Submissions to this collection are restricted to authors who presented at the 21st Annual LITASA Conference.

Reading the Future, Ukufunda Ikusasa, Ho Bala Bokamoso: Literacies for Transformative Education

Over the past two decades The Literacy Association of South Africa (LITASA) and its predecessor, the Reading Association of South Africa (RASA), have brought together researchers, teachers, lecturers, policymakers, community organisations and literacy advocates working towards equitable literacy in South Africa. This special collection arises from our 21st conference, hosted at the University of the Witwatersrand from 4 to 6 September 2026.

The collection considers future pathways to socially just literacy education and empowerment, amid current realities including continuously worrying PIRLS findings, continued inequalities in access to books, libraries, and skilled teachers, and the exciting challenge of developing Mother Tongue-based Basic Education in South Africa. At the same time, Generative Artificial Intelligence has been disrupting how we interact with reading and writing inside and outside of classrooms, and the realities this brings are changing faster than curricula can accommodate. Strengthening literacy education at all levels remains the most powerful tool to enable transformation, empowerment and agency.

Recommended topics

The conference theme, which is also the theme of this special collection, actively positions multiple and multilingual literacies as resources rather than obstacles, resources that bridge home and school, local realities and global opportunities, and foundational learning and higher education. We invite contributions that examine how literacies are taught, assessed, researched and lived across the lifespan, from early childhood through schooling and higher education to community, family and workplace settings.

Objectives

Articles may report empirical research, theoretical or conceptual work, methodological innovation, or rigorous accounts of practice and policy. Work grounded in South African and wider African contexts is particularly welcome, as is work in and on African languages. Contributions that speak beyond a single institution or classroom, and that carry implications for policy, pedagogy or further research, will be prioritised. researchers in a subfield, practitioners, policymakers, or a cross-disciplinary readership. The articles brought together in this special issue will interest literacy researchers, teachers and policy-makers working in a wide range of educational, governmental and non-profit sectors.

Submission to this collection is restricted to authors who presented at the 21st Annual LITASA Conference. Manuscripts must develop the work presented and must meet the requirements of Reading & Writing. All submissions are subject to the journal’s usual peer-review process; presentation at the conference does not guarantee acceptance.

Submission procedure

For further information on the submission process, visit the journal’s procedure page.
For information on word limits and formatting requirements, please consult the journal’s submission guidelines.

We will be happy to provide any assistance during the submission and application process. Kindly enquire at submissions@rw.org.za.

All submissions will undergo a double-blind review process to ensure high scientific quality and relevance to the subject. The Editor-in-Chief will make the final decision on acceptance, revision, or rejection based on the reviewers’ feedback.

Timeline

Online full manuscript submission opens: 06 September 2026
Online full manuscript submission closes: 01 February 2027
Expected publication date: 02 August 2027

For enquiries regarding this call for papers, please contact the guest editors:

Prof. IIse Fouche, University of the Witwatersrand, ilse.fouche@wits.ac.za
Dr Xolisa Guzula , University of Cape Town, xolisa.guzula@uct.ac.za
Dr Maria Prozesky, University of the Witwatersrand, maria.prozesky@wits.ac.za

We look forward to receiving your manuscript.

About the journal

Reading & Writing is an inter-disciplinary and inter-professional scholarly journal that explores how literacy is defined, enacted and promoted in a range of institutional, socio-cultural and disciplinary contexts’, particularly within Africa and other developing countries.

Image attribution

Drawing by Daniela Starostecka, titled Reading Johannesburg, commissioned by the Literacy Association of South Africa (LITASA). Copyright © 2026 LITASA. Used with permission from LITASA.