This post is by members Ellen Cushman and Mary Juzwik, editors of Research in the Teaching of English.
The best teachers never stop learning. However, keeping up with the latest research and new practices in teaching can be overwhelming on top of the competing demands already faced. This is where Research in the Teaching of English (RTE) can help.
For fifty years, RTE—NCTE’s flagship research journal—has been providing educators a resource for peer-reviewed scholarly articles and short essays on a wide range of topics significant to those concerned with the teaching and learning of languages and literacies around the world (both in and beyond schools and universities). As the title suggests, the journal’s main interest is in providing readers with original empirical research that will contribute to ongoing discussions surrounding the teaching of/in English(es).
In more recent years, RTE has been a leader in promoting a multiplicity of voices—in authorship, research subjects, and methodological approaches. During the tenure of the current editors, Mary M. Juzwik and Ellen Cushman, the journal has published work focusing on preservice teachers; elementary, secondary, and college (including community college) students; and adult learners. Multilingual/ELL/EFL learners—both within US and international contexts—have also been strongly represented. The reach of RTE continues to expand. Within the last year alone, authors who have submitted manuscripts have represented more than 28 different countries; 51 countries since our editorial tenure began in August 2012.
This growing diversity in both readership and subject area has been a priority for us as coeditors. Mary’s background teaching experience includes teaching English in urban and tribal contexts. Her current and recent teaching and scholarship focused on English education includes dialogue in teaching and teacher education; dialogic writing theory, instruction, and practice; and most recently, religious literacy practices and interpretive traditions. Similarly, Ellen’s research focuses on the expressive tools that people use in their everyday fights for resources, respect, and social change. Her work with the Cherokee Nation and with urban communities in upstate New York has earned critical praise, and she continues to be an important voice on diversity and inclusion, as well as service learning and community literacy. Together, we have worked to improve RTE’s impact on educational research and literacy studies by building an inclusive and wide-ranging knowledge base and promoting and maintaining a strong pipeline of diverse scholars (while maintaining the quality of manuscripts).
RTE is published four times per year. For more information, please visit: https://library.ncte.org/journals/rte
Mary Juzwik is a professor of language and literacy in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. She studies classroom discourse and writing practices and instruction in linguistically and culturally diverse English classrooms. Her current and recent scholarship includes explorations of narrative discourse in classroom interactions, studies of writing instruction in secondary and post-secondary contexts, and uses of video- and web-based technologies to support development of dialogic instructional practices in English teacher education. She is a longtime member of NCTE.
Ellen Cushman is Dean’s Professor of Civic Sustainability, Professor of English, and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Diversity and Inclusion at Northeastern University and a Cherokee Nation citizen. Her research explores institutional and community-based literacy practices using activist qualitative methods. Her most recent book, The Cherokee Syllabary: Writing the People’s Perseverance (Oklahoma UP, 2011), is based on ethnohistorical research with her tribe and has become the basis of a digital humanities collaborative project. She has been an NCTE member since 2000.