NCTEAR 2025 Conference
Discovering Narratives of Hope
February 28 - March 2, 2025
Columbus, Ohio

Call for Proposals
Proposals Due Date Extended: October 18th, 2024, at 11:59 PM
Cornel West tells us that hope is an action we can all take and, as such, we must act out the hope we want to see in our tomorrow. More so, bell hooks helps scholars and educators conceptualize how spirit, struggle, service, love, the ideals of shared knowledge and shared learning, give hope for social change in everyday learning experiences within and beyond the classroom. We take their words to begin thinking beyond the current tensions in the literacy field to now focus our attention on narratives of hope. Specifically, NCTEAR 2025 is a space where we celebrate narratives of hope that exist within our literacy communities, amongst youth, within and across our classrooms, and in spaces beyond our everyday experiences. NCTEAR 2025 is an opportunity for our community to engage with policymakers and community advocates, to reimagine the reach and impacts of our research, and to discover how our research can inform changes to literacy policies, practices, teaching and learning, and curriculum. 
 
NCTEAR 2025 Conference invites literacy researchers to submit proposals for completed or works in-progress that feature new methodologies, participatory methodologies, critical traditions (e.g., Critical Race Theory, Queer and Trans Theories, Indigenous Theories, Dis/Ability Theories, Feminist Theories), equity-oriented frameworks, and humanizing research that generates engagement and hope for imagined futures.
 
Our theme, Discovering Narratives of Hope, invites submissions that address the following questions:
  • How do historical narratives of hope (echoes) inspire literacy research to  become a conduit for change?
  • What methodologies do we use to document the ways we engage students, families, and communities?
  • What do we know about the nature and consequences of our efforts to reclaim and center child and youth literacies within and beyond classrooms?
  • What are the interrelationships between hope, community, language, learning, and identity?
  • How can literacy teacher education help address the intersections of historical, economic, social, political, and cultural influences on K-12 education?
  • What is our hope for the literacy field moving forward, and how are we actively seeking to create those changes?
 
Presenters are encouraged to explore answers to these questions and others from multiple contexts of pre-K-16 English language arts education and literacy research, including after school and community settings, students whose first language is other than English, etc. Please consider submitting a proposal for NCTEAR 2025, attending the in-person conference on February 28 – March 2, 2025, and contributing to these conversations.
 
Proposals are due by October 18th, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST. To submit your proposals, please go to link. 
Direct URL: https://osu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3KqWPWEjxdDUNsa.
Submission Guidelines

For this year’s conference, we will be using Qualtrics for proposal submissions. Please follow the steps below to submit your proposal. You may also access these instructions as a pdf.
If you are experiencing technical difficulties submitting your proposal, please contact us at [email protected].

Timeline
  • Conference proposals due October 18th 2024
  • Notification of conference proposal decisions by November 1st 2024

Required Information for Proposals
You will be asked for the following information when submitting your proposal for NCTEAR 2025:
  • Author(s) and//or Presenter(s)
    • Corresponding author
    • Authorship order
  • Proposal title
  • Session format
    • Individual paper
    • Symposia
    • Roundtable
    • Alternative format
  • Session abstract
  • Keywords
  • Full proposal w/references

Submitting your Proposal
  1. Access the proposal submission form from this link.
  2. You will see the Call for Proposals on the first page, with a button that says “Proceed to Submission” at the bottom.
  3. Please fill in all fields on the submission form.
  4. When asked to indicate the corresponding author, please enter in only one email address.
  5. At the end of the form, you may indicate any audio-visual requirements or accessibility accommodations you require for your session.
  6. Click on the “Submit” button. You will receive a confirmation e-mail of your submission and a copy of your proposal.​
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Submission Types

Individual Papers
We invite individual paper proposals that explore compelling questions, tensions, and uncertainties - both within individual projects and the field as a whole - that focus on literacies of hope. While conferences can often be a context of sharing projects in a linear, tidy manner, we encourage presenters to consider the messy, untidy, and complex in their proposal, and to do so in ways that are interactive and generative. 
  
Proposals for individual papers can report empirical or conceptual work. Proposals should include: 
  • Title
  • 100-150 word abstract
  • Empirical research: question(s) or purpose(s); methodology; theoretical framework; findings; and a brief discussion of the central questions, tensions, and/or uncertainties explored in the presentation. 
  • Conceptual work:  may also include more traditional elements such as a clear description of the theoretical / conceptual argument being made and the basis / warrants for the argument, and the contribution of the theoretical / conceptual argument to the field. 
Proposals should be clearly written and not more than 800 words in length (not including references). The review of proposals for the presentation of individual papers is a “masked” review and therefore no identifying information should be included in the proposal itself. 
 
Symposia
A symposium consists of a series of 3 presentations plus a chair (and discussant if desired). The presentations must be clearly related (e.g., address a topic from different perspectives, report different aspects of a larger study, etc.) and focus on generative discussion that can advance action in literacy research for social change. In particular, we encourage symposia proposals that explore compelling questions, tensions, and uncertainties in ways that are interactive and foster dialogue among presenters and attendees.
  
Proposals for a symposium should include: 
  • Title
  • 100-150 word abstract
  • Description of the symposium that includes the titles and descriptions of the individual papers. These descriptions should address question(s) or purpose(s); methodology; theoretical framework; findings; and a brief discussion of the central questions, tensions, and/or uncertainties explored in the presentation. 
 
Proposals should be clearly written and not more than 800 words in length (not including references). ​
 
Roundtables
Works-in-progress roundtable sessions provide opportunities for presenters to share empirical works-in-progress with a small group of colleagues and to engage in extended discussion of their research. 

Proposals for a work-in-progress roundtable should include: 
  • Title
  • 100-150 word abstract
  • Description of the work to be shared at the roundtable that includes research question(s)/purposes, theoretical framework, methodology, and a description of the corpus of data to be shared at the roundtable. 

Proposals should be clearly written and not more than 800 words in length (not including references). 

Alternative Format Sessions
We invite proposals for sessions that employ formats other than those listed above (e.g., performances, visual or multimodal representations, immersive theater, installations, etc.). Alternative format sessions should be designed for no longer than 90-minute sessions. 

Proposals for alternative format sessions should include the following:
  • A cover sheet
  • A title
  • A 100-150 word abstract
  • A clear description of the session
  • A list of participants including names, affiliations, and email addresses
 
Proposals should be clearly written and not more than 800 words in length (not including references). The review of alternative format sessions is NOT masked and therefore, as appropriate, identifying information may be included in the proposal.​

Questions? Contact us at [email protected]