Every educator has insights, strategies, and stories that offer ways to transform teaching and learning about literacies. Yet, too often, those powerful ideas stay within bounded learning spaces (i.e., classrooms, community centers, and libraries)—without reaching the wider scholarly community. 

For this reason, the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (JAAL), in partnership with the International Literacy Association (ILA), has launched the JAAL Mentorship-to-Publication Program—a new initiative designed to help educators, including practitioners who work directly with learners, move insights from drafts into publication. Voices of educators from expansive literacies contexts can encourage new insights in support of all learners across adolescent and adult learning spaces.  

This supportive mentorship program connects educators, practitioners, and literacy leaders from U.S. and international contexts with experienced JAAL authors and reviewers to support the development of new scholarship.

Why Mentorship Matters

The program bridges the long-standing gap between practice and research to bring grounded, practice-based perspectives into literacy scholarship. Mentors can offer valuable experience in academic writing, peer review, and publication.

The JAAL editorial team is deeply committed to inclusive representation in literacy research, centering equity, and expanding opportunities for new voices. This mentorship program supports educators and scholars from underrepresented backgrounds and global contexts—ensuring that literacy research reflects the diversity of those who teach and learn.

How the Mentorship Program Works

A mentor will meet and guide new authors through the process of refining a draft of a manuscript into a publishable product for submission to JAAL. Together, mentors and mentees will re-develop, revise, and refine an existing draft, bringing real-world literacies practices to academic journals. Selected mentees will be paired with JAAL authors, reviewers, or editorial board members who will guide them through the publication process. The program supports scholars who have strong ideas but limited access to publishing networks, mentorship, or institutional resources. Applicants should submit a complete draft and abstract upon entry and commit to revising their manuscript for submission to JAAL by the end of the cycle.

Mentors should have experience publishing practitioner-oriented work in outlets like JAAL from U.S. or international contexts. Mentors participate in a brief JAAL orientation, provide two rounds of written feedback, and meet with mentees at least twice via Zoom during the mentorship period. Their contributions will be recognized in JAAL and across public platforms. 

Mentor-mentee pairs are matched by topic, research method, and, when requested, by identity or geographic context. Whether exploring critical literacy, multimodal storytelling, AI in education, or any ways that literacies are situated in context, the program celebrates diverse perspectives and methodologies, and pedagogical approaches.

Mentees may include teachers and practitioners from the U.S. and international contexts. For mentees, the partnership with a mentor offers:

• A minimum of two rounds of written feedback on a draft manuscript
• Individualized guidance from a published literacy scholar
• Confidence and skills to publish work that reflects authentic classroom or community experiences
• Learn more in the Mentee Interest Form

For mentors, the partnership with a mentee offers:

• Meaningful engagement with emerging scholar
• Recognition across JAAL’s online platforms
• A chance to shape the next generation of literacy researchers
• Learn more in the Mentor Interest Form

Matching and Criteria: Editorial Recommendations

Matching Area	Recommendation
Topical Expertise	Match based on manuscript topic (e.g., multimodal literacies, critical literacy, AI in education, etc)
Methodological Fit	Align mentors and mentees based on shared methods (e.g., qualitative, mixed-methods, participatory research)
Identity/Context	Offer optional identity-based matching for scholars from marginalized backgrounds or underrepresented global contexts

Get Involved

If you’ve published with JAAL or similar journals, consider joining as a mentor. If you’re an educator or practitioner from U.S. or international contexts who is eager to share your classroom inquiry and/or literacy innovations, apply as a mentee.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. To get started as a mentee, please complete the Mentee Interest Form. If you are interested in serving as a mentor, please complete the Mentor Interest Form. 

If you have additional questions or suggestions, contact the JAAL editorial team via email.

Together, we can ensure that the voices shaping literacies every day are also shaping its future in publication.

Learn More

ILA's full list of literacy journals

The latest issue of Literacy Today magazine: Global Perspectives