Kia ora everyone. This is Bob Williams beaming in from Aotearoa, New Zealand. I am pleased to contribute to the AJE’s dedicated AEA365 week by sharing my perspective as a frequent journal manuscript reviewer.
I frequently review draft journal articles and this paper resonated with me a lot. The article reminded me that while English has become the de facto means of written communication in journals, there has been little discussion about which version of English forms the standard upon which the quality of the article be judged. For AJE it happens to be American English.
The article states that sometimes articles have trouble getting accepted if the reviewers focus on the language the writer uses rather than what the writer is trying to convey. The article suggests that reviewers should focus on the argument in the draft article and not act as de-facto grammar teachers. As a reviewer, I totally agree. However, I wish things were as simple as that.
Here are two things that muddy the waters:
One is that a writer is seeking to convey often complex ideas in a language in which they may not be especially skilled. Small errors can have big consequences. For instance, the dreaded preposition error that all of us who have learned a new language have experienced. Those two and three letter words; of, for, in, out, by, at, may be small but trip us up when translating from one language to another, and the face plant can be ugly. Once I completely misunderstood the conclusions of an article because of a particular use of a preposition that made sense in the writer’s primary language but sent my review off in the wrong direction in the English version.
The other is that the English language doesn’t exist; English languages exist. And there is most definitely a hierarchy. I remember many years ago a colleague and I were contracted to produce a draft regional journal for evaluation. My colleague came from that region. I did not. The articles we received were noticeably written in the style of English commonly used in that region. It is a style that, historically, has been regarded in England and the USA as somewhat comical. As editors, we had a difficult decision to make. Did we ‘correct’ the English to give it ‘status’ or leave the style in its original regional form. We consulted with the authors about what we should do. I’m still not sure that the right decision was made, but I’m very sure that there probably wasn’t a right decision in the first place.
Hot Tips
- If you are asked to review an article for a Journal, keep in mind your role. Your task is to enable the writer to express more clearly and defend more accurately what they want to say. It is not your job to turn their article into your article.
- If you think the English is a bit awry, don’t second guess. Contact the Editors and ask if that might be because English is not the writer’s primary language.
- When you write your review, ask yourself how comprehensible it will be to someone whose primary language is not (your version of) English.
Rad Resources
I have come across a reference to something called a Non-native Speaker English Review Checklist by TESOL International Association. I cannot find it on the TESOL website, but have contacted them for follow-up.
Bob Williams is a recipient of the AJE’s Excellence in Reviewing Award 2023.
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