Vol. 10 (2016): PLJ #10: Ten-year Special Edition

This issue is a retrospective published from volumes 1-9. It is the journal's first volume in a bound version of printed articles on paper.

INTRODUCTION

Mary Risner
University of Florida

The purpose of this ten-year anniversary edition of the Portuguese Language Journal (PLJ) is to celebrate the efforts and dedication of all those who have contributed as editors, authors, or reviewers since its founding in 2006. I envisioned the idea for the PLJ in late 2005 as project director for a U.S.-Brazil FIPSE/CAPES exchange where language learning was a key component. I decided to allocate some grant funds to develop a language resource that would raise the visibility of Portuguese language teaching and help advance the field. In my interaction with other Portuguese colleagues and through my own classroom experience, I had seen how Portuguese instructors had limited resources and materials for use in their courses and did not have a place to document and share teaching practice and classroom research.  Hence, I envisioned creating a scholarly publication on the practical aspects of the teaching and learning of Portuguese that would bring together instructor knowledge from around the world. 
At that time, there were conferences and events related to Portuguese as a second language, but only occasional edited volumes or journal issues focusing on Lusophone culture, linguistics, and literature. It was clear the time had come to offer a consistent venue for sharing materials among Portuguese language instructors. With the advent of affordable and user-friendly web platforms, it was the perfect moment to establish an open-access online journal to disseminate research and materials from across world regions, not only from the U.S. perspective.

To establish the journal, I reached out to veteran Portuguese language faculty Carmen Tesser, Lyris Weideman and others for guidance to determine the format, content, and mission of the PLJ.  Next I invited scholars from the U.S. and Brazil to serve as members of the editorial board and issued the first call for papers. The first annual volume was published in 2006 with support of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida, and in 2008 the PLJ received its ISSN number.

A pivotal moment for the journal was when Margo Milleret and Gláucia Silva joined the PLJ in 2010 as Editor and Associate Editor, respectively. Shortly thereafter, Maria Antonia Cowles became the Book Review Editor. In 2011, Clémence Jouët-Pastré and Fernanda Ferreira served as guest editors for Volume 5, Teaching and Learning Portuguese as a Heritage Language. In 2013, Michael Ferreira and Lyris Wiedeman served as guest editors for Volume 7, Portuguese for Spanish Speakers. 

Since the first volume in 2006, PLJ has published 60 articles from universities in the U.S., Brazil, Europe, and Asia on a variety of topics. While the journal has been a small endeavor spurred by my passion for Brazil and the Portuguese language, it is rewarding that the journal has sustained itself thanks to the help of wonderful colleagues. United States Department of Education Title VI funding support in recent years from the Centers for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida, University of New Mexico and Florida International University has also been valuable in maintaining the PLJ. 
The increased availability of resources and professional networking groups on the World Wide Web has helped bring together Portuguese instructors to share ideas and resources. However, moving forward the PLJ has the potential to serve as a consistent and official scholarly publication on the teaching and learning of Portuguese to continue professionalizing and advancing the field.

With this anniversary issue, I am excited to see the dream of the PLJ continue as we transition to a new phase of the PLJ in an official partnership with the American Organization of Teachers of Portuguese (AOTP) thanks to the idea of Luis Gonçalves to join forces. The PLJ will keep its name, but will have a new look and a print version.  

Some of the focus areas to be addressed in future volumes are Portuguese as a second language (PLE), heritage language learners, K-12 initiatives, dual-immersion schools, and the role of Portuguese in the world. The new PLJ will seek to include editorial board members from all regions of the world and aim to increase the number of article submissions and eventually the frequency of publication beyond one annual issue.

In closing, I want to once again express my gratitude to members of the editorial board and all of those who have contributed and supported the PLJ over the last ten years. I look forward to seeing the new direction of the PLJ in collaboration with the AOTP and Portuguese instructors around the globe.

Original 2006 Editorial Board 

Ana Catarina Nobre de Mello, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Ana Cristina Sousa, Universidade de Aveiro
Augusta Vono, Florida International University
Carmen Tesser, University of Georgia
Daniela Meyer, Instituto Brasil-Estados Unidos
Danúsia Torres dos Santos, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Elizabeth Ginway, University of Florida
Lyris Wiedeman, University of Stanford
Margarete Schlatter,Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Mark Lokensgard, St. Mary’s University, Texas
Matilde Scaramucci, UNICAMP
Orlando Kelm, University of Texas, Austin
Regina L Péret Dell´Isola, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Rosa Marina de Brito Meyer, PUC-Rio

Other Editorial Board Members  

Agripino Silveira, Stanford University
Antônio Simões, University of Kansas
Bebel Delgado, John Hopkins University
Celia Bianconi, Boston University
John Jensen, Florida International University (Emeritus)
Luis Gonçalves, Princeton University

Special thanks to Outreach Graduate Assistants at the University of Florida  Center for Latin American Studies for their help with the journal over the years. In particular, I thank Kerry White for his work on this anniversary issue.