In the context of a world advancing deeply into the global digital era, the rapid development of artificial intelligence, big data, and online learning platforms is fundamentally reshaping how individuals access knowledge and participate in the labor market. The UNESCO report “Technology in Education: A Tool on Whose Terms?” (2023) emphasizes that digital transformation in education can only be truly effective when it places learners at the center, ensuring equity, ethics, and inclusion.

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence continues to raise new challenges for higher education and foreign language teaching. In its publication “Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research” (2023), UNESCO recommends that educational institutions develop competency frameworks that enable learners to use AI responsibly, creatively, and critically. This underscores that education in the digital age is not merely about knowledge transmission, but also about empowering learners to become active agents in knowledge construction and to generate positive societal impact.

Within this context, the 3rd International Conference on Educational Sciences and Foreign Language Teaching - ICEF 2026, under the theme “Empowering Learners in the Digital Global Era: Insights, Innovations, and Impacts,” is organized to address the pressing demands of the time. The focus on “empowering learners” reflects a shift from traditional teaching models toward active, personalized, and competency-based learning approaches. According to the OECD, effective education systems in the twenty-first century are those that cultivate learners’ capacities for self-directed learning, creativity, and global collaboration.

Aligned with this orientation, ICEF 2026 will focus on key themes including digital transformation in education and foreign language teaching; the application of AI in learning and assessment; the development of digital and global competencies; innovations in language teaching methodologies such as ESP, CBI, CLIL, and EMI; as well as issues related to equity, ethics, and sustainable development. The conference serves not only as an academic forum but also as a collaborative platform for researchers, educators, and policymakers to propose innovative solutions, thereby genuinely empowering learners and shaping the future of education in the global digital age.