To Potential Sponsors:
We are accepting sponsorships for this year's conference.
Please email us at airialconference@tc.columbia.edu for more information.
Multimodal AI and Multimodel AI in Applied Linguistics
The AL & TESOL Language and Technology Research Group in the Applied Linguistics & TESOL program at Teachers College will host the Fourth Annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence Research in Applied Linguistics (AIRiAL). This year’s theme investigates the design, use, and academic study of AI systems that operate across modalities and models, and the implications for research in applied linguistics. AIRiAL 2026 seeks contributions that engage with the growing complexity of AI architectures through a combination of linguistic and non-linguistic resources.
Submissions may address a broad range of topics, including but not limited to the following:
Multimodal and/or Multimodel Data, Corpora, and Methods
Multimodal and/or Multimodel Learning, Teaching, and Interaction
Assessment, Measurement, and Validation with Multimodal and/or Multimodel AI
Responsible, Ethical, and Explainable Multimodal and/or Multimodel AI in Applied Linguistics
Multimodel Architectures and Orchestration for Applied Linguistics (agents, ensembles, tool use, RAG)
LLMs for Language Learning and Pedagogy
AI for Language Assessment and Automated Scoring
Evaluation, Reliability, and Benchmarking in Applied Linguistics AI
Sociolinguistics, Discourse, and Pragmatics in AI-Mediated Communication
Other Relevant Topics in AI and Applied Linguistics
Papers (250 words maximum)
Formal presentations of completed research making original scholarly contributions. Presenters will have 15 minutes to discuss their papers, followed by 5 minutes for audience discussion.
Colloquia (750 words maximum)
Multiple formal presentations on a single topic achieved through multiple individual presentations. Colloquia organizers may plan the number of presentations in a 90-minute session, followed by audience discussion.
Posters (200 words maximum)
Poster presentations displaying works-in-progress or completed projects. Presenters will discuss their posters with participants informally during a one-hour poster session.
Technology Demonstrations (200 words maximum)
Tech demos displaying prototype versions of a developed technology for language learning, teaching, or assessment, or other related use cases. Presenters will discuss the technology that they have developed with participants informally during a one-hour tech demo session.
Proposals will be evaluated on (1) Contribution to the field of AI in AL, (2) Quality of the proposal, and (3) Clarity of the abstract.
Please submit your abstract through this submission form.
Submission deadline: Friday, April 24, 2026, at 11:59 PM (EDT)
An award will be presented to the best student paper presentation at the conference. All authors on student papers must be actively-enrolled graduate students at the time of the conference.