ABSTRACT
The community of applied linguistics researchers has become increasingly receptive to qualitative research in the last decade. While researchers now increasingly appreciate the importance of adopting qualitative methodological approaches to gain in-depth contextualized and often cultural understanding of key issues in language learning and teaching, for many researchers, publishing qualitative studies in major journals continues to be a challenge. In this chapter, the author focuses on experiences of dealing with the challenges in publishing qualitative studies in international journals. Drawing on his encounters with reviewers, he discusses how qualitative researchers can respond to these challenges posed by anonymous reviewers as well as other researchers. When a qualitative study is under review for publication, critical reviewers also likely identify many half-hearted measures undertaken by researchers striving to “show its workings” before recommending publication. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect on the proclaimed strengths of qualitative research and take up challenges of delivering them when writing research papers for publication.
