Introduction to the Special Issue on the Future of TESOL

Abstract

In 1999, James Gleick in Faster argued that we live in an age of change and the rate of change is constantly accelerating. A quarter of a century later, Gleick’s contention still holds. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we all live and work; neoliberalism has shifted the goals of educational institutions; and the sudden appearance of ChatGPT in 2022, after 50 years of failed promises about artificial intelligence, has rocked education and society. Is the field of TESOL set up to cope with such changes? Should we be planning and acting to ensure that the TESOL community benefits from, or at least is not harmed by, these constantly accelerating changes? When the International Journal of TESOL Studies approached me to be guest editor of a special issue, the challenges TESOL faces were at the front of my mind. So, instead of suggesting a traditional issue collecting research articles on a specific topic, I proposed a special issue comprising more speculative articles on the future of TESOL in an age of change, and I am grateful to the editorial board for accepting this more innovative approach. The nine articles in this special issue cover a wide range of key issues facing the TESOL community.

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