About the Journal

Aims & Scope

Working papers in Applied Linguistics and Linguistics at York (WALLY) welcomes submissions of research papers from any graduate and undergraduate students at York University whose work is connected to the broad fields of linguistics and applied linguistics. We aim to make students’ publications accessible both within and beyond the institution.

We accept quantitative and qualitative research (including case studies and autoethnographies) as well as literature reviews. We encourage the submission of novel class papers, works in progress, and other forms of student research at York University. Below, we have provided some brief definitions to clarify our scope:

  • Working papers are intentionally provisional: they share developing research questions, pilot data, theoretical outlines, classroom-based reflections, or methodological innovations that authors wish to make available for feedback and scholarly exchange prior to formal publication. Working papers foster an open, collaborative research culture by valuing intellectual experimentation and ongoing inquiry.
  • Applied linguistics is broadly understood as the interdisciplinary study of real-world language issues. Research in applied linguistics typically addresses how language is learned, taught, interpreted, used, and shaped across educational, social, technological, and political contexts. This includes areas such as language pedagogy, second language acquisition, discourse and interaction analysis, language policy, multilingualism, sociolinguistics, and language assessment.
  • Linguistics is the scientific study of language as a system and a social practice. Linguistics investigates the structure of language (including its phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic components), its use in interaction, its cognitive underpinnings, and its variation across communities and histories. 

Authors wishing to submit a manuscript should review the style guidelines provided in the paper submission template (also available in PDF).

Instructors wishing to nominate a student paper that falls under the scope described above can do so here (however, please note that students do not require a nomination to submit their work to WALLY).

Papers may include co-authors from other institutions, but at least one author must be a current York University student. Additionally, at least one of the corresponding authors must be a York University student.

Publishing Schedule

WALLY publishes as a rolling, year-long issue. This means that articles are reviewed and published as they are received, so authors can submit work throughout the school year. The yearly issue will open January 1st and close on December 31st.

GLASA Symposium proceedings must be submitted by the annual deadline, which will be shared at the Symposium each year. Symposium proceedings will be published as a special issue in the fall semester of the same calendar year.

Review Policy

Manuscripts submitted to WALLY will be reviewed by the journal editors for appropriateness in terms of focus and scope. Papers deemed suitable may then be sent out to peer reviewers for more detailed review and feedback, which will always include at least one graduate student with similar interests or research expertise. For authors outside of the Linguistics & Applied Linguistics program, you may be asked to recommend a potential reviewer from your program or department. Editors and reviewers may provide both content and writing feedback for revisions as appropriate. Papers must meet the language and academic standards of the journal. 

We are always welcoming new graduate peer reviewers. If you would like to act as a reviewer for WALLY, please complete this form.

Self Archiving Policy

After you have published with WALLY, you are permitted and encouraged to continue to share your work elsewhere (e.g., personal websites, institutional repositories), as long as this journal is credited as the first publisher of the article.

Open Access Policy

WALLY is an open access journal that provides immediate and free access for anybody to read and download any and all of its publications. When you publish with WALLY, you agree to license your article under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. This licence allows others to download, copy, redistribute, and adapt articles published by WALLY for non-commercial purposes, provided that proper attribution is given and the conditions of the licence are stated. Under this license, you retain your copyright and grant the journal right of first publication. This means that you retain the right to modify or republish your article without permission from WALLY, as long as you give WALLY credit as the first publisher of the article.