CALL FOR PAPERS Thematic Issue on Openness in Language Education: Global practices and research, pedagogical innovation and critical resistance

12/16/2025

Scope and Topics

We invite contributions that investigate the role and impact of OERs in the context of language learning and teaching (whether foreign, second, or heritage language acquisition) and teacher training. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Local Contexts and Adoption: Examining how cultural, social, and economic factors shape OER uptake; strategies for inclusion in low-connectivity or linguistically diverse settings; OERs as tools for linguistic equity.
  • Policy, Governance, and Sustainability for Language OER: Exploring the role of national and institutional policies in promoting OERs for language learning; funding and collaboration models; addressing resistance and challenges in contexts affected by policy cuts or limited institutional support.
  • Pedagogical Innovation in Language Teaching: Presenting OERs as drivers of communicative, task-based, and critical approaches; redesigning activities and assessments.
  • Emerging Technologies and AI in Language OER: Investigating the role of AI in creating, adapting, and disseminating OERs for language learning; ethical and definitional considerations of AI-generated content; multimedia and interactive tools for language acquisition.
  • Language Teacher Training and Professional Development: Enhancing educators’ capacity for critical and creative use of OERs; exemplary initiatives for building skills in language teaching contexts; teachers as co-creators and curators of language-specific OERs.
  • Impact Measurement and Evidence in Language Learning and Teaching: Assessing the effectiveness of OERs in language education: metrics for innovation, equity, and sustainability; evidence-based practices to guide future development.
  • Linguistic and Cultural Diversity: Promoting inclusive OER development for minority or under-resourced languages; supporting cultural representation; sustaining learner motivation in autonomous or informal language contexts (e.g., LMOOCs).
  • Theoretical Modelling and Analysis in Language OERs: Conceptualizing variables influencing adoption, adaptation, and impact of OERs in language learning; frameworks for understanding interactions between policy, pedagogy, technology, and local linguistic contexts.

The EUROCALL Review seeks to provide an international focus for the dissemination of high-quality innovative research, development and practice in technology-enhanced language learning. It publishes research articles that report on empirical studies (quantitative or qualitative); provide rigorous meta-analyses or other syntheses or surveys; or contribute to theoretical, epistemological or methodological debates.

Acknowledgements

This thematic issue has been made possible thanks to EUROCALL, which has generously provided the space and opportunity to organize an annual symposium devoted to Open Education in language teaching and learning. We are grateful for the Association’s commitment to fostering collaboration, innovation, and the exchange of ideas in the field of language education, supporting efforts to advance open practices even in contexts where challenges and constraints persist.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should align with the thematic issue’s focus on Open Educational Resources for language teaching and learning, offering original research, case studies, theoretical explorations, or literature reviews. Authors are encouraged to submit papers that are methodologically rigorous and contribute to the understanding of OER’s evolving role in language education, including its pedagogical, technological, cultural, and policy-related dimensions.

Important Dates

Submission deadline: April 19th, 2026

Publication date: Winter 2026

Submission Process

Manuscripts should be prepared according to The EUROCALL Review submission guidelines, available on the journal's website (https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/eurocall), and submitted via our online submission system. All papers will undergo a double-blind peer review process. Upon submission, select “Thematic issue on Openness in Language Education”.

For more information or to discuss potential submissions, please contact the guest editors at paz.diez.arcon@edu.uned.es.

Guest Editors

Dr. Paz Díez Arcón (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain)

Dr. Carl S. Blyth (University of Texas at Austin, USA)

Dr. Maria Perifanou (University of Macedonia and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece)

Dr. Inés Vañó García (Framingham State University, USA)

Peer-Reviewing

Authors may be requested to peer-review a paper submitted to the thematic issue. Reviewers will be acknowledged on the journal website after publication.