In this issue, we are very pleased to share with you 15 articles. Ten correspond to the section Issues from Teacher Researchers, two to the section Issues from Novice Teacher-Researchers, and three to the section Issues Based on Reflections and Innovations. The contributions come from six countries: Colombia with seven articles, Iran with three articles, Argentina with two articles, and Mexico, Spain, and Canada with one article each.

The topics discussed by researchers in the current issue concern English language teaching and learning, foreign language teacher education and teacher professional development, the beliefs of preservice teachers, and the perceptions and identities of students of English. The featured articles touch on language education research in different fields: English as a foreign language (EFL), teacher education and the research process itself, the assessment of language competences and the training needs to do so, materials development, English as a medium of instruction, and culture as an important issue in communication. These topics occur across the different educational levels (elementary, secondary, and tertiary) with undergraduate preservice teachers, in-service teachers, and EFL learners as the main actors.

Colombian authors Abel Andrés Periñán-Morales (Institución Educativa Juan Bautista la Salle), John Jairo Viáfara-González (Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia), and José Alexander Arcila-Valencia (Institución Educativa Sagrados Corazones) open the Issues from Teacher Researchers section with a case study that seeks to examine the role that specific factors exert on the evolution of beliefs within preservice English teachers during their final teaching practicum. The findings suggest that three groups of factors affect belief evolution during the practicum: participant subjectivity, contextual circumstances, and university support community.

This article is followed by the first contribution from Iran in the current issue. Mohammad Hadi Mahmoodi, Shiva Hosseiniyar, and Negin Samoudi (Bu-Ali Sina University) report a correlational study that examined the relationship among some English teachers’ characteristics and their students’ foreign language learning. The study certainly revealed the correlation concerning teachers’ characteristics for their learners’ L2 learning. The second Iranian contribution comes from Chabahar Maritime University via the voice of researchers Mansoor Ganji and Farzane Safarzade Samani, who studied the influence of demographic features, such as teaching experience, gender, and educational degree of English language teachers in their classroom performance.

The second contribution from Colombia is a joint effort of two Colombian universities: Universidad de Córdoba in Montería and Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia in Bucaramanga. The former university is represented by Liliana Valle and Danilsa Lorduy-Arellano and the latter by Nohora Porras-González. These three researchers carried out a qualitative research study into elementary school teachers’ beliefs and the potential contribution of reverse mentoring to improve English language teaching to children. The results indicated that reverse mentoring plays an important role in the transformation of in-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching English to children.

The third article from Iran comes from the hands of Ali Sayyadi (University of Tehran). Professor Sayyadi’s mixed-methods study carries out an examination of assessment in the areas of training experiences, classroom-based practices, and training needs. The study revealed that assessment has not been properly articulated in practice as the topic has mainly been discussed from a theoretical perspective. The study suggests implications for university English instructors, teacher educators, and university administrators. The third contribution from Colombia comes from Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín via the researcher Isabel Cristina Cadavid-Múnera. Her article is an example of a qualitative interpretive research study that explored the social representations children have about the teaching and learning of EFL in elementary schools in Medellín. The children’s perceptions revealed that English is seen as a tool with which to “survive” or to “live and interact with others.”

Gabriela N. Tavella and S. Carina Fernández (Universidad Nacional del Comahue) present the first Argentinian contribution to the current issue. The case study, carried out in a specific Argentinian context with a specific branch of English teaching-English for specific purposes-examined teaching practices and intercultural exchanges. The identities of learners from native communities emerged as an expression of cultural enrichment in the English classroom as a result of an intercultural dialogue. The next article is a contribution from Paula Wood-Borque (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain). This researcher presents how learners’ communicative competence can be enhanced through audio-visual materials such as films and TV series because they offer real-life language in context.

Mexican authors María de los Milagros Cruz-Ramos (Escuela Normal “Juan Enriquez”) and Luz Edith Herrera-Díaz (Universidad Veracruzana) contribute to the current issue with an article dealing with the improvement of students’ oral communicative competence via changes in the instructional design of an online English course. The quantitative quasi-experimental design resulted in making possible online assessment and in an oral improvement of students’ competence. This article is followed by the second Argentinian contribution to this issue. Melina Porto, Anahí Pesci, and Mariela Riva (Universidad Nacional de La Plata and CONICET) submitted a paper that delves into the research process from different perspectives. The researchers assumed three different roles-informant, research assistant, and supervisor-in two research projects. The study unveils a linear developmental trajectory that illustrates the participants’ fluid, critical, complex, and personally relevant pathways.

Section two, Issues From Novice Teacher-Researchers, includes two articles. The first article is a contribution from Colombian authors Alber Josué Forero-Mondragón and Álvaro Hernán Quintero-Polo (Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas). These authors discuss how the discourse of standard English exercises disciplinary power in five international scholarships programs. The study asserts that school is a breeding ground whose disciplinary techniques (e.g., test training) objectivize people to satisfy multinational corporations’ hiring processes. The second article is authored by Kelli Johana Ariza-Quiñones, Lizzeth Dayana Hernández-Polo, Kelly Julie Lesmes-Lesmes, and Elcy Lorena Molina-Ramírez (Universidad Surcolombiana). These novice researchers wanted to make sense of their teaching experiences in their first teaching practicum using collaborative autoethnography as a research method. The research experience acquired different meanings for the participants immersed in the process in previous and current times of the pandemic that has affected the world.

Our issue closes with the section Issues Based on Reflections and Innovations with the inclusion of three articles. Wilder Yesid Escobar-Alméciga (Universidad El Bosque, Colombia) presents a literature review that systematically situates English-as-a-medium-of-instruction literature related to higher education within the Iberian-American school contexts where Spanish was the students’ first language. The author claims that there is a pressing need for framing English-as-a-medium-of-instruction at different levels in students’ learning process, communication, classroom culture, social values, and classroom climate. The second article is a literature review by Claudio Jaramillo-Yanquepe (University of Toronto). The author summarizes available research on EFL education in Chilean high-school settings. The review accounts for research that addresses curricular aspects devoid of socio-political and historical contexts, emphasizing primarily teachers’ teaching tensions and challenges. In the last article, Julia Posada-Ortiz (Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Colombia) aimed at identifying the identities present in the communities to which four EFL preservice teachers belong. The findings indicate that the preservice teachers’ identity construction is mutable and not essentialized.

As you can see, the topics in this issue are manifold and varied, which, we hope, will spark the interest of a wide readership. The insights from the authors featured in this issue will certainly prove relevant for many teachers who are immersed in educational contexts similar to the ones described in the selected articles. As always, our aim is to offer our readers information that may enrich their professional practice. Enjoy reading this issue!