B’AI Global Forum Lecture “Language Education in the AI Era”

In this lecture, Professor Yujin Yaguchi, who has been teaching English at the University of Tokyo for a long time and conducted a field study at Duolingo, will discuss the approach to university English education based on advanced initiatives in AI-driven English education, including Duolingo. Following his lecture, Dr. Sho Tsuji, who investigates language development in infants and young children through a neuroscientific approach, and Professor Takane Ito, a linguist with extensive experience in English education at the university level, will provide comments from different perspectives and engage in discussions with the audience.

◇ Date & Venue

・Date: January 15, 2024 (Mon), 3:30~5:00 pm (JST)
・Venue: On-site (up to 25 participants) & Zoom Webinar
・On-site：Room 327, Faculty of Science Bldg.3, Asano Campus, The University of Tokyo
https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/content/400020145.pdf
・How to register：For on-site participation, please register below by 9 January (Tue); to participate via Zoom please register below by 13 January (Sat).
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSezxvWKczOH-JsWUKWPmB5lmtZXLReusbUWESh3vu28Nah92w/viewform

・Language: Japanese
・Organizer: B’AI Global Forum, Institute for AI and Beyond, The University of Tokyo
・Supported by The Institute for AI and Beyond, The University of Tokyo

◇ Lecturers

・Yujin Yaguchi (Vice President; Director, Center for Global Education, The University of Tokyo)
・Sho Tsuji (Lecturer, International Research Center for Neurointelligence, The University of Tokyo)
・Takane Ito (Vice President; Project Professor, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo)

◇ Moderator

・Yuko Itatsu (Professor, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo)

◇ Program

・Opening Remarks
　Kaori Hayashi (Executive Vice President; Professor, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo)

・Lectures

Yujin Yaguchi “University Language Education and Generative AI”
How does generative AI impact university language education? In this lecture, we specifically focus on English language education. Can university English education continue as it is now? Is the current method of evaluating English proficiency still effective? The lecture aims to delve into the approach to university English education in the era of ChatGPT and Duolingo/the Duolingo English Test (DET).

Sho Tsuji “Relationship Between Language Education and Generative AI from the Perspective of Language Development”
Is it possible to leverage generative AI in university language education?
Firstly, we will discuss why adults find it challenging to acquire foreign languages compared to children. Based on this, we will explore the differences between the natural learning that children experience in their daily lives and the scholarly learning undertaken by adults. The lecture aims to explore the possibility of generative AI offering a more natural learning approach to a larger adult population.

Takane Ito “The Significance of Engaging with ‘Different Knowledge Systems'”
The impact of AI on university language education can be broadly categorized into (1) the argument for the dispensability of foreign language education due to the development of automatic translation and (2) the specific methods of AI utilization in language education (and their feasibility). In this lecture, we aim to view foreign language education as an opportunity to contextualize the system of the native language, which is an “absolute” presence for children raised in a monolingual environment, to cast doubt on the discourse of (1) and explore its implications for the methods of (2).

・Q&A/Discussions

・Closing Remarks
　Takane Ito

◇ Inquiry

B’AI Global Forum Office
bai.global.forum[at]gmail.com（Please change [at] to @）