“Post-pandemic language teaching: Our window of opportunity” with Dr. Bryan Smith

“Post-pandemic language teaching: Our window of opportunity” with Dr. Bryan Smith

Abstract:
Starting from the assumption that post-pandemic language teaching will not look quite like it did in a pre-COVID world, I will consider how emergency remote teaching and the subsequent move to online language teaching will likely result in technology-enhanced language learning becoming the norm moving forward. In doing this, I will share experiences, predictions, and fears gathered from L2 classroom teachers, language learners, L2 researchers, language resource center directors, and industry, and will explore how we might take advantage of lessons learned during this time in a way that is consistent with and informs instructed second language acquisition.

Bio:
Bryan Smith is Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of English at Arizona State University, where he directs the Graduate Certificate in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL). He is co-editor of the CALICO Journal and serves on the editorial advisory boards of the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Computer Assisted Language Learning, the EUROCALL Review, the Journal of Virtual Exchange, and Language Learning & Technology. He conducts research at the nexus of CALL and instructed SLA and has focused on topics such as learner interaction, learner attention to form, the effects of teacher corrective feedback, and learner alignment during task-based interaction. His current work focuses on how the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to affect language teaching and learning moving forward, task-based learner-learner multi-modal interaction via mobile devices, and learners’ incidental focus on form. He regularly employs methods and techniques such as eye-tracking that capture learner process data. His published research has appeared in journals such as the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, CALICO Journal, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Computers in Human Behavior, Language Learning & Technology, Language Teaching, TESOL Quarterly, The Modern Language Journal, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, and System, among others.