Bilingual Education Research SIG
2026 Outstanding Dissertation Award—Call for Submissions
AWARD SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE: 12/31/2025
The 26th Dissertation Competition is open for recent and in-progress graduates, who earned or will earn a Ph.D. or Ed.D. degree between January 2024 and the end of December 2025. The topic of the dissertation must be related to the area of bilingual education research, and may use qualitative, quantitative, or mixed research methods. The award committee consists of scholars representing the expertise within bilingual education research, members of the Bilingual Education Research SIG in good standing, and previous winners of the award. The criteria used for evaluating the applications submitted will center on the quality of the dissertation (rigor of methodology and both theoretical and practical contributions to the field of bilingual education), as well as the innovations generated by the research work.
Persons interested should submit the following documents:
1.Title page with author’s name, home address, current institutional affiliation, telephone number, and e-mail address, a list of the names of the dissertation committee chair(s) and members, and the name of the institution where the dissertation was completed.
2.Summary of the dissertation study, not to exceed 15 pages. The summary must include: a statement of the problem, research questions, theoretical framework(s), methodology, results and discussion, and conclusion/significance for theory and practice. The summary should be typed doubled-spaced using 12-point font size, with no author's identification so it is ready for blind review by the Outstanding Dissertation Committee. The summary must be submitted as a PDF.
3.Title page, abstract, references and appendices pages are not counted within the 15-page limit. Only references and appendices listed in the summary should be cited in the references page(s). The summary and references should follow the American Psychological Association Publication Manual Standards (7th ed).
Recommendation letters will not be considered, so please do not submit letters.
Selection Criteria: Members of the Award Committee will evaluate and rank submissions based on the following review categories using a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high): significance, rationale, methodological soundness, theoretical soundness, presentation or results or concepts (if a conceptual paper), quality of writing, and potential to move the bilingual education field forward.
The awardee will be recognized during the AERA 2026 annual business meeting for the Bilingual Education Research SIG in Los Angeles, receive a plaque from the AERA Bilingual Education Research SIG, and a cash award of $500.00.
Please send inquiries and submissions to Award Committee Chair, Erika Feinauer @ erika_feinauer@byu.edu