Automatization is the learning process by which controlled, effortful second language (L2) processing becomes automatic, fast, and effortless through practice – a critical transition for L2 development. Achieving automaticity allows learners to progress from laborious language use to fluent, real-time communication by freeing limited cognitive resources. This research timeline synthesizes four decades of laboratory and classroom research on automatization, bridging cognitive learning theories with pedagogical practice. We trace five key research strands: (1) cognitive mechanisms, including the explicit-implicit knowledge interface; (2) skill development trajectories across phonological, lexical, morphosyntax, and pragmatics domains; (3) instructional approaches promoting automatization of knowledge and skills through deliberate and systematic practice; (4) methodological advances in measuring automaticity (e.g., reaction time, coefficient of variation, neural measures); and (5) individual differences in long-term memory systems (declarative and procedural memory). This timeline offers a comprehensive perspective on how automatization research has significantly advanced our understanding of L2 learning.

Although word lists have generated a great deal of attention from researchers, there has been no comprehensive review of the applications of word lists in second language learning and teaching. This article reviews the development, validation, and applications of 50 word list studies that were published and discussed in major international peer-reviewed Applied Linguistics and TESOL journals from 2013 to 2023. It shows that the methodology of word list development and validation has become more sophisticated and word list developers can see many potential applications of their lists in research and pedagogy. However, most applications of recently developed word lists have been restricted to the BNC/COCA lists developed by Paul Nation, and little is known about the degree to which most word lists have been used in pedagogical contexts. Our review indicates several directions for future research on word lists, including exploring the impact of published lists on pedagogy, replicating word list studies for learners in underrepresented contexts, and developing sustainable, low-cost methods of developing word lists to allow teachers and learners to create lists serving their own needs.

The prevalence of digital technologies, augmented by the emergence of generative AI, expands opportunities for language learning and use, empowers new modes of learning, and blurs the boundaries of in-class and out-of-class language learning. The language education community is challenged to reconceptualize the paradigm of language learning and utilize the affordances of technologies to synergize in-class and out-of-class language learning. To achieve this, in-depth understanding of in-class learning and out-of-class digital experiences in relation to one another is needed to inform curriculum and pedagogy conceptualization and implementation. With this aim in mind, we put forth a research agenda around six research themes. We hope that this Thinking Allowed piece can stimulate and guide systematic research efforts towards unleashing the potential of technologies to synergize in-class and out-of-class language learning and create holistic and empowering learning experiences for language learners.

History is littered with unfulfilled promises that emerging technologies – from radios to televisions, and from computers to mobile phones – would completely transform teaching and learning. Now the same promises are being made of generative artificial intelligence (AI). This presentation argues that we should not be focusing on educational revolution, but instead on educational evolution. Education is a complex social, cultural, and political endeavour, serving multiple purposes and multiple stakeholders, and technology is just one of many elements in this large ecosystem.

Focusing on the context of language teaching and learning, this presentation discusses what has changed technologically, and suggests what could and should change educationally. It shows that ChatGPT and a range of other generative AI tools can contribute to language and literacy development in a number of ways, but that we need to be wary of their pedagogical, social, and environmental risks. Educators must develop the AI literacy necessary to take a more nuanced view of generative AI, and we must help our students to do the same.

This paper is based on a keynote presentation delivered at the English Australia Conference in Perth, Australia, on 12 September 2024, with some elaborations for the written version alongside minor updates to reflect more recent developments and publications.

Despite the central role of language teacher educators (LTEs) in contributing to the development of language teachers in higher education and non-higher education contexts, there is a lack of theoretical and empirical work on their professional lives. One such area that remains largely unexplored concerns the psychology of LTEs. This paper argues for the need to embrace a research program that systematically investigates aspects of LTE psychology in the face of the unique demands, challenges, and pressures this professional group needs to navigate in their complex situated reality. We first position LTEs as key agents in the educational enterprise and go on to problematize the current state of scholarship on this under-researched population in universities, schools, and other practical settings. We then present an empirically grounded discussion to justify why a more explicit focus on LTE psychology is essential, followed by a brief review of what is already known in this respect. In what follows, we outline several key directions future empirical work might take to generate a more in-depth and holistic account of LTE psychology. Overall, this paper portrays LTE psychology as a promising but under-explored area which merits particular attention in its own right.

This review on English language teaching (ELT) in Singapore examines 159 empirical research studies published between 2017 and 2023 in both internationally recognised peer-reviewed journals and less well-known regional journals. With this comprehensive review, we aim to raise awareness of ELT research in Singapore for international, regional, and local readership. This will also serve as a starting point for educators, scholars, and researchers to investigate ELT in Singapore. The review yielded five themes: teaching the language skills; multiliteracies and technology; bi/multilingualism/bidialectalism and English; English as an academic language; and teacher education for ELT. While there is continuity from the last two reviews of research from Singapore in 2009 and 2021, reflected in the single theme of teaching language skills, the other themes represent new directions.

This article advocates for the expansion of research into the topic of well-being in language education. It begins by outlining key definitional concerns and then moves to outline general issues and gaps in the current body of research such as a need for a diversification in research in social contexts, working conditions, languages, cultures, as well as a clarification of the domain specificity of the construct. In the main body of the paper, three core specific areas are outlined in detail with suggestions of not only what could be researched but how this could be done in concrete empirical terms. Task 1 concerns the dynamism of well-being across different timescales and how those interact. Task 2 focuses on the relationship between self-efficacy and well-being as an example of one core individual difference that could impact well-being development. Task 3 reflects on the possible interplay between learner and teacher well-being. The article ends by arguing for language teacher well-being to receive the urgent and critical attention that it deserves across the whole range of contexts and individuals who identify as language educators.

In our critical review, we explore the progress of second language (L2) teaching research in Japan from 2019 to 2023, focusing particularly on English Language Teaching (ELT) and Japanese Language Teaching (JLT). After scrutinising numerous publications from over 50 academic journals, as well as academic books and chapters, we selected around 40 studies for analysis. These studies met our screening criteria of articles published in Japan, which were written in English or Japanese, peer-reviewed, presented original findings or insights, and focused on the Japanese context. We highlighted six key areas: grammar, language testing, teachers’ professional development, the realities and influences of foreign residents and immigration, the identity of language learners/users and language education policy. Through our review, we provide notable characteristics, developments, and challenges in L2 teaching research in Japan for a global readership. This contribution furthers the ongoing conversation and sets directions for future research in this field.

The present contribution proposes a low-threshold action plan for research into what we consider critical areas in multilingualism where we see an urgent need for more empirical studies and research-based classroom interventions and a stronger commitment to multilingual standards both in research and teaching. Reaching out to a wide audience of researchers, educationalists and decision makers, we first stake out the conceptual frame for our discussion and delineate the theoretical base that informs our thinking. This is followed by a perforce perfunctory overview of the current state of things. Next, we outline three research tasks with concrete practical suggestions and guidance on how to operationalise and implement the respective projects. Each task is contextualised in terms of its broader socio-educational embedding and prospective practical-theoretical relevance. The overall aim is to challenge traditional monolingual-grounded notions of language development, promote a dynamic and inclusive multilingual perspective in language learning, teaching and assessment, and contribute to a more informed understanding of multilingualism.

Investigating speech fluency has, for a long time, been at the core of second language (L2) studies, as fluency is believed to epitomise successful acquisition of L2, characterise effective communication, elucidate the complex process of acquisition, and predict L2 speakers' proficiency. The significance attributed to fluency in these areas explicates the research attention paid to it over the past decades. An important area of development in this regard is L2 assessment in which fluency is recognised as a key underlying construct of spoken language ability by international language tests (e.g., IELTS, TEEP, APTIS) and language benchmarks (e.g., CEFR). Many high-stakes tests of English and other languages include fluency in their rating scales, with the earliest on record tracing back to the 1930s – the College Board's English Competence Examination (1930) in America. Including fluency as a fundamental aspect of speaking ability in the rating scales, rating descriptors, and rater training materials, either as an independent criterion or combined with others (e.g., delivery), has become common practice in language testing over the past decades. What has made assessment of fluency even more appealing to researchers and test providers in recent years is the objectivity and reliability of its measurement and its compatibility with the technological developments in automated assessment of speaking. Fluency is now largely recognised as a construct that can be efficiently and reliably assessed in automated assessment of spoken language ability and used to predict proficiency (de Jong, 2018*; Ginther et al., 2010*; Kang & Johnson, 2021*; Tavakoli et al., 2023).

As higher education increasingly embraces internationalisation, the surge in demand for English as the medium of education (EME) poses significant challenges for stakeholders. This keynote places disciplinary literacies (DLs), defined as the ability to appropriately participate in the communicative practices of a discipline (Airey, 2011), centre stage as a crucial construct for effective teaching and learning within specific subjects. Despite their critical role in facilitating comprehension and production of discipline-specific practices and texts, their integration into EME settings often remains overlooked, raising concerns about students’ mastery of disciplinary content. Against this backdrop, with the help of the ROAD-MAPPING framework (Dafouz & Smit, 2020) as a conceptual and analytical tool, and drawing on data from the SHIFT research project, I will illustrate how ROAD-MAPPING can be used to examine comprehensively and in a socially situated way the role of DLs in students’ learning experiences. The paper advocates for the importance of supporting students (and lecturers) in the development of DLs in EME underscoring the pivotal role ESP (English for Specific Purposes) and EAP (English for Academic Purposes) professionals play in facilitating effective EME implementation.

Young learners' attitudes and motivation are important indicators of foreign language learning success and have thus attracted increasing attention over the last decades. As a large country where English is taught as a foreign language (EFL) and children generally start learning English at an early age, China provides an ideal context to study the attitudes and motivation of young EFL learners. Drawing upon the socio-educational model, this study surveyed 521 Chinese parents using an online questionnaire and interviewed eight of them to examine their perspectives on their children's attitudes and motivation towards EFL learning. The findings suggest that parental factors – socioeconomic status and parental involvement – influence young learners' EFL attitudes and motivation, as perceived by their parents. Parental factors, age at the onset of English language learning and intensity of exposure explained a significant amount of the variation in parents’ reports on the attitudes and motivation of young learners. Furthermore, the parents reported that their children's EFL attitudes and motivation were constantly changing, and that family, school and extracurricular training appeared to play different roles in this process of change.

In their “Webinar on the subject of English and applied linguistics”, Widdowson and Yazdi-Amirkhiz (2023) argues for the need to “rethink orthodox ideas about the relationship between applied linguistics and English language teaching that have been promoted in the past and still prevail” (p. 393). In the following commentary, I describe examples from my experiences as a language teacher and teacher trainer that address two of Widdowson's critiques: the supposed idealization of native-speaker competence in applied linguistics, and the impracticality of applied linguistics research.