Research on TPACK has been burgeoning recently. Some review studies in the field of educational technology have indicated issues and trends in TPACK research conducted in the past decades. However, a review of TPACK research specific to language teachers’ knowledge about language teaching with technology has been lacking. To fill this research gap, the present review study intends to understand the landscape of TPACK research on language teachers published from 2011 to 2019. The analysis results reveal that 51 studies were identified with a publication peak in 2015, mostly conducted in Asia and the Middle East. The 51 articles were categorized into four areas: (a) exploring TPACK, (b) assessing TPACK, (c) developing TPACK, and (d) applying TPACK. More specifically, research on exploring TPACK suggests that while teachers had varying levels of confidence in their TPACK competence, their TPACK indicated the dominant use of technology in traditional teacher-centered teaching. Research on assessing TPACK shows that survey items were contextualized to lessen the difficulty of distinguishing between the seven sub-domains of TPACK. However, the difficulty remained perhaps due to a possibility that the seven sub-domains may not appear workable in practice. This issue needs further research. Research on developing TPACK reveals that effective interventions involved language teachers’ understanding of the TPACK framework, modeling from teacher educators or experienced teachers, and language teachers’ engagement in designing lessons collaboratively. Finally, research on applying TPACK indicates that TPACK-informed language learning courses and platforms were perceived to be helpful and effective. These findings may provide researchers with some possible directions.

Digital technology plays a crucial role in modern second/foreign language education. Enormous changes in technology and the growing emphasis on 21st century skills raise a concern about English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ competencies in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) more than ever. In response to the mounting concern, this study investigates pre-service EFL teachers’ readiness in the use of CALL in the Hong Kong context. It explores the experiences and self-efficacy of participants with respect to the evaluation of the current English teacher education curriculum for CALL at a university in Hong Kong and factors affecting the participants’ acceptance and willingness to use CALL. In-depth interviews were conducted with six pre-service EFL teachers to reveal the reality of the teachers’ attitudes, perceptions and experiences regarding the use of technology. Findings provide insights into the significance of language teacher education in CALL and ways for fostering pre-service EFL teachers’ knowledge and skills in the implementation of CALL. Practical implications are made for effective teacher training for CALL in EFL contexts.

In many English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts, learning is often limited to decontextualized classroom learning, and students suffer from lack of interaction and authentic opportunities for language learning. One of the recent emerging technologies, context-aware augmented reality (AR) technology can mitigate this problem for EFL classrooms. In the present study, 40 college students created scenes of gamified digital stories on a location-based AR app and shared them with other students. This study investigated how the students used the physical context and properties in their scenes and how the technology facilitated language learning. Data were collected from student learning outcomes, post-surveys, and reflection papers. The results showed that the students employed context in three different ways, a real place, a fictional setting and a blended reality, and then integrated it with their content and transformed it into a co-constructed meaning-making site. The study also discovered that the technology supported the students’ language learning in the affective, cognitive, and social domains. All elements found in the three domains were interrelated and ultimately contributed to student learning.

The present work synthesizes the studies in flipped language education based on Social Sciences Citation Index publications up to the year 2018. A sum of 33 studies were finalized as the targeted studies and our research questions were formulated regarding (1) the overall trend and features of the existing studies, (2) their research foci, (3) the role of technology, and (4) the integration of FL/L2 learning and teaching theories, models or strategies into flipped classroom. Some research gaps were identified, including a bias toward outcome-oriented quantitative studies over process-oriented qualitative studies. Additionally, an overwhelming majority of the studies were conducted from the learners’ perspectives, while few studies took the teachers’ perspectives. More importantly, to guide the course design and implementation, the present review proposed a comprehensive ‘interaction model’ integrating four key elements into flipped FL/L2 education. The model featured two types of interaction, namely ‘interaction with content’ and ‘interaction via content’, highlighting the uniqueness of flipped FL/L2 education. The study incorporated learner preparedness in the interaction model, entailing a practical interface for the principle of ‘design for failure’, that is, predicting and preparing contingencies for the times when in-class interactions do not go as planned for technical or other reasons.