Abstract The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) tools into language learning presents a paradox: while promising democratization, they often reinforce linguistic hegemony. Through a methodological innovation, this study employed a 12-week critical post-human ethnography in an Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, combining algorithmic audits of Grammarly, QuillBot, and ChatGPT with classroom observations of 23 MA EFL advanced university students (including screen recordings, interviews, and think-aloud protocols) and a counter-infrastructure co-design workshop. Drawing primarily on frameworks of infrastructural violence and agential realism, with data colonialism and a contextualized understanding of raciolinguistic ideology serving as contextual lenses, results indicate AI tools function as colonial infrastructures that systematically pathologize non-Inner Circle linguistic features, eliciting responses ranging from linguistic shame to defiance. Crucially, co-designing a localized micro-model validated translingual identities and enabled infrastructural sovereignty. The study contributes a novel methodological framework for auditing digital linguistic imperialism and proposes a decolonial post-human pedagogy centered on infrastructural co-governance.
Abstract Despite the importance of course books (CBs) in English Language Teaching (ELT) and numerous studies showing discriminatory native speakerist hiring policies in ELT, only two studies exist on how native speakerism can affect the hiring of course book authors (CBAs), and none on CBs for young learners. This study is thus the first to investigate the representation of ‘native speakers’, ‘non-native speakers’, white people, and people of colour (POC) as CBAs in internationally published CBs for young learners by six global publishers. Using native speakerism as the main theoretical framework, the study showed that 90 per cent of the CBAs were ‘native speakers’ and 96 per cent were white, and 67 per cent from the UK. Moreover, 74 per cent of the CBs were exclusively authored by ‘native speakers’ and 86 per cent by white authors, with a clear preference for CBAs from the UK (67 per cent). Potential explanations for this lack of diversity include homophilous hiring, colour-blindness, and market pressure. The study highlights the need for systemic changes in hiring policies to promote diversity and inclusion, such as open calls for authors, concrete diversity goals, and double-blind application processes.
Abstract Linguistic justice as a named concept in applied linguistics and related fields receives a growing amount of scholarly attention, especially concerning educational contexts. Yet use of the term often relies on theories of change which frame pedagogical interventions and diversity training as a solution for achieving linguistic justice, typically overlooking the need for structural and institutional transformation. Here, I draw on the speculative methodology of imagination infrastructure to propose a set of design principles for the creation of linguistically just schools at an institutional level. Rooted in place-based activism, this prefigurative and anticipatory vision for institutional linguistic justice incorporates the nonlinguistic factors that lie at the root of structural discrimination, embodies cross-movement solidarity to situate linguistic justice in partnership with other social justice struggles, dismantles linguistic hierarchies and associated relations of power, and accompanies schools in the design of new worlds. Ultimately, this vision pushes for the creation of capacities and conditions that bring different and desired futures into the present.
Abstract When people share a language but differ in proficiency, higher proficiency speakers often adjust their speech for lower proficiency listeners. They might speak slower, simplify sentence structures, or use exaggerated articulation to support understanding and manage social dynamics. Speech accommodation across proficiencies (LX accommodation) can improve comprehension when it meets the needs of the lower proficiency speaker. However, it is not yet clear how a speaker’s accommodation behavior relates to their attitudes about accommodation, or how empathy, anxiety, and language experience influence accommodation attitudes. We developed the Communication Accommodation Behavior Scale (CABS) to assess two dimensions of this relationship: positive, prosocial intent (i.e. “Facilitative Accommodation”) and negative feelings, including avoidance (i.e. “Resistant Accommodation”). A representative sample of English-speaking (L1) participants (n = 525) completed the eight-item CABS, surveys of empathy and anxiety, and a demographic and language experience questionnaire. A factor analysis revealed a two-factor CABS structure, supporting its utility for research purposes. Age, experience abroad, and interpersonal empathy influenced CABS scores, revealing complex individual differences in accommodation strategies linked to experience and stable personality traits.
Abstract This study proposed and tested a revised model of feedback-seeking behavior in second language acquisition. The revised model included feedback elicitation, monitoring, and use. In two studies, data were collected from 207 learners enrolled in Spanish classes at a large public university in Florida and 294 learners of English at a multi-branch private language institute in Iran. Exploratory factor analyses generally combined CF Monitoring and CF Use, whereas confirmatory factor analyses favored the hypothesized three-factor model, with stronger support in Study 2. The scales demonstrated acceptable convergent validity and internal consistency, although the distinction between Monitoring and Use was limited in Study 1 and improved in Study 2. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses further showed that the overall FSB index significantly predicted self-assessed L2 proficiency in both contexts, although the unique contributions of the individual components varied across samples. Overall, the findings supported the tripartite model of FSB, defined as learners’ proactive efforts to elicit, monitor, and use CF to enhance their L2 production. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and future research directions are outlined.
Abstract Marking a decade since the publication of Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism, and Education, this forum revisits the evolution of translanguaging as a theoretical, pedagogical, and sociopolitical framework. Drawing on a dialogue with Ofelia García and Li Wei, the discussion reflects on how translanguaging has reshaped understandings of multilingualism, language education, and linguistic justice across diverse contexts. The exchange examines the conceptual development of translanguaging, its uneven institutional uptake across Global North and Global South settings, and its implications for pedagogy, teacher education, and language policy. It also considers the emerging challenges posed by digital technologies and artificial intelligence for multilingual knowledge production and classroom practice. The forum highlights the importance of critically engaging with translanguaging’s epistemological foundations while remaining attentive to local sociolinguistic conditions and structural inequalities. In doing so, it outlines key directions for translanguaging research and practice in the coming decade.
While the effectiveness of digital multimodal composing (DMC) has garnered growing scholarly attention within the field of applied linguistics, little is known about how second language students engage with DMC to improve learning and writing. Conceptualizing student engagement with DMC as a tripartite construct, this qualitative case study examined two triad groups (one highly-engaged and the other minimally-engaged) of undergraduates' behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement with collaborative DMC in a Chinese EFL classroom. Data were collected from various sources, including students' DMC drafts, stimulated recalls, semi-structured interviews, and classroom documents. The analysis revealed notable variations in student engagement levels between the two groups, as evidenced by their behavioral allocation of time and revision activities, application of cognitive strategies, and emotional responses to multimodal creation. Our findings underscore student engagement with DMC as an interconnected system influenced by a complex interplay of individual and contextual factors. The current study contributes to our understanding of the under-explored construct of student engagement with DMC, offering useful implications for DMC pedagogical practices and further research.
