 3, 2021
News production and intercultural communication at the crossroads of disciplines
Guest edited by Roberto A. Valdeón

Volume 21, Issue 1, 2021
Translating Cultures, Cultures in Translation
Guest edited by Maria José Coperias & Juan José Martinez Sierra

Volume 20, Issue 5, 2020
Vibrant Identities: vitalism, post-humanism and materiality
Guest edited by Cristina Ros I Solé, Jane Fenoulhet and Gerdi Quist

Volume 20, Issue 4, 2020
Arts, Intercultural education and citizenship - emergent perspectives
Guest edited by Ana Matos & Silvia Melo-Pfeifer

Volume 20, Issue 2, 2020
Translating Language and Intercultural Communication Research into Social Action
Guest edited by Hans J. Ladegaard & Alison Phipps

Volume 20, Issue 1, 2020
The 'good' interculturalist yesterday, today and tomorrow: Everyday life-theory-research-policy-practice
Guest edited by Prue Holmes

Volume 19, Issue 1, 2019
Interrogating the ‘third space’: negotiating meanings and performing ‘culture’
Guest edited by Vivien Xiaowei Zhou & Nick Pilcher

Volume 18, Issue 5, 2018
Education and the discourse of global neoliberalism
Guest edited by John Gray, John O'Regan and Catherine Wallace

Volume 18, Issue 4, 2018
Language, Mobility and Work
Guest edited by Melissa Moyer

Volume 18, Issue 1, 2018
Bridging across languages and cultures in everyday lives: new roles for changing scenarios
Guest edited by Melinda Dooly and Claudia Vallejo Rubinstein

Volume 17, Issue 4, 2018
Education and migration: Languages foregrounded
Guest edited by Prue Holmes, Richard Fay and Jane Andrews

Volume 17, Issue 1, 2017
Dialogical Perspectives on Intercultural Communication as Social Practice
Guest edited by Gao Yihong, John Corbett and Zheng Xuan

Volume 16, Issue 3, 2016
Perspectives and discourses on student mobility and interculturality
Guest edited by Ana Beaven and Claudia Borghetti

Volume 16, Issue 1, 2016
Linguistic resources and intercultural (communicative) competence: bridging a theoretical and empirical gap
Guest edited by Maria Helena Araújo e Sá and Ana Raquel Simões

Volume 15, Issue 3, 2015
Languages in contact, cultures in conflict: English and Spanish in the United States
Guest edited by Roberto A. Valdeón
Also available as a book

Volume 15, Issue 1, 2015
Language and intercultural communication in the workplace: critical approaches to theory and practice
Guest edited by Hans J. Ladegaard and Christopher J. Jenks
Also available as a book

Volume 14, Issue 3, 2014
MIGRATING LANGUAGES: MULTIDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES ON REFUGEES, ASYLUM, MIGRATION AND LANGUAGE
Guest edited by Alison Phipps and Rebecca Kay
Also available as a book

Volume 14, Issue 1, 2014
Intercultural dialogue: current challenges, future directions
Guest edited by Prue Holmes
Also available as a book

Volume 13, Issue 3, 2013
Romanticising Language Learning
Guest edited by Cristina Ros i Solé and Jane Fenoulhet

Volume 13, Issue 2, 2013
The discourse of culture and identity in national and transnational contexts
Guest edited by Christopher Jenks, Aditi Bhatia and Jackie Lou
Also available as a book

Volume 13, Issue 1, 2013
THE DISCOURSE OF ETHICS AND EQUITY
Guest edited by Shanta Nair-Venugopal
Also available as a book

Volume 12, Issue 4, 2012
Cross-cultural Communication at a Theoretical and Methodological Crossroads: Cultural and Media Interfaces
Guest edited by Marie-Noëlle Guillot

Volume 12, Issue 2, 2012
Conflict and Coexistence: Conversations, Demonstrations and Communications in the MENA
Guest edited by Miri Gal-Ezer and Khalil Rinnawi

Volume 11, Issue 4, 2011
Travelling Languages: Culture, Communication and Translation in a Mobile World
Guest edited by John O'Regan, Jane Wilkinson and Mike Robinson
Also available as a book

Volume 11, Issue 2, 2011
Citizenship, Education and Global Spaces
Guest edited by Hugh Starkey

Volume 10, Issue 3, 2010
COMMUNICATION, DISCOURSES AND INTERCULTURALITY
Guest edited by Tony Young and Peter Sercombe

Special Issue Executive Editor

The Executive Editor in charge of special issue is Malcolm MacDonald (University of Warwick). Just email Malcolm directly if you have any initial queries about your special issue, or about the procedures involved: m.n.macdonald:warwick.ac.uk