Shiken is seeking submissions for future publications. Shiken - The JALT TEVAL SIG journal is published twice a year in June and December. Submissions received 3 months prior to publication date will be considered, although earlier submission is encouraged to allow time for review and revision. Shiken aims to publish articles concerning language assessment issues relevant to classroom practitioners and language program administrators. This includes, but is not limited to, research papers, replication studies, review articles, informed opinion pieces, technical advice articles, and qualitative descriptions of classroom testing issues. Article length should reflect the purpose of the article. Short, focused articles that are accessible to non-specialists are preferred and we reserve the right to edit submissions for relevance and length. Research papers should range from 4000 to 8000 words, but longer articles are acceptable provided they are clearly focused and relevant. Novice researchers are encouraged to submit, but should aim for short papers that address a single research question. Longer articles will generally only be accepted from established researchers with publication experience. Opinion pieces should be of 3000 words or less and focus on a single main issue. Many aspects of language testing draw justified criticism and we welcome articles critical of existing practices, but authors must provide evidence to support any empirical claims made. Isolated anecdotes or claims based on "commonsense" are not a sufficient evidential basis for publication.
Submissions should be formatted as a Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx format) using 12 point Times New Roman font, although plain text files (.txt format) without formatting are also acceptable. The page size should be set to A4, with a 2.5 cm margin. Separate sections for tables and figures should be appended to the end of the document following any appendices, using the section headings “Tables” and “Figures”. Tables and figures should be numbered and titled following the guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition. Within the body of the text, indicate approximately where each table or figure should appear by typing “Insert Table x” or “Insert Figure x” centered on a new line, with “x” replaced by the number of the table or figure.
The body text should be left justified, with single spacing for the text within a paragraph. Each paragraph should be separated by a double line space, either by specifying a double line space from the Microsoft Office paragraph formatting menu, or by manually typing two carriage returns in a plain text file. Do not manually type a carriage return at the end of each line of text within a paragraph.
Each section of the paper should have a section heading, following the guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition. Each section heading should be preceded by a double line space as for a regular paragraph, but followed by a single line space.
The reference section should begin on a new page immediately after the end of the body text (i.e. before any appendices, tables, and figures), with the heading “References”. Referencing should strictly follow the guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition.
For further information please contact us by email at: jalttevalpublications@gmail.com