Submissions can be oral presentations, poster presentations, student oral presentations, and symposia. Oral presentations, student presentations, and symposia may be held in parallel sessions.
If you wish to present your research, please follow the guidance in 1-10 below.
There are four formats for research presentations at J-SLA 2026
(1) Oral presentation
(2) Poster presentation
(3) Student oral presentation
(4) Symposium
(Note 1) All presenters must give their presentations in a face-to-face format at the conference venue, Mie University. Proxy presentations will not be accepted; presenters must present their own work.
(Note 2) In 'Student oral presentations' each session will be attended by researchers specialising in the field, who will be available to answer questions and offer advice. Presentations can also be on 'work in progress' research.
The time allocated for research presentations is as follows:
(1) Oral presentations: 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for Q & A
(2) Poster presentations: Poster presenters will display their posters in the poster presentation room and discuss their research orally with attendees.
(3) Student oral presentations: 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for Q & A
(4) Symposium: 90 minutes (including 3–4 presentations and discussion).
(1) Presenters must be members of J-SLA (individual or student members) as of 21st June 2026.
(2) If there is more than one author, the first author must be a member of J-SLA.
(3) Any co-authors who intend to participate in J-SLA2026 must be a member of J-SLA.
(4) Acceptance will be withdrawn if membership registration and payment are not completed by the stated deadline.
From 1st February 2026, please log in to the 'Application for Presentation' site and upload Review Abstract (for peer review) and Programme Abstract (for inclusion in the conference programme). See 7. below for further details.
Japanese site: (To be announced)
English site: (To be announced)
(Note 3) Some university networks may restrict access to Google Forms. If this occurs, please log in using a personal Google account from outside your university network.
The abstract deadline is Tuesday 31st March 2026, 23:59 (JST).
Please note that abstracts submitted after the deadline will not be accepted.
J-SLA 2026 is calling for research presentations on "theoretical and empirical research on second language acquisition" in line with the "aims of the founding of the Japan Second Language Association".
(Note 4) Please refer to the following 'Inaugural aims of the society'.
“We hereby establish the Japan Second Language Association (abbreviated: J-SLA) for the express purpose of promoting within Japan the advancement of research into second language development that seeks to elucidate the process of second language acquisition through theoretically grounded analyses of empirical data.
Our approach sees second language acquisition research as a scientific field of study on par with cognitive science, first language acquisition research, and linguistics, one that does not, therefore, depend on whether the findings have a direct application to foreign language education per se. Ascertaining the mechanisms of second language acquisition through a rigorous scientific method will contribute, along with other areas of cognitive science, to our understanding of human cognition.”
(an excerpt from the J-SLA website at https://www.j-sla.org/about)
Abstracts should be prepared in accordance with the following instructions. Please note that the abstracts which do not follow the guidance in (1) to (8) below may not be accepted.
Review Abstract
(1) Language: Please write in English or Japanese. (the same as your presentation language)
(2) Means of writing: Please use BOTH Word and PDF.
(3) Font: Please write in Times New Roman 10.5 pt for English and MS Mincho (or Yumincho) 10.5 pt for Japanese.
(4) Volume: The English abstract should be no more than 1,000 words, and the Japanese abstract should be no more than 1,600 characters.
(Note 5) You may add figures and tables, but the final abstract should fit into two A4 pages.
(Note 6) Titles, figures, tables, and references are not to be included in the word or character count. However, for symposia, titles shall be counted towards the word or character count if they include the title of each individual presentation.
(5) Margins: 3 cm both top, bottom, left and right.
(6) Title: The title should be written in the 'top centre' of the text of the abstract. The Japanese and English titles should be as follows:
Japanese titles: Use dashes (—) to set off subtitles
Example: 日本人英語学習者による英語冠詞の習得―使用傾向と誤用パターン―
English titles: Use a colon (:) before subtitles and follow APA title case conventions
Example: The Acquisition of English Articles by Japanese Learners: Usage Tendencies and Error Patterns
(7) Anonymisation: Do not include author names or affiliations. When citing your own previous work, refer to it normally (e.g. “Yamada (2006)”), and use the third person rather than the first (e.g. “Yamada (2006) found…” rather than “I found…”).
(8) Please erase all personal information such as author names from the file properties in both Word and PDF files. This is to ensure the review process is carried out anonymously.
(9) Word/Character count: Please write the number of words or characters at the end of the abstract.
Programme Abstract
A specific template will be provided. Please download and complete the form according to the instructions.
Template: (To be announced)
Once your abstract submission is complete, a copy of your abstract will be automatically sent to the email address you provided in the form. If you do not receive the copy, please check your spam or junk mail folder. If it is still missing, please contact the head of the reviewing board, Mari Miyao (jsla2026abstract★j-sla.org). Please replace “★” with “@” when emailing.
Abstracts will be assessed by the reviewers using the following five main points.
A. Importance of the research: Does the research contribute to the academic development of second language acquisition research?
B. Clarity: Is the theory, data, discussion, and conclusions of the research clearly presented? Including all these elements for such as work-in-progress student oral presentations is not required if not available.
C. Structure: Is the research appropriately structured?
D. Overall evaluation: Overall assessment of persuasiveness, clarity, and organisation.
E. Aims of J-SLA: Is the research content in line with the aims of J-SLA?
(Note 7) Please note that abstracts that do not conform to the aims of J-SLA may not be accepted.
The results of the review will be emailed by 23:59 on Friday, 15th May 2026 (JST). Accepted presenters will be asked to confirm their intention to present by the deadline stated in the acceptance email.
Secretariat: Kazuyuki Shite (skazuyuki2017★gmail.com) Replace "★" with "@".
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11th November 2025
Steering Committee of J-SLA