New Publication: Multiliteracies in Action: Using Generative Artificial Intelligence to Develop Digital Multimodal Composing Tasks for Multilingual Learners of English Through Technology-Mediated Task-Based Language Teaching

[Alexander Tang]

Aloha e SIG Members: 

➡️ This co-authored paper with Dr. Betsy Gilliland and Dr. Nicole Ziegler was a tremendous learning experience! I am very glad that I had the opportunity to co-publish this article with my mentors in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

📝 The article is about Japanese EFL learners using generative artificial intelligence in digital multimodal composing tasks for multimodal presentations. Drawing from the multiliteracies framework, we illustrate how multilingual learners navigate through language learning opportunities from language-related episodes and prompt-altering episodes through technology-mediated task-based language teaching. We hope that our research can assist language teachers and practitioners designing digital multimodal composing tasks in the GenAI era.

🙏🏼 We would like to thank Professor George Jiang and Dr. Mimi Li for inviting us to contribute to this timely special issue on digital multimodal composing and TESOL in the GenAI era, as well as for guiding us throughout the editorial process. We are also grateful for the valuable feedback from the audiences at the Department of Second Language Studies Thursday Lecture “Brown Bag” Series, SLRF 2025, SSLW 2025, TSLL 2025, 27th Temple University-Japan Campus Applied Linguistics Colloquium, AAAL 2026, TESOL 2026, as well as the two anonymous TESOL Quarterly reviewers.

💰This research was supported in part by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa SLS Graduate ʻOihana Maikaʻi Fund, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Graduate Student Organization Academic Enrichment Awards, and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Ruth Crymes Memorial Grant.

The article can be found here:

Tang, A. F., Honeycutt, D. B., Ziegler, N., & Gilliland, B. (2026). Multiliteracies in action: Generative artificial intelligence and digital multimodal composing for multilingual learners of English through technology-mediated task-based language teaching. TESOL Quarterly. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.70219

Mālama pono,

Alex

Alexander F. Tang 鄧富健, M.A., M.Ed.

Doctoral Student, Department of Second Language Studies
Graduate Assistant, Center for Language & Technology and National Foreign Language Resource Center
College of Arts, Languages, and Letters

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

aft...@hawaii.edu

Pronouns: He/他/佢  (What does this mean?)

https://alexander-f-tang.com/

Managing Editor, Language Learning & Technology (NFLRC)

Social Media Co-Editor, Language and Education (Taylor & Francis)

Social Media Co-Editor, Reading in a Foreign Language (NFLRC)

Graduate Student Board Member, Second Language Research Special Interest Group (AERA)

New/forthcoming publications!

Tang, A. F., Honeycutt, D. B., Ziegler, N., & Gilliland, B. (2026). Multiliteracies in action: Generative artificial intelligence and digital multimodal composing for multilingual learners of English through technology-mediated task-based language teaching. TESOL Quarterly. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.70219

Isbell, D. R., Choe, A. T., Holden, D., Kawasaki, A., Kim, J., Kim, Y., McGehee, M., Nishizawa, H., Park, L., & Tang, A. F. (2026). Investigating Duolingo English Test washback: A focus on test preparation activities. In B. Naismith, A. A. von Davier, J. Burstein, & G. LaFlair (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of digital language assessment: Innovations and insights from the Duolingo English Test (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003686262

Tang, A. F., & Gilliland, B. (2026). Sustaining translanguaging pedagogies: Teacher-learners' approaches towards L2 motivational development in the Thai EFL context. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.70309

Tang, A. F., & Roubinek, N. (2026). Reimagining support systems for Asian American scholars: A duoethnographic account. In E. Trinh & S. Jang (Eds.), Beyond the academic pipeline for Asian scholars: The power of care, healing, and alternative pathways in language education (pp. 86–105). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003623151

Tang, A. F., & Roubinek, N. (2026). Review of the book Teaching Pride Forward: Building LGBTQ+ Allyship in English Language Teaching edited by Ethan Trinh, Kate Mastruserio Reynolds, and James Coda. Journal of Language, Identity, & Education, 25(4), 1389–1391.  https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2025.2523895

Tang, A. F., & Honeycutt, D. B. (2026). Multiliteracies for generative artificial intelligence-assisted digital multimodal composing: A technology-in-practice approach. Language Learning & Technology, 30(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/73671

Tang, A. F., & Pentón Herrera, L. J. (2025). Integrating affective knowledge into TPACK: A new visual representation. Technology in Language Teaching & Learning, 7(2), Article 102852. https://doi.org/10.29140/tltl.v7n2.102852

Tang, A. F. (2025). Review of the book Multimodal Conversation Analysis and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis: A Methodological Framework for Researching Translanguaging in Multilingual Classrooms by Kevin W. H. Tai. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 28(8), 1026–1028. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2025.2528970

Song, D., & Tang, A. F. (2025). Exploring AI-assistance in L2 Chinese writing with standardized assessment tasks. Language Learning & Technology, 29(2), 161–189. https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/73615