March 7: Teaching Languages in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Rethinking Goals and Practices

Generative AI has shifted the ground upon which we have based much of our language teaching for centuries. The vitality (even existence) of our language programs may depend on our ability to re-examine and re-articulate our goals for language teaching—some of which can be facilitated by technological tools, others not. In this articulation, teachers must provide the guiding voices, not the technologists, not the politicians. This talk will present some of the limitations as well as potential benefits of AI for fostering various aspects of language development, stressing attention to the educational values underlying our pedagogical decisions

Invited Guest Lecture: Richard Kern

Professor Richard Kern of the University of California, Berkeley teaches courses in French linguistics, applied linguistics and foreign language pedagogy. He served from 2006-2022 as Director of the Berkeley Language Center, and his research interests include second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, reading, writing, and technology. He is currently beginning work on a book dealing with UC students’ experiences during study abroad.