# Self-Access Language Learning

In a six-week flipped EFL writing course, 58 second-year student teachers at a Thai university independently selected resources such as textbooks, websites, educational videos, and GenAI tools and synthesized their learning through handwritten notebook summaries; questionnaire responses showed generally positive perceptions of learning preparation, information management, learning responsibility, and writing readiness, while focus group discussions with 30 students revealed four interconnected constraints—limited linguistic and background knowledge, uncertainty without immediate teacher guidance, difficulty evaluating and synthesizing multiple resources, and challenges in negotiating GenAI use—which students navigated through increased effort, planning and self-regulation, use of multiple

In a six-week flipped EFL writing course, 58 second-year student teachers at a Thai university independently selected resources such as textbooks, websites, educational videos, and GenAI tools and synthesized their learning through handwritten notebook summaries; questionnaire responses showed generally positive perceptions of learning preparation, information management, learning responsibility, and writing readiness, while focus group discussions with 30 students revealed four interconnected constraints—limited linguistic and background knowledge, uncertainty without immediate teacher guidance, difficulty evaluating and synthesizing multiple resources, and challenges in negotiating GenAI use—which students navigated through increased effort, planning and self-regulation, use of multiple

Surveying 172 students at a Japanese national university and analyzing responses with descriptive statistics, paired-samples t-tests, and content analysis, the study compared learners' perceptions of the usefulness, limitations, and future roles of self-access language learning (SALL) services and AI chatbots for English learning, finding that SALL services were rated significantly higher for speaking development, motivation, personalized advice and feedback, writing, and overall contribution, while chatbots were valued for convenience and accessibility, and that learners saw the two as complementary rather than competing resources.

Surveying 172 students at a Japanese national university and analyzing responses with descriptive statistics, paired-samples t-tests, and content analysis, the study compared learners' perceptions of the usefulness, limitations, and future roles of self-access language learning (SALL) services and AI chatbots for English learning, finding that SALL services were rated significantly higher for speaking development, motivation, personalized advice and feedback, writing, and overall contribution, while chatbots were valued for convenience and accessibility, and that learners saw the two as complementary rather than competing resources.

This editorial introduction presents the September 2026 issue of Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal (Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 268–272), with authors based in Indonesia, Japan, Oman, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam, organizing nine papers into four themes: self-access connections with wider learning spaces and communities (Kashiwa; Martinho et al.), the lives and well-being of people within self-access communities (Phelps; Pemberton et al.), self-regulation and learning processes in self-access (Nakanishi et al.; Anggoro et al.), and the growing role of generative AI in self-access language learning (Ubukata & Marzin; Andersson; Al Ghaithi & Behforouz), plus two book reviews on self-regulated and self-directed learning (Nguyen; Tomiyama).

This editorial introduction presents the September 2026 issue of Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal (Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 268–272), with authors based in Indonesia, Japan, Oman, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam, organizing nine papers into four themes: self-access connections with wider learning spaces and communities (Kashiwa; Martinho et al.), the lives and well-being of people within self-access communities (Phelps; Pemberton et al.), self-regulation and learning processes in self-access (Nakanishi et al.; Anggoro et al.), and the growing role of generative AI in self-access language learning (Ubukata & Marzin; Andersson; Al Ghaithi & Behforouz), plus two book reviews on self-regulated and self-directed learning (Nguyen; Tomiyama).