Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping English language teaching (ELT), from automated feedback and adaptive learning platforms to generative tools that support materials design, assessment, and classroom interaction. While these technologies offer considerable potential to personalize learning and reduce teachers' workload, they also raise pressing pedagogical, ethical, and professional questions. Issues of learner agency, teacher roles, equity of access, linguistic bias, academic integrity, and the nature of feedback in AI-mediated environments remain underexplored, particularly in contexts where English is taught as a foreign language. As AI tools become embedded in everyday teaching practice, there is a growing need for rigorous, context-sensitive research that moves beyond tool evaluation toward a deeper understanding of how AI reshapes teaching and learning.

The primary goal of this special issue is to bring together high-quality empirical and conceptual research that examines the role of AI in English language learning and teaching. We invite contributions that explore the pedagogical, practical, and ethical dimensions of AI integration in ELT, with particular interest in classroom implementation, learner and teacher perspectives, assessment and feedback, and equity and ethics.

We welcome original research articles, systematic and narrative review articles, case studies, and conceptual papers that advance theory and practice. Contributions that report on under-researched contexts, including EFL settings in the Global South, are particularly encouraged.

Through this special issue, we aim to consolidate current knowledge on AI in ELT, identify productive directions for future research, and inform teacher education and curriculum policy. We welcome researchers from applied linguistics, TESOL, educational technology, and related disciplines to provide interdisciplinary perspectives on AI-supported language education. Your contributions will play a crucial role in advancing knowledge in this field.