The PLLAT Library

PLLAT Library

(for a better experience, use a computer not a phone)

Would you like to have access to the most cutting-edge research papers as soon as they appear? Isn’t it annoying when a reviewer points out a relevant paper that you did not review because it was too recent? The psychology of language learning and teaching—which includes individual differences—is a rapidly growing field, making it hard to keep up with its developments. This is what the Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching (PLLAT) Library aims to address. We collect and curate the PLLAT literature and make it available for researchers for free. Researchers can, with a quick glance, find and access the latest scholarship.

It is not possible to include everything in this Library. In fact, if we were to do so, it would be too unwieldy and less useful. PLLAT is already a very large field. Therefore, if something does not fall within the scope of the Library, this should not be taken to imply that that work is not useful or relevant in certain cases.

The following are the current inclusion criteria. Suggestions are welcome.

Inclusion Criteria

Content: The content has to be related to the psychology of language learning or teaching (whether a second or a foreign language). Therefore, literature related only to educational issues like CLIL, flipped learning, or TBLT is not relevant unless it also includes a primary psychological element (e.g., role of anxiety, working memory, self-efficacy, etc.). Similarly, literature related to psychological issues like intergroup relations is not relevant unless it includes specific implications for language learning or teaching. Typically, one look at the title and abstract can be enough to decide whether the PLLT link is clear.

Source: Journal articles and books (both authored and edited) qualify for inclusion, and in some cases book chapters. We also actively monitor major applied linguistics journals (about 30 journals currently) and update the library with the latest literature. We do not actively follow all journals worldwide (obviously). So, if you come across a paper not included (whether authored by yourself or not), you are welcome to submit it to us at hoorie_ali AT hotmail.com.

Quality: Inclusion to the PLLAT Library is not based on quality. That is, we do not evaluate each publication before it is added. We simply do not have the manpower, and it is not the intention of this Library to act as a measure of content quality. We do, however, require that articles come from journals that are indexed in either the Web of Science or Scopus, or from diamond open access journals (i.e., where neither the author nor the reader pays any fees). This requirement is intended to make the project more manageable. Journal articles from journals not indexed in these two databases are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Date: The publication has to be copyrighted 2020 onward. We will continue to curate published research from this date onward.

Folders: Currently, there are four folders: Complexity Theory, Language Learning, Language Teaching, and Research Methodology. The distinction between language learning and language teaching is tricky and is intended to make the Library a bit more organized. As a rule of thumb, a paper that is exclusively focused on teachers or on a teaching-related topic would go to the teaching folder. The Research Methodology folder is the broadest in focus.

Researchers interested in particular areas not covered here are welcome to propose a topic for a new folder.

How to Use the PLLAT Library

You do not need to be a member of the PLLAT Library to view its contents. Neither do you need to create a Zotero account. The image below explains how to navigate the Library. You can view the library with a smart phone, but a computer provides easier navigation and a better experience.

To get the actual pdfs, install the Unpaywall extension (https://unpaywall.org/products/extension), which can provide the pdfs of many articles for free.