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In a world that is becoming increasingly digitized, the ubiquitous technology has revolutionized every aspect of our lives, and education is no exception. Smartphones, in particular, have opened up a new horizon for language learning, transforming conventional instruction into a dynamic, interactive, and genuinely innovative digital experience. This widespread usage of mobile devices has contributed to the development of several mobile apps for English language learning. In this light, uTalk distinguishes itself from other language learning applications as it offers remarkable benefits for expanding learners' vocabulary, and this study will offer a critical review of this app by spotlighting its pluses and minuses for various language learners. The uTalk application incorporates the element of gamification, which makes the learning of vocabulary more interesting and engaging for learners. The review rightly unravels that uTalk's diversity of vocabulary categories, constructed pronunciation technology features, gamification activities, and straightforward teaching methodology render it an outstanding learning resource for both learners and teachers as a valuable supplementary learning and teaching tool. Notwithstanding its flaws (that is, having the same template-based protocol for all languages), with its innovative approach to language learning, uTalk has the potential to revolutionize how we learn and communicate with each other. This review article serves as a guide that can assist educators in leveraging the power of technology to create engaging and interactive learning environments for their students, and it can unravel new horizons for teachers and curriculum developers to introduce the app as an additional resource for their students.

Technology integration has become increasingly significant in educational contexts, offering promising opportunities for the professional development of teachers, including EFL teachers. This study explored the transformative potential of integrating technology in the professional development of pre-service and in-service EFL teachers in schools, institutes, and universities. The research objective was to examine the impact of technology integration on teachers' anxiety levels and pedagogical practices. Forty-six pre- and in-service teachers (n=23 per group) participated in a comprehensive 10-session professional development program. The procedure included pre-testing the participants for anxiety levels, conducting the program (twice a week; from January to February, 2023), and administering post-tests after a one-semester interval (May, 2023) to assess changes in the teachers’ anxiety levels and pedagogical practices. The quantitative and qualitative findings revealed the compelling benefits of technology integration for the pre-service teachers, as they reported lower anxiety levels and a significant boost in confidence when selecting and utilizing appropriate technological tools, designing engaging digital activities, and effectively managing technology-related challenges. Conversely, the in-service teachers experienced no significant reduction in anxiety. Moreover, they reported fewer advantages from technology integration and tended to adhere to traditional teaching methods, predominantly due to the challenges of altering established instructional strategies. The findings underscore the critical role of prioritizing professional development for in-service teachers, considering their pivotal role in shaping the future landscape of education. Dedicated efforts should be aimed at supporting teachers to integrate technology effectively, foster better teaching practices, and facilitate optimal learning outcomes for EFL students.  

The advent of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology, represented by ChatGPT, has ushered in new possibilities in the realm of language learning and teaching. This pre-application pedagogic position study delves into the potential benefits and associated challenges of employing ChatGPT as a potent pedagogical instrument for the acquisition of legal vocabulary. The proposed pedagogy is based on the authors’ primary experiences with the use of ChatGPT for their personal and pedagogical purposes and an unsystematic application of the pedagogy in EAP classes for undergraduate students at a law school of a university in Bangladesh. Our pre-application proposed innovative ChatGPT-mediated approach to vocabulary instruction is theoretically grounded in constructivism in language teaching and (web) technology in constructivist language pedagogy. The proposed pedagogy utilizes online newspapers with legal terminology, creating an interactive learning environment that encourages active participation and covers pronunciation, meaning, and spelling. It leverages primary language word definitions, refines pronunciation, fosters bilingual comprehension, and enhances spelling proficiency, offering a comprehensive learning experience. However, the study also predicts that the implementation of ChatGPT-based language instruction may involve challenges related to educator proficiency, student participation, resource limitations, and technology requirements. This study not only underscores the value of ChatGPT in language education but also paves the way for future research and innovation in the field. 

With the spread of English, the conception of English is currently changing into English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) worldwide. However, the form of English teaching and learning is still identified by reference to native-speaker norms. In response to the increasing use of ELF and an emergent need to describe it in various domains, the current study takes a preliminary step in linguistic analysis of the written mode of ELF. Adopting an exploratory case study, the morphological marking of third-person singular present tense main verbs, i.e., -s/es has been analyzed using the Written ELF in Academic Setting (WrELFA) corpus. The selected corpus included 82369 tokens. It was tagged by the LancsBox software, and all instances of variation were categorized into two groups: omission and addition of the suffix. The quantitative analysis revealed that most ELF writers conform to the grammatical rules of English simple-present tense, yet, there is a negligible amount (0.5%) of variation in the use of this suffix in a way that writers either drop it or overgeneralize it. Dropping the third-person singular suffix accounts for around half of the entire variety (56%), and overusing this feature accounts for the other half (44%). Moreover, through qualitative analysis, factors contributing to such variations were identified. The overall findings indicate that such minor grammatical errors shouldn't be overemphasized, as long as they do not hinder the reader's understanding. The results may contribute to constructing a framework for teaching ELF in general and English for Research Publication Purposes (ERPP) in specific.