Journal of Teaching Language Skills

The integration of technology into English as a Second Language (ESL) education is indispensable now. The
pandemic has, however, created an unprecedented situation by accelerating the transition to virtual teaching,
learning, and assessment. Many stakeholders in ESL education, in particular students and teachers, have not been
prepared to embrace the full affordances of technology in language education. Some of the stakeholders were
even shocked by the massive changes, and some are faced with formidable challenges. Given that the new normal
has resulted in alternative methods and strategies developed and practised, this special issue aims at bringing
together research reports that document the challenges, responses, and innovative strategies ESL teachers and
students have experienced during COVID‐۱۹ and the reforms they foresee for a post‐COVID‐۱۹ era. It is hoped that
sharing local, national, and international experiences, lessons, and insights gained will help ESL students and
teachers in other contexts facing similar problems and attempting to improve practices.
The puzzlement in the world with COVID‐۱۹ pushed ESL education to find quick fixes for pressing issues and
challenges. The post‐COVID‐۱۹ world is undoubtedly different from the present and former worlds. It no doubts
demands well‐planned and well‐designed education by reflecting on, revisiting, and building on current practices
in the time of the crisis. This special issue also invites papers, conceptual or empirical, to envision possible futures
for ESL education.
We assume that all facets of ESL education have been affected by the pandemic and, therefore, we call for papers
on various aspects of virtual ESL teaching/learning and e‐assessment. We look forward to reaching a broad
community of contributors. The papers will be evaluated by the guest editors and a panel of ESL education experts.
In the empirical studies, of particular interest is a clear description of the setting and problem, the method adopted
in response, and implications offered.
Guest editors:
‐Mehdi Riazi, Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney,
Australia. Email: mehdi.riazi@mq.edu.au
‐Reza Rezvani, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics in English Language Department, Yasouj University, Iran.
Email: rezvanireza@gmail.com
Notes for submission:
‐Submissions should be submitted through the journal website and meet the requirements of the JTLS available at:
http://jtls.shirazu.ac.ir/
‐it should be noted that for the short communications and action reseach reports, the minimum word limit is ۳۰۰۰,
and the range for other papers is ۶۰۰۰‐۸۰۰۰.
‐On the title page there should be a statement that “the paper is submitted in response to the call for the special
issue on ESL Education during and post‐COVID‐۱۹”.
Submission deadline:
‐Papers should be submitted by February ۲۰, ۲۰۲۱ (Esfand ۲, ۱۳۹۹). Papers which cannot meet the deadline will
be considered for the regular JTLS issues.