Papers by Peter I . De Costa
The handbook of language teacher identity, 2026
In applied linguistics, early research on identity was centered around language learners and the ... more In applied linguistics, early research on identity was centered around language learners and the process of language learning; this focus, however, has since broadened to encompass language teaching and language teacher identity . Specifically, researchers have explored related topics, including teacher identity tensions (Tajeddin & Yazan, 2024), non native speaker language teacher identity (Wolff & De Costa, 2017), teacher investment , and the interplay between teacher emotions, identity, and ideology . By situating this chapter against a contemporary neoliberal backdrop, we problematize how neoliberal ideologies have permeated education systems and thus impacted language teacher identity development. Neoliberalism-defined by as "the financialization of everything" (p. 18) -has also reshaped language education according to market logic, often by turning students into customers and teachers into service providers . In the sections that follow, we illustrate how neoliberal ideology has influenced the development of language teacher identity and their attendant emotions. The first section of this chapter traces the development of language teacher identity research in applied linguistics from the early 2000s to the present. The second section explores how neoliberalism has impacted language teaching in general, and how teachers are being compelled to adopt new identities in particular. In the third section, we draw on the notion of linguistic entrepreneurship (
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2026
TESOL Quarterly, 2026
A s we prepare to hand over the reins of TESOL Quarterly to our editor colleagues, Jim McKinley a... more A s we prepare to hand over the reins of TESOL Quarterly to our editor colleagues, Jim McKinley and Sihan Zhou, nothing gives us more pleasure (and pride) than being able to curate the 60th anniversary issue of this journal. As co-editors of the leading journal in TESOL, we have had the honor and privilege of securing front row seats in observing (and participating in) how our vibrant field has evolved over the last 8 years of our editorial tenure. Indeed, we are excitedthough not the least bit surprisedto see how new content topics continue to make their way into the academic discourse and, correspondingly, how our colleagues have adopted and adapted a host of methodologies and methods in order to better understand key pedagogical issues that warrant further investigation. Unlike previous anniversary issues that have combined theory and research methods within a single issue, we elected to split this issue into two sections, with one section focusing on specific content area topics and the other focusing on different methodological approaches. In doing this, we want to acknowledge that both theory and method are entangled with each other. At the same time, however, given that this anniversary issue looks back at recent and past research developments that have influenced present pedagogical and research agendas, and predicts future trends in TESOL, we thought it expedient to assemble a collection of papers that focused on the two aforementioned concerns: content topics and methodologies. In inviting our colleagues to contribute to this special issue of TESOL Quarterly, we also want to recognize that inevitably some issues were excluded (and that some overlap). This is not to suggest, however, that these issues lack intellectual merit. Rather, the hard choices of what to include in this issue are testament to the amazing breadth of inquiry and diverse interests that exist within our fieldall of which could not possibly be captured in one single anniversary issue.
Language Policy , 2026
This study explores how an English as an Additional Language undergraduate student, Wei, at a Sin... more This study explores how an English as an Additional Language undergraduate student, Wei, at a Sino-foreign joint venture university in China navigated interconnected temporal regimes shaped by neoliberal logics, institutional acceleration, and English Medium Instruction (EMI) expectations. Drawing on a single-participant case study, we adopt a scalar analytical framework to examine how macro-level discourses of internationalization and global competitiveness, meso-level EMI policy and curriculum structures, and micro-level individual agency worked together to shape our participant's emotional and academic experiences. Our findings revealed how Wei internalized a neoliberal logic of time (i.e., perceiving the present as an investment for future gain), which was manifested in her anxiety over her GPA (Grade Point Average) and academic performance. Through adopting strategies such as impression management and GenAI use, we illustrate how she negotiated accelerated institutional tempos at the cost of undertaking emotional labor. The study contributes to the literature on language policy by constructing EMI not only as a language choice, but as a temporal governance that works to accelerate, evaluate, and shape EAL students' learning within a broader globalized higher education landscape.
LLT Journal: A Journal on Language and Language Teaching, 2026
This study explores how a decolonial, critical digital literacy (CDL) oriented writing pedagogy m... more This study explores how a decolonial, critical digital literacy (CDL) oriented writing pedagogy mediated pre-service English teachers' engagement with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in academic writing. Situated in a Global South context, we adopted a qualitative case study to examine how GenAI operated as both a pedagogical resource and a site of ideological tension in efforts to decolonize academic writing pedagogy. The study focused on one focal participant, Dava, a pre-service English teacher enrolled in an initial teacher education program at a private university in Indonesia. Data were collected from multiple sources, including semi-structured interviews, written responses, reflections, photovoice artefacts, AI interaction logs, and Zoom-mediated classroom interactions. The findings are organized around four interrelated dimensions: (1) Dava's investment in learning English and his strategic use of multiple AI tools, (2) his reflective engagement with learning to write using ChatGPT, (3) his development of critical interactions with AI-generated content, and (4) his need for additional pedagogical support. While GenAI supported idea development and engagement with academic discourse, it also reproduced Eurocentric norms that risked reinforcing algorithmic colonialingualism. The study underscores the importance of pedagogizing decoloniality through critical digital literacy (CDL)-oriented writing instruction to support learners in engaging with GenAI critically, ethically, and reflexively, while affirming multilingual voices and situated ways of knowing in AI-mediated writing contexts.
Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes, 2025
Unequal access to resources for publication for Global South scholars is decidedly real when we c... more Unequal access to resources for publication for Global South scholars is decidedly real when we consider issues of epistemic injustice encountered by them (Higgins, 2024). The emergence of Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) may seem like a panacea for addressing this social injustice. However, ongoing material challenges (e.g., limited access to digital media and AI tools) prevent Global South scholars from fully exploiting AI-generated writing (Dobinson et al., 2024; Warschauer et al., 2023). Against this fraught backdrop, we situate our Indonesia-based case study within a decolonial perspective, centering two Indonesian scholars who have attended GenAI workshops on writing for publication. Through thematic analysis, triangulating data from interviews, artifacts, member checking, and peer debriefing, we explore how they negotiated the learning and application of GenAI tools. Our findings reveal while workshops were generally helpful, the participants faced challenges such as structural inequities in research resources and accessibility, English and discursive challenges, and written voices and academic integrity. From an English for research publication purposes (ERPP) perspective, these findings suggest that GenAI alone will not be able to level the proverbial publication playing the field; instead, Global South scholars require mentorship and guidance in navigating the complex publishing process.
Language Teaching, 2026
Ethics has become a central concern in applied linguistics, with researchers from both qualitativ... more Ethics has become a central concern in applied linguistics, with researchers from both qualitative and quantitative paradigms increasingly engaging with ethical considerations. While methodological guidelines have been proposed to support ethical research practices (De Costa, 2024), it remains unclear to what extent these are implemented and reported. Narrative inquiry, in particular, poses complex ethical challenges due to its relational and often deeply personal nature. Although qualitative traditions have long led ethical reflections in applied linguistics, ethical enactment and transparency in narrative inquiry remain inconsistent. To explore this issue, we conducted a methodological synthesis of 332 narrative inquiry studies published between 2012 and 2023, examining ethical practices across study design, recruitment, data collection, and analysis. Findings reveal that while issues like anonymity were commonly addressed, other areas-such as IRB approval, participant incentives, considerations for vulnerable populations, and data sharing-showed marked variation. Drawing on current literature, we propose empirically grounded recommendations to strengthen ethical reporting in narrative research. Rather than associating macro-ethics and micro-ethics with specific paradigms, we integrate both to explore how ethical principles are enacted in context. Given the relational and situated nature of narrative inquiry, this review responds to a timely need for more transparent and reflexive ethical practice in the field.
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 2026
As teacher preparation programs incorporate anti-racist pedagogies to address deficit and raciali... more As teacher preparation programs incorporate anti-racist pedagogies to address deficit and racialized ideologies affecting students' learning opportunities, emotions, and racialized language ideologies have been found to individually influence pre-service English teachers. These influences shape their engagement or disengagement with their professional training as they learn to adopt the role of ESL teachers, with limited research focusing on the emotional experiences they have toward the intersecting issues related to race and language. This case study focuses on three undergraduate students who were training to be TESOLcertified teachers during the 2020-2021 academic year. Through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, assignments, and course materials, the study adopts a new materialist perspective to present how our participants experienced, embodied, and mobilized racialized emotions. The findings also reveal how all participants experience positive and negative racialized emotions-emotions people experience related to race within a particular situation. The article concludes by considering how racialized emotions can be situated within TESOL training and noting directions for future research.
World Englishes, 2026
Building on three broad pedagogical approaches (raciolinguistics, culturally relevant pedagogy, a... more Building on three broad pedagogical approaches (raciolinguistics, culturally relevant pedagogy, and translanguaging) and three adjacent pedagogical efforts (valuing languages equally, addressing racialization and postcolonialism, and advocating for justice in language education) in applied linguistics, this conceptual article seeks to (re)center social justice in the World Englishes (WE) research agenda by dis
Modern Language Journal, 2026
This study explores how language teacher well-being, as an ecological phenomenon that includes la... more This study explores how language teacher well-being, as an ecological phenomenon that includes layered (un)caring practices, is shaped through institutional discourses and mentoring relationships across three distinct contexts. Using a participatory multiple case study design, we analyze narrative and textual data from three mentoring pairs in which we participated as language teacher educators: one with a veteran professor in Kazakhstan and two with U.S.-based pre-service teachers. Drawing on discourse analytical principles of framing, interdiscursivity, and rescaling, we show how institutional documents shaped teacher and teacher educator roles, and impacted well-being as they navigated institutional expectations. Findings illustrate the parameters of our ability as teacher educators to support interdiscursive meaning-making and rescale mentoring practices amid institutional constraints. Institutional framings both hinder and enable teacher wellbeing, and mentoring relationships play a critical role in (re)negotiating these dynamics. We propose implications for mentoring practices that promote well-being and contribute to institutional transformation.
Digital and internet-based research methods in applied , 2026
The notion of what constitutes the language classroom has developed over time, to the point where... more The notion of what constitutes the language classroom has developed over time, to the point where applied linguists have increasingly investigated the impact of out-of-class exposure on the traditional bricks-and-mortar classroom. Of particular interest is the digital classroom, and traditional classroom ethnographies have also made this digital migration. Building on these recent developments, in this chapter we discuss how ethnographic tools have to be modified across digital spaces to better understand the complexities surrounding evolving classroom cultures and other applied linguistics contexts. We draw on insights from one particular brand of ethnography, netnography. Specifically, we describe the netnography research process, provide examples of netnographies, and discuss ethical dilemmas that often emerge in netnographic research. The chapter closes with suggestions for the future, in light of the growing influence of generative artificial intelligence on language education and the need for research on underrepresented populations.
International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (3rd ed.). , 2025
• Linguicism and the prevailing monolingual English ideology in the U.S. • The relationship betwe... more • Linguicism and the prevailing monolingual English ideology in the U.S. • The relationship between race and raciolinguistics. • The effects of raciolinguistic socialization. • Ways to counter raciolinguicism. • The broader movement to decolonize language education.
System, 2026
Consistent with recent calls to critically recognize how digital technologies shape ideologies, i... more Consistent with recent calls to critically recognize how digital technologies shape ideologies, inequities, and exclusion, we present findings from our critical collaborative autoethnography. Performing a dual role of being autoethnographers and critical friends to each other (Alan et al., 2021), we complemented "internal" data generated from our memory with "external" data from outside sources, such as documents and artifacts from our teaching, to push our thinking further. By engaging in constructive dialogue with and among ourselves, we explored in a multivocal manner (Lapadat, 2017) how the dual identity roles we inhabit as transnational teachers and teacher educators shaped our understanding of critical digital literacy (CDL). We revisited our prior experiences as teachers-when our awareness of CDL was limited-and reflected on how, as teacher educators, we can facilitate its development through our current work with pre-service teachers. Specifically, by integrating CDL into our recent teacher education work, we demonstrate how our pre-service teachers (a) critically examined how YouTube's algorithm created filter bubbles and reinforced linguistic and cultural hierarchies, and (b) reinterpreted deficit discourses about emergent bi/multilingual learners through a Reddit exit ticket activity. By adopting a CDL lens within the framework of platform studies (Nichols & Garcia, 2022), this study thus also addresses the political-economic and technological dimensions of platforms, which remain relatively underexplored. Through this approach, we aim to expand the focus of critical digital literacy discussions beyond learners to include teachers and teacher educators. We close with a call for incorporating CDL development into pre-service teacher education programs. This article is part of a special issue entitled: Critical digital literacy published in System.
Trans-speakerism: A collection of empirical explorations , 2026
Agency in multilingual education policy and planning in Asia , 2026
Pedagogies: An International Journal , 2025
In this conceptual paper, we call for a need to develop critical ethical
literacy in multilitera... more In this conceptual paper, we call for a need to develop critical ethical
literacy in multiliteracies work. The digital turn in composition- illustrates
the massive inroads that have been made with respect to multiliteracies
since the New London Group put forward their pedagogical
blueprint almost 30 years ago. Significantly, the unprecedented
changes accompanying GenAI have forced us to take a step back
and rethink the purpose of teaching literacy, as well as how to deal
with new inequities surrounding it, such as GenAI’s reinforcement of
biases and stereotypes. Extending the New London Group’s notion of
multiliteracies, which highlighted critical engagement as a cornerstone
of multiliteracies education, we argue that an equitable and critical
focus in multiliteracies should include an emphasis on ethics.
Expanding and updating the multiliteracies framework to focus on
developing students’ critical ethical linguistic awareness is vitally
important for tackling new challenges like GenAI and the attendant
economic and social disruptions it will cause. We further this call to
focus on critical ethical literacy development by offering recommendations
for enhancing multiliteracies instruction in an age of GenAI.
Applied Linguistics Review
In keeping with discipline-specific genre expectations for writing in scientific and technologica... more In keeping with discipline-specific genre expectations for writing in scientific and technological fields, students enrolled in English writing classes for future engineers are often required to produce collaborative reports on team projects. For freshman engineering students, such collaborative report writing, which constitutes a cornerstone in their academic literacy, is an entirely new genre. Drawing on Engeström’s (Engeström, Yrjö. 1987. Learning by expanding: An activity theoretical approach to developmental research. Orienta-Konsultit Oy) activity system and Storch’s (Storch, Neomy. 2002. Patterns of interaction in ESL pair work. Language and Learning 52(1). 119–158) interaction model, this paper explores two engineering freshmen’s experiences of working collaboratively in separate groups in the same writing class. Our focal students were both native-English-speaking women at a U.S. midwestern university. Over the course of one semester, they provided their class notes and pro...
Teacher Emotions as Personal and Professional Development in Applied Linguistics, 2025
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Becoming a linguist: Advice from key thinkers in language studies, 2024
International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2025
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Papers by Peter I . De Costa
literacy in multiliteracies work. The digital turn in composition- illustrates
the massive inroads that have been made with respect to multiliteracies
since the New London Group put forward their pedagogical
blueprint almost 30 years ago. Significantly, the unprecedented
changes accompanying GenAI have forced us to take a step back
and rethink the purpose of teaching literacy, as well as how to deal
with new inequities surrounding it, such as GenAI’s reinforcement of
biases and stereotypes. Extending the New London Group’s notion of
multiliteracies, which highlighted critical engagement as a cornerstone
of multiliteracies education, we argue that an equitable and critical
focus in multiliteracies should include an emphasis on ethics.
Expanding and updating the multiliteracies framework to focus on
developing students’ critical ethical linguistic awareness is vitally
important for tackling new challenges like GenAI and the attendant
economic and social disruptions it will cause. We further this call to
focus on critical ethical literacy development by offering recommendations
for enhancing multiliteracies instruction in an age of GenAI.