Seeing my name in print

There's a nice, if slightly nervy/surreal, feeling about seeing your name in print. Not just online, in actual printed print. And in Ireland's only peer-reviewed journal dedicated entirely to adult and community education.

In the midst of rushing to finish writing up my Masters thesis in the summer of 2023, I had a brief conversation with my supervisor about the potential to share my research findings with a wider audience. I'd been struck by the limited volume of ESOL-related research and writings within the island of Ireland, so it seemed likely that my study of ESOL practitioners' experiences of adapting to the challenges of COVID (and with it my commentary about how ESOL appears to be situated within Ireland's wider Further Education and Training (FET) landscape), might be interest to others.

Paul standing outside the National College of Ireland, just before the launch of Adult Learner Journal 2024.

I'd already produced a research poster for NATECLA Conference, although the prospect of condensing the research into a journal piece seemed an alluring, if daunting, prospect.

Having been a member of AONTAS since 2018, I was already familiar with The Adult Learner and its four-decade history of providing serious commentary and insight. I attended the writers' workshop events, then set about trying to shoehorn my thesis into an 8,000 word article. It took a lot longer than I'd imagined, and I ended up running right up against the submission deadline.

The peer review process was brutal - although it did help to give more focus to what I was trying to say. The article went back-and-forth several times, until eventually it was at the point of copy-editing and dialling down on my « en même temps » tendency to start sentences with the word 'whilst'.

The article was eventually accepted, and I was delighted to receive an invitation to the launch of #ALJ2024 in late November (despite the early flight to get there, having attended another event in London the evening before).

The front cover of The Adult Learner Journal 2024, beside Paul's lanyard and ID badge for the launch event.

The 2024 edition of The Adult Learner is a monster: 244 pages of theoretical perspectives, case studies and reviews. I was delighted to see mine was one of several articles focusing on ESOL and literacies - something remarked upon at the launch.

It was also great to spend time at the launch chatting with other authors, and hear them describe their articles and writing journeys.

There's a link to the the latest issue of The Adult Learner on the Publications section of this site.