The linguistic leap: Understanding, evaluating, and integrating AI in language education

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2024.012

Keywords:

artificial intelligence, generative-AI, language learning, educational technology, pedagogy, ethical considerations

Abstract

The landscape of language education is undergoing a pivotal transformation, spurred by the integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI) into every facet of traditional and new methodologies and practices. Given the rapid societal adoption of AI, we believe that all language instructors – from the most technologically savvy to the most tech-averse – must engage critically and ethically with AI. To ensure that AI tools are brought into language education in pedagogically appropriate and ethical ways, we have developed two large projects at our university:  1) an AI Working Group in our Modern Languages Department and 2) a chatbot that all instructors can incorporate into their classroom practices. In this article, we describe the rationale for these projects and the steps we took to implement them. We hope that this work can help other departments come together to address the challenges and achieve a balance between technological advancement and the intrinsically human facets of language education.

Author Biographies

  • Shai Cohen, University of Miami

    Shai Cohen teaches in the Michele Bowman Underwood Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami (FL). He is a specialist of Sephardic Studies and seventeenth-century Spanish political satire. His recent monograph, El poder de la palabra: la sátira política contra el conde duque de Olivares (CSIC, 2019), explores the relation between political satire and government in 17th century Spain. Currently, he works on few articles and leading a project focusing on the impact of Sephardi migration and the formation of new identities in the Americas. Shai is teaching languages, literatures, Sephardic Studies and is the coordinator of the Internship program. Since February 2023, he is spearheading the AI integration initiative into teaching and research in the Department.
    Email: shaicohen@miami.edu

  • Ludovic Mompelat, University of Miami

    Ludovic Vetea Mompelat is a Research Assistant Professor of French Linguistics, Creolistics and Computational Linguistics. His research lies at the intersection of Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning, Corpus Linguistics, Syntax, Semantics, and Sociolinguistics. His training in formal Linguistics with a focus on French and French-based Creoles, as well as in Computational Linguistics allows him to use a mixed-method cross-disciplinary research approach in his work. Some of his publications such as “How to Parse a Creole: When Martinican Creole Meets French” (2023)  and “To Infinitive and Beyond, or Revisiting Finiteness in Creoles: A Contrastive Study of the Complementation Systems of Martinican Creole and Haitian Creole” (2023) are articulated around two complementary axes: first, the linguistic study and formal development of Creole languages, in comparison to one another and their lexifier language, and second, the creation of NLP solutions for under-represented languages as well as their promotion in the computational linguistics world.
    Email: lvm861@miami.edu

  • April Mann, University of Miami

    April Mann is the Director of the Writing Center and a senior lecturer in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Miami (FL).  She is currently co-editing a multi-authored volume documenting and addressing inequities in data and research methodologies for educational and social science researchers (Information Age Publishing, 2024). She is also co-facilitating Faculty Working Groups on using AI in the classroom.
    Email: a.mann@miami.edu

  • Logan Connors, University of Miami

    Logan J. Connors is Professor and Chair of the Michele Bowman Underwood Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami (FL). A specialist of eighteenth-century French theatre and cultural history, his most recent monograph is Theatre, War, and Revolution in Eighteenth-Century France and Its Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2024). He is currently co-editing a multi-authored volume on comparative performance cultures in times of revolution as well as conducting research for a new book on comedy and the French Terror.
    Email: logan.connors@miami.edu

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Cohen et al. (2024)

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Published

2024-06-06

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How to Cite

Cohen, S., Mompelat, L., Mann, A., & Connors, L. (2024). The linguistic leap: Understanding, evaluating, and integrating AI in language education. Journal of Language Teaching, 4(2), 23-31. https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2024.012

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