Call for Papers:

*Deadline Extended: 31 August 2023*

Explainability, AI Literacy, and Language Development

Guest Editors
Gyu-Ho Shin, Ph.D. (Department of Linguistics, University of Illinois Chicago)
Natalie Parde, Ph.D. (Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois Chicago)

CfP page
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/computer-speech-and-language/about/call-for-papers#explainability-ai-literacy-and-language-development

Overview (please refer to the CfP page for complete descriptions)
This Special Issue (SI) aims to address three specific questions on the issue of language development at the interface of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Specifically, the SI puts special emphasis on two keywords for AI-informed research: Explainability (i.e., the degree to which the performance of a computational model addresses human language behaviour in a sensible, interpretable way) and AI Literacy (i.e., the researchers’ ability to understand how computational algorithms work and utilise them to conduct research properly).
- Do AI-informed approaches to language development lead to (linguistically) informative and interpretable outcomes?
- How are NLP or other computational techniques compatible with various languages and language-learning contexts?
- To what degree do the implications of AI-informed research align with those of other types of measurement (e.g., behavioural experiments)?
This SI invites three types of papers — experimental, modelling, and review — all aligning with the research questions and the keywords above. While we will consider papers on any language and language-learning contexts for the SI, we particularly welcome those on (i) understudied and/or computationally challenging languages, (ii) lesser-studied registers, and (iii) comparing NLP/computation-based outcomes to those from other types of measurements.

Letter of intent
This SI is expected to have 6-8 manuscripts, with a substantial number of manuscripts expected to include one or more emerging scholars (e.g., graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, early-career researchers). Interested contributors are invited to submit a letter of intent as a PDF file to Gyu-Ho Shin <[email protected]> by 16 August 2023 ("anywhere on Earth") with a subject line of “CSL Special Issue: AI & Language Development”. The letter should include:
(1) a tentative title;
(2) names and affiliations of anticipated authors, and whether any of the authors are emerging scholars;
(3) a description of the proposed manuscript (maximum 300 words); and
(4) a brief explanation of the potential fit between the proposed manuscript and the aim of the special issue (maximum 100 words).
After the author invitation/selection process by the guest editors, contributed full papers must be submitted via Computer Speech & Language online submission system (Editorial Manager®).

Tentative dates
Submission Open Date: 31 August 2023
1st Submission: ~ December 2023
1st Review: ~ February 2024
2nd Submission: ~ April 2024
2nd Review: ~ June 2024
Final Submission Deadline: 15 July 2024
Editorial Acceptance Deadline: 31 July 2024