This paper compares and analyzes a selection of popular multilevel tests used for quick accreditation of English as a foreign language worldwide. The paper begins by stating the current need of accreditation of English language competence for both academic and professional matters. It then looks at their defining features and differences. After,…

In recent years, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have led to significantly improved, or in some cases, completely new digital tools for writing. Systems for writing assessment and assistance based on automated writing evaluation (AWE) have been available for some time. That is the case for machine translation as well. More recent are…

The purpose of this article is to set out the design principles and architecture of a second language (L2) learning voice chatbot. Building on L2 acquisition theories and chatbot research, in this article, we report on a South Korean government-funded longitudinal project in which we designed and developed a chatbot called "Ellie".…

Looking at human communication from the perspective of semiotics extends our view beyond verbal language to consider other sign systems and meaning-making resources. Those include gestures, body language, images, and sounds. From this perspective, the communicative process expands from individual mental processes of verbalizing to include features…

Bots are destined to dominate how humans interact with the internet of things that continues to grow around them. Despite their still budding intellectual capacity, major companies (e.g., Apple, Google and Amazon) have already placed (chat)bots at the centre of their flagship devices. (Chat)Bots currently fill the internet acting as guides,…

In the 20th anniversary issue of this journal, Reinders and White (2016) describe the relationship between computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and autonomy as having become "both more complex and more promising" (p. 143). This is, they assert, in large part due to the rise of informal language learning online, with an accompanying…

This column traces the evolution of electronic resources for language learning over the past 25 years, focusing on the arrival and transformation of the "world wide web", the dramatic changes in mobile technologies, and the movement towards commercial and all-in-one solutions to online learning. In the choice and use of learning…

If ever there was an appropriate time to reassess models of instructional delivery for language learning, that time is now. The coronavirus pandemic has led to a public health crisis, countless grieving families, and to a social order and private lives turned upside down. Many have lost their livelihoods, as businesses and governments struggle to…

In this paper we explore and identify emerging patterns of synchronous digital discourse trajectories between dyads of native (NS) and non-native speakers (NNS), with a particular focus on (absence of) negotiated interaction. We will present a new model of L2 learning interaction that is a schematic representation of two main types of hearer…

Drawing on past and current scholarship on digitally mediated communication in language learning, this review article examines the evolution of identity research in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) from the 1990s to the present day. The article offers an in-depth overview of critical issues and topics associated with language learner…

This article begins with a brief overview of how digital literacies have evolved in the context of recent technological and social changes. It then discusses three major domains in which digital literacies have made important contributions to language learning during this period: (a) agency, autonomy, and identity; (b) creativity; and (c) new…

In this review article for the 20th Anniversary Issue, I look back at research from the last two decades on the role of computer technology in understanding and facilitating second language acquisition (SLA) and forward to what future research might investigate. To be discussed are both how technology has been used to conduct research on SLA…

This commentary offers a brief reflection on the state of CALL in 1997, when "Language Learning & Technology" was launched with my paper entitled "CALL in the year 2000: Still in search of research paradigms?" The point of my 1997 paper was to suggest the potential value of research on second language learning for the study…

In the realm of second language acquisition, investigations of the efficacy of multimedia annotations for learning unknown lexical items has attracted considerable interest during the past decade. This commentary discusses the story of my first contribution to the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) 14 years ago. In particular, it…

This review article provides an analysis of the research from the last two decades on the theme of technology and second language assessment. Based on an examination of the assessment scholarship published in "Language Learning & Technology" since its launch in 1997, we analyzed the review articles, research articles, book reviews,…