Navigating the AI Tsunami: AI's Impact on Japanese Language Learning

PSU Center for Japanese Studies Presents
Dr. Takako Aikawa, MIT

Navigating the AI Tsunami: AI's Impact on Japanese Language Learning

How will AI influence language education? How are we to harness the power of generative AI to better enhance our language teaching and learning? In this lecture, Dr. Aikawa will introduce what are generative AI and large language models (LLMs) and then turn to the importance of mastering prompt writing skills. Prompts, she argues, are our means to communicate with generative AI. First understanding the concept of prompt engineering is so critical if we want to properly integrate generative AI into our language classes. Dr. Aikawa will share her use-case scenarios of generative AI, tackling both the advantages and limitations of its application in the classroom. She will also introduce her current research project, which aims to incorporate generative AI into a project-based Japanese language class. In this CJS event, Dr. Aikawa will give her perspective on the future implications of generative AI for language education, arguing that we must be prepared to unlearn and relearn teaching strategies in order to innovate in the fields of language and cultural education.

Takako Aikawa is a Senior Lecturer in Japanese in Global Languages at MIT. She oversees the Japanese language program at MIT and steers its future direction and has previously taught at multiple institutions in both Japan and the U.S. Prior to joining MIT’s Global Languages in 2013, she worked for natural language processing and machine translation teams at Microsoft Research.