Talk
Research, Theory, and Practice: Imagining AI Technologies in Language Education
Kimberly Vinall
BLC Executive Director
Emily Hellmich
BLC Associate Director
AI tools prompt language teachers to imagine new ways of teaching. They also require students to imagine new ways of learning. These imaginings open new possibilities, but they can also be anxiety-provoking, as they are still largely unknown.
In this presentation, we give initial shape to these imaginings by combining practice with current research and theory. More specifically, we chronicle the path from empirical research studies to tangible pedagogical materials, with AI language technologies at the center.
In the first section, we report on key takeaways from several of our research studies on neural machine translation and generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT), including: the diverse teacher positionalities that emerging technologies open and constrain; the complexity of student use of neural machine translation tools; and learner mediating beliefs that influence (non)use of generative AI tools to support language learning.
In the second section, we discuss how we used these takeaways, combined with applied language studies theory (i.e., digital literacies, ecological CALL), to imagine instructional materials that support critical and meaningful engagement with AI technologies in the language classroom. Specifically, we showcase a series of activities that target developing language learner understanding of tool use, tool functionality, and tool ethicality across proficiency levels.
Friday, January 31, 2025
B-4 Dwinelle & Zoom, 3-5 pm
This lecture is sponsored by the College of Letters and Science.
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