The First Ten Years

The First 10 Years of the Journal of Second Language Writing:
An Updated Retrospective

Jessie Kapper
Purdue University

In the 5 years since Matsuda's (1997) retrospective of the first 5 years of the Journal of Second Language Writing, the journal has continued to grow and to expand its contributions to the field. In its first 10 years, the journal published 30 issues (including one double issue) with 135 scholarly articles, written by 148 authors. In addition, the Journal of Second Language Writing has published 27 annotated bibliographies and a Dialogue section with a series of scholarly exchanges. Although the annotated bibliographies originally were arranged thematically, Volume 7, Issue 1 marked a shift to bibliographies simply arranged alphabetically, acknowledging the growing complexity of second language writing scholarship.

Recently, the editors have explored additional means for increasing discourse in the community. Volume 9, Issue 1 included the Journal of Second Language Writing's first colloquium, a series of contributions on the future of second language writing. Volume 10, Issues 1/2 were guest edited and featured several articles related to voice.

Contributions to the Journal of Second Language Writing continue to be interdisciplinary and have covered a wide range of topics. Some of the issues discussed most frequently include: assessment, peer feedback, teacher feedback, writing prompts, audience, voice, computer-based text analysis, contrastive rhetoric, computers and the writing process, ideology, genre, second language writing processes, plagiarism, and placement.

Journal of Second Language Writing articles include both theoretical and empirical scholarship. Nearly three-fourths of the articles focus on empirical research, primarily quantitative in nature, and over a dozen articles have emphasized theoretical contributions to the field.

In his 5 year retrospective, Matsuda (1997) noted that contributors came from the United States, Puerto Rico, and five other countries. The Journal of Second Language Writing definitely has expanded its scope during the last 5 years. Contributors have represented 15 countries, in addition to the United States and Puerto Rico. These countries are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Hong Kong, Iran, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

The United States' contributions have come from 26 states. The most visible states have been California, Georgia, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Wyoming. Other states with multiple contributions to the Journal of Second Language Writing include Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

The percentage of articles written collaboratively has increased slightly from 39 to 41% since Matsuda's (1997) retrospective. Although Matsuda noted that 76% of contributors were females during the first 5 years, an analysis of the first 10 years suggests that contributions by gender might be becoming more balanced, with approximately 65% of the Journal of Second Language Writing's articles written by females. Several scholars have contributed multiple articles; frequent contributors include Dwight Atkinson, Diane Belcher, Joan Carson, Alister Cumming, Dana Ferris, Robert Kaplan, Paul Kei Matsuda, Gayle Nelson, Martha Pennington, Vai Ramanathan, Joy Reid, and Terry Santos.

Perhaps one of the most exciting expansions for the Journal of Second Language Writing is its growing audience. The Journal reaches subscribers (individuals and institutions) in 40 countries and 42 U.S. states, with most subscriptions outside the U.S. centered in Australia, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. The online presence, initiated in 2001, further expands the Journal of Second Language Writing's audience by improving accessibility to most past issues. Subscribers can access articles in their original journal format from Volume 4, Issue 1 to the most recent issue, furthering scholars' efforts to read and contribute to discourse in the field of second language writing.

References

Matsuda, P. K. (1997). The first five years of the JSLW: A retrospective. Journal of Second Language Writing, 6(2), pp. iv-v.