Annual Report 2015, Budapest

The ECER 2015 in Budapest was the second year of the Network for Language and Education. 12 from the 13 ECER timeslots had one session of network 31. The average number of presenters in each session was 3 and the average number of participants in the sessions was between 15 and 25.

The network received the following submissions: 31 papers, 1 poster and 2 symposia, making a total of 39 submissions (3 less than in the previous year). Of these, 6 papers were rejected. In relation to 2014, the rejection ratio increased from 11% to 15%. This was probably a result of the change in reviewing which took place in 2015.

The network has now adopted a double-blind review process. In general, reviewers were stricter and included more feedback to the authors. In cases of large discrepancy between the reviews, one of the networks convenors performed a third review and engaged in a dialogue with the reviewers.

The network meeting had a total of 45 participants and enjoyed great responsiveness. Several activities were planned and the ECER 2016 was discussed (see section the network’s minutes below). The number of reviewers and supporters and reviewers also increased.

The Network organized a double Joint Symposium with Network 7 (Social justice and intercultural education) with 4 presenters in each part, occupying two EERA timeslots.

All in all, there was a general satisfaction with the sessions. Chairs also mention the quality and liveliness of discussions.

The new reviewing system led to higher quality of the individual papers. However, chairs  still felt the need to enhance the quality of presentations. Two problems were identified: either presentations were too long, or they did indeed do not meet the common international research standards. The network will strive to be even more strict while reviewing and to sen d presenting guidelines before the conference to all participants.