Special Issue Title

Language Teacher Beliefs and Practices in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

(Download the full CFP here)

 

Guest Editors

Yang Gao, PhD, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China

Ana Maria Ferreira Barcelos, PhD, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil

Xiaochen Wang, MA, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China

 

Rationale and Significance

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force in education, fundamentally reshaping how languages are taught, learned, and assessed. In language education, AI-driven tools such as automated writing evaluation, speech recognition, intelligent tutoring systems, and large language models are gaining unprecedented prominence (Mustroph & Steinbock, 2024). As technological advancement continues at a rapid pace, understanding how teachers’ cognition and beliefs evolve in response becomes increasingly important. The human element of education remains paramount. Language teachers’ beliefs, understood as psychologically held understandings, premises, or propositions felt to be true and guiding judgments and behaviors in instructional contexts (Barcelos & Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2018; Pajares, 1992), play a central role in shaping how AI is adopted, adapted, or resisted in practice (Gao et al., 2024a; Yang et al., 2024).

 

However, existing research on AI in language education has been dominated by a focus on the technical affordances, efficacy, and applications of the tools themselves. Much less attention has been given to how teachers’ belief systems, as a central aspect of teacher cognition, interact with the process of technological integration. This proposal highlights how teachers’ beliefs shape their practices in response to technological advancement. Understanding this relationship is essential, because teacher beliefs, which are often deeply rooted in prior experiences and resistant to change, play a decisive role in how teachers evaluate and implement technological innovations (Choi et al., 2022; Fang, 1996; Gao, 2014). Without a nuanced understanding of these belief systems, AI integration initiatives risk being reduced to top-down technical impositions that overlook the lived realities, professional agency, and pedagogical reasoning of educators.

 

Addressing this gap is not merely an academic exercise but a matter of urgent practical and strategic importance. Teacher beliefs about the pedagogical value, ethical implications, and perceived limitations of AI are foundational to the depth, quality, and sustainability of its integration (Gao et al., 2024a). These beliefs influence instructional decisions, interact with teacher identity and self-efficacy (Yang et al., 2024), and ultimately affect student learning experiences and outcomes. By foregrounding the dynamic relationship between teacher beliefs and practices, this special issue seeks to reorient the discourse toward the human and cognitive dimensions of digital transformation. It aims to provide critical insights that can inform the design of effective professional development, foster teacher resilience and agency, and guide ethical and pedagogically sound AI integration strategies in diverse language education contexts.

 

Objectives and Focus

This special issue welcomes empirical and conceptual contributions that critically examine the dynamic relationship between language teacher beliefs, practices, and professional development in the context of AI-enhanced education. We are particularly interested in research that explores how teachers understand, negotiate, and enact their beliefs in response to AI technologies, treating the classroom and institutional setting as a complex ecosystem of interaction.

 

Potential Topics

We invite submissions on topics such as:

- The Formation and Transformation of Beliefs: Investigations into how language teachers’ beliefs about teaching, learning, and their own roles are shaped, reinforced, or transformed through engagement with AI tools. This includes studies on cognitive conflict, belief perseverance, and the role of reflection.

- Bridging Beliefs and Practices: Examinations of the (mis)alignment between teacher beliefs about AI and their actual classroom practices. This theme explores the facilitators and constraints—such as institutional policy, resources, or student expectations—that mediate this relationship.

- Ethical and Critical Dimensions: Explorations of language teachers’ beliefs concerning the ethical implications of AI, including issues of academic integrity, data privacy, algorithmic bias, and equity of access.

- Teacher Identity and Agency: Studies focusing on how the integration of AI influences language teachers’ professional identity and sense of agency, and how pre-existing beliefs shape this process of (re)negotiation.

- Cross-Cultural and Contextual Perspectives: Comparative research on teacher beliefs across different cultural, national, or institutional settings, highlighting how sociocultural factors influence the perception and adoption of AI.

- Professional Development for the AI Era: Critical analyses of professional development initiatives designed to support teachers in navigating AI, with a focus on how such programs successfully or unsuccessfully engage with and impact teacher belief systems.

 

Timeline

- Deadline for abstract submission: January 31, 2026

- Notification of acceptance/rejection: February 28, 2026

-Initial manuscript submission (first round): August 31, 2026

-Final revised manuscript submission: December 15, 2026

- Publication of Special Issue: By December 31, 2027

 

Proposal Submission

Manuscripts should follow the submission guidelines on the TESOL Communications website: https://www.tesolcommunications.com. Please indicate in your cover letter that your submission is intended for the Special Issue on Language Teacher Beliefs and Practices in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. For questions related to this special issue, please contact: Xiaochen WANG: wangxiaochen666@stu.xjtu.edu.cn.

 

 

Special Issue Title

Ecologies of English in Southeast Asia: Rethinking Where and How Language Learning Happens

(Download the full CFP here)

 

Guest Editors

Daron Benjamin Loo

Chang Siew Lee

Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language Learning, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia

 

Objectives and Focus

The key objectives of this special issue are:

a. To examine educational environments as ecologies for English language learning

b. To illuminate the localized nature of English language learning among K-12 and university students

c. To inform pedagogical decisions in light of contextual realities 

 

Potential Topics

a. Student affordances for learning in an ecological sense

b. Incidental learning of the English language

c. Teacher or practitioner support for incidental learning or learning through the broader environment

d. Sociocultural influences on informal learning

 

Timeline

A proposed schedule for the special issue, including:

-Call for papers announcement: August 11, 2025

-Submission of proposal deadline: September 15, 2025

-Announcement of acceptance for proposals: By October 15, 2025

-Submission of manuscript deadline: Until March 31, 2026

-Peer review and revision timeline: April to July 2026

-Final editing and checking: August 2026

-Final decision and publication schedule: September 2026

 

Proposals should be emailed to daronloo@ums.edu.my before or by 15 September 2025.

 

Special Issue Title

Technology Enhanced TESOL for ESL/EFL Learners: DDL, AI, and Language Assessment

(Download the full CFP here)

 

Guest Editors

-Siaw-Fong Chung, National Chengchi University, Taiwan (sfchung@nccu.edu.tw)

-Benjamin Beaumont, Trinity College London, United Kingdom (Ben.Beaumont@trinitycollege.com)

-Ali Zahabi, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand (ali.zaha@kmutt.ac.th)

 

Objectives and Focus

This special issue will:

-explore how DDL can be adapted for ESL and EFL learners in various learning contexts

-examine the use of AI-powered tools such as chatbots, adaptive apps, and intelligent feedback systems with a focus on their pedagogical purposes, e.g., formative feedback, scaffolding, and feedback literacy

-highlight how smart technologies support classroom interaction and real-time assessment

-document digital literacy strategies for ESL and EFL instruction at different levels

-examine how different TESOL contexts, including multicultural and multilingual environments, affect the implementation of digital tools in TESOL pedagogy

-bridge classroom practice with practitioner-informed, research-based insights

 

Potential Topics

We invite submissions on topics such as:

-learner-friendly DDL and corpus-based tasks for ESL/EFL contexts

-formative feedback generated by AI to enhance feedback literacy and writing accuracy

-gamified learning platforms and their classroom integration

-classroom-based research using technology support in ESL/EFL instruction

-adaptive feedback and personalized learning technologies for assessment

-integrating technology for inclusive practices in multilingual/multicultural TESOL contexts

-challenges in implementing digital tools in different regions

-professional development for TESOL educators in digital pedagogy

 

Expected Contributions

Submissions may include the following categories:

-Research Articles (Empirical Research, Collaborative Practitioner Researcher Articles)

-Research Syntheses (Meta-analyses, Systematic Reviews, Scoping Reviews)

-Teacher Researcher Briefs (Classroom-based research and action research)

-Global Perspectives on Local Issues (Contextualized TESOL challenges)

-Teacher Expert Dialogues (Interviews)

-Voices from the Classroom (Reflective narratives)

 

Please check the journal website for submission types and guidelines.

 

Timeline

-Call for Papers Released: September 1, 2025

-Full Manuscript Submission Deadline: January 31, 2026

-Revised Manuscript Deadline: April 30, 2026

-Final Decision Notification: May 31, 2026

-Publication Date: July 2026

 

Proposal Submission

Please indicate in your cover letter that your submission is intended for the Special Issue on Technology Enhanced TESOL for ESL/EFL Learners.

 

For questions related to the special issue, please contact:
Siaw-Fong Chung – sfchung@nccu.edu.tw