INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTRIBUTORS


1. Submissions to the journal should be written in English. Contributors whose native language is not English should have their manuscripts read by a native speaker before submission. Contributions should be sent by email in a Microsoft word.doc format to the Editors, Dr Rosa Alonso or Dr Marta Dahlgren to any of the following addresses: ralonso@uvigo.es, dahlgren@uvigo.es, viajournal@uvigo.es.


2. Types of submission

The journal publishes 1) full-length articles 2) replies and rejoinders, and 3) reviews of books not more than five years old.

The articles should not exceed 25 A4 pages and the review should not be more than aprox. 4 pages long.


3. One copy of the manuscript should be submitted (in print-out by mail, OR, preferably, by e-mail attachment) and should be double-spaced throughout (including notes and references). All pages should be numbered serially. Please use 12 pt Times New Roman type letters and leave ample margins. Non-English words should appear in italics. Please avoid boldface type, except in the title and subdivisions of the text. Use only double quotation marks, with the exception of translations, when single quotation marks should be used. Examples not in English should have aligned interlinear glosses and an idiomatic translation.


4. The contributor’s full name (given name, surname) should appear after the title in bold, followed by the affiliation (University), full address for correspondence and e-mail address.


5. An abstract of about 150 words must be submitted, in English, with a translated version in Spanish, German or French. If the contributor does not speak these languages, a Spanish version will be provided by the Editors. Reference to the literature should not appear in the abstract.


6. Keywords please provide five keywords, avoiding general and multiple concepts. The keywords are important for indexing purposes, and should therefore be as accurate as possible.Keywords must be included in English and a translated version in Spanish, German or French.


7. Footnotes are not allowed. End-notes should be kept to an absolute minimum and be as brief as possible. They may contain no diagrams or tables. They should be numbered consecutively and indicated in the text by a raised number following any punctuation marks.


8. Acknowledgements should be presented under a separate heading at the end of the article, before the references. Do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a foot- or endnote or otherwise.


9. Figures and diagrams should be included in the text in the position where they are to appear. It is the authors’ responsibility to present figures and diagrams that do not exceed the margins and are reproducible.


10. Non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention (even if they occur in the abstract).


11. Citations in the text

When citing, the short citation system should be used, as indicated below:

1) When citing 3 lines or more from an author:

In general the available research does not show a clearly defined effect of personality on SLA. One reason why this is so may be because personality becomes a major factor only in the acquisition of communicative competence (Ellis, 1991: 121).

2) When citing within the text:

With regard to the influence of personality on SLA, Ellis (1991:121) concludes that “personality becomes a major factor only in the acquisition of communicative competence”.

Ellis (1991) suggests that...


12. References

Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the authors. Incomplete bibliographies will be returned to the author. Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list. Unpublished results and personal communications should not be mentioned. Citation of a reference as “in press” or “forthcoming” implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Please adhere to the MLA system of references, as indicated below:

12. 1 Reference to a book:

12.1.1 One author:

(a) Author
(b) Initials
(c) Year of publication
(d) Title of the book in italics
(e) Place of publication
(f) Editorial

Ellis, Rod. 1991 [1985]. Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.


12.1.2 Several authors:

(a) Author
(b) Initials
(c) And
(d) Initial
(e) Author
(f) Year of publication
(g) Title of the book in italics
(h) Place of publication
(i) Editorial

Krashen, S., R. Scarcella, and M.Long (eds). 1982. Child-Adult Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.


12.1.3 Chapter in a book:

(a) Author
(b) Initial
(c) Year of publication
(d) Title of the chapter in inverted commas
(e) In
(f) Initial
(g) Author
(h) Editor
(i) Year
(j) Title of the book in italics
(k) Place of publication
(l) Editorial

Gullberg, M. 2008. “Why gestures are relevant to the multilingual lexicon”. In A. Pavlenko (ed) 2008 The Bilingual Mental Lexicon. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.


12.1.4 Article in a journal:

(a) Author
(b) Initial
(c) Year of publication
(d) Title of the articled between inverted commas
(e) Title of the journal in italics
(f) (Volume)
(g) Number
(h) Dots
(i) Pages

García-Mayo, M.P. 2003. “Native vs. non-native strategies in rendering grammaticality judgments”. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 47: 183-199


12.1.5 Publications by the same author:

The same norms are followed but the author is not repeated:

Jarvis, S. 2003a. “Semantic and conceptual transfer”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 3: 19-21.
___. 2003b. “Methodological rigor in the study of transfer: Identifying L1 influence in the interlanguage lexicon”. Language Learning, 50: 245-309.

12.1.6 Unpublished theses and dissertations:

(a) Author
(b) Initial
(c) Year of publication
(d) Title in italics
(e) Thesis
(f) Department
(g) University

Dragiev, K. 2004. Influence of an L1 grammaticized concept on the L2 acquisition of English by Bulgarian learners. Unpublished MA thesis. Department of Linguistics, Ohio University.


13. Reviewing and Evaluating

VIAL is a peer-reviewed journal. The articles which are received are sent to two members of the editorial advisory board to be blind reviewed. If the reports of both referees are positive the paper is accepted. In case one of the reports is negative, the paper is sent to an external referee who decides on its possible publication.

If the paper is rejected by the external referee and the author considers that it should be published, it is sent to a member of the scientific advisory board who specializes on the topic. This figure is known as the “author defender”and it is this member of the scientific advisory board who takes the final decision about the publication of the article.