Call for Papers: Special Issue on Reimagining TESOL and Language Education in Diverse Contexts
About the Special Issue
English language education is changing faster than at any point in recent memory. Generative AI is entering classrooms, multilingual realities are reshaping what "good English teaching" means, and teachers everywhere are asked to be more inclusive, more digital, and more responsive to their learners' lives. Many of the most interesting answers to these challenges are emerging not from the traditional centres of TESOL research but from classrooms in Asia, the Global South, and other contexts whose voices are too rarely heard in international journals.
This special issue brings those voices into a global conversation. We invite researchers, teacher educators, and practitioners to share work that shows how language education can become more innovative, inclusive, and sustainable, and what local experience can teach the wider field.
We warmly welcome submissions from the Philippines, where English education has a long, distinctive, and influential history, and from colleagues across Southeast Asia, Asia, and the world. What matters most is that each study speaks beyond its own setting, offering insights, models, or questions that TESOL scholars elsewhere can learn from.
Themes
Contributions may address, but are not limited to, the following themes.
1. AI and the digital future of language education
Generative AI in language learning and teaching; AI-supported assessment; AI and digital literacy for teachers and learners; CALL, mobile, and online learning; ethical questions in AI integration; teachers' and learners' lived experiences with new technologies.
2. Innovative and context-responsive pedagogies
Learner-centred, task-based, project-based, inquiry-based, and collaborative learning; experiential and multimodal approaches; translanguaging and multilingual pedagogies; teaching that fits local classrooms and communities.
3. Teacher education, professional learning, and agency
Pre-service and in-service teacher education; continuing professional development; teacher identity, agency, and resilience; reflective practice and practitioner research; teachers' digital competence and AI readiness.
4. Inclusion, equity, and culturally sustaining education
Inclusive TESOL practice; linguistic and cultural diversity in the classroom; gender, accessibility, and social justice; culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies; education for marginalised and underserved learners; Indigenous, local, and community-based perspectives.
5. Englishes, identity, and policy in Asia and the Global South
English education in the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and wider Asia; local adaptations of global TESOL theory; World Englishes and multilingual identities; intercultural communicative competence; English-medium instruction; language policy, internationalisation, and educational reform; decolonial approaches; innovation in resource-constrained settings.
6. Curriculum, assessment, and quality
Curriculum innovation and internationalisation; outcomes- and competency-based education; alternative and technology-mediated assessment; assessment literacy; quality assurance in language programmes.
7. Learner agency, well-being, and engagement
Autonomy and self-directed learning; motivation, engagement, and persistence; social-emotional learning; learner identity and investment; well-being and resilience; learning experiences in face-to-face, blended, and online settings.
8. New directions in TESOL research methods
Innovative qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods designs; classroom-based and practitioner research; corpus and digital methods; research with AI and emerging technologies; participatory and community-based research.
Types of Contributions
We welcome empirical studies, theoretical and conceptual papers, methodological papers, and systematic or critical reviews. Classroom-based research and studies that connect local practice to international debates are especially encouraged.
Guest Editors
Dr. Salac Candilas Kurt
City College of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines
Important Dates
Milestone
Date
Call for papers opens
1st October 2026
Manuscript submission deadline
30th May 2027
First-round review decisions
30th June 2027
Revised manuscripts due
31 July 2027
Expected publication
Volume 7, Issue 4, 1st October 2027
How to Submit
- Prepare your manuscript following the IJTE Author Guidelines (word limit: 8000 – 9000 words, APA 7th edition).
- Register or log in at https://i-jte.org.
- Start a new submission and select the section "Special Issue: Reimagining TESOL in Diverse Contexts."
- In the Comments to the Editor box, write: "Submission for the Special Issue on Reimagining TESOL."
All manuscripts undergo double-blind peer review under IJTE's standard procedures. [Add article processing charge or waiver information here, if applicable.]
Enquiries: kurt.candilas@gmail.com
