Takako Aikawa and her team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology spent three years developing an AI tutor to help students master Japanese language writing skills. The 2020 pandemic put the project on hold, but their goal got an unexpected boost two years later with OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT.
“ChatGPT did exactly everything we wanted it to do,” said Aikawa, a senior lecturer in Japanese at MIT and project leader. “It was disappointing, because we spent a lot of time and years on this, but it was also pleasing, because ChatGPT did exactly everything we wanted it to do.”
Aikawa and many foreign language professors across the country believe the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and their continued iterations could be a springboard for their subjects that will increase student interest, improve skills earlier and drive the evolution of foreign language learning.
The hope comes despite recent budget cuts in the field, notably West Virginia University's elimination of its foreign language major and most courses last summer. In May, the Defense Department also cut funding for more than a third of its 31 language programs.
Jen Williams, dean of the School of Language and Culture at Purdue University, was initially skeptical when ChatGPT emerged in November 2022.
“I was certainly wary because, of course, in language courses you are always concerned about student numbers,” she said. “I was particularly afraid that senior management would take advantage of this opportunity and the fact that now all students have this tool at their disposal, they now have an excuse to make further cuts to language courses.”
But many foreign language professors see AI as an opportunity in challenging times.
“The path that foreign languages are on is the path to extinction,” says Andrew Piper, a professor of language, literature and culture at McGill University in Canada. “I'm careful to use big words, but it's a catastrophe. My view is that this is a broken system that needs to reinvent itself.” [AI] “It will be a wake-up call. Whether it actually happens remains to be seen.”
What AI can do
AI tools, especially ChatGPT’s latest version, GPT4-o, can help students with not just writing but also speaking, making them effective on-demand tutors.
“One-on-one instruction is a big advantage because the biggest hurdle is participation in the classroom,” Piper said. “There's a lot of group work and it's all performance-based. So we do everything we can to increase participation, but we know there are a lot of compromises being made.”
Agencies are beginning to explore the possibilities.
Arizona State University has partnered with OpenAI to create a “language buddy” to allow undergraduate students to practice conversations with an AI bot at their own level.
Students in Purdue's introductory Spanish course will use the AI platform of their choice as a tool to write their essays, and the university has also hired a computational linguist to further explore AI and language.
“It's not just about whipping out a calculator for math class. It has to be an intentional, calibrated, guided tool,” Williams said. “Professors are trained in AI, so they can do it, but it takes time to develop the skills. But I see it increasingly as a possibility.”
Kevin Gaugler, associate dean of liberal arts and Spanish teacher at Marist College, said he believes the technology will bring about a recalibration of language studies, not the end, as other higher education institutions are rethinking assessments and processes in light of AI.
“This isn't just about language. This is a craft that pursues human knowledge, so we need to reevaluate and realign our curriculum in all areas to teach the competencies that will be valued even more in the future,” Gaugler said.
“The burden is on educators to adapt their curricula to take that into account,” he said. “You can't have an introductory course that relies on transactions like reading a menu or hailing a cab, because people can read their phones and do those things.”
But even as AI use among students soars, recalibration will take time, training, and evolving methods.
“It's still homework. It's not like all of a sudden people are saying, 'I can't stop talking to my French teacher,'” Piper said. “Even if it's a robot, it's still a teacher.”
New iteration of language courses
Experts emphasize that language course instruction goes beyond grammar and vocabulary instruction. Rather, the focus is on cultural competence, cultural empathy, and communication.
“We've moved away for decades from the idea that a foreign language course is about making people fluent,” says William. “It's not about making sure you can conjugate verbs. [students] You can always look up. It's important to see another culture through a different lens.”
Some of these skills will come in handy later in the advanced courses Piper teaches at McGill, including German, media and culture. Many students who enter college take introductory foreign-language courses, but most don't go beyond that.
Piper said AI capabilities could aid in the understanding of basic material such as vocabulary and help students progress to more advanced courses faster.
“That's what they [to the language] “You can learn German quickly, become fluent, and then take more advanced courses,” he says. “It's hard to teach German literature if your German is substandard.”
Paula Krebs, executive director of the Modern Language Association, agreed, noting that AI's programming language capabilities could help computer scientists.
“We know how flexible we've had to be and continue to be,” she says. “When the calculator came out, math professors didn't quit their jobs. Computer science courses aren't going away when AI becomes widespread. Even if they can write code, students are just going to start with the next step.”
We still need (human) teachers
The technique has drawbacks: ChatGPT and many other generative AI tools are trained primarily on English text, which introduces its own biases. Lesser-known languages have smaller digital footprints, Gaugler said. Hawaii, for example, is home to at least 130 languages across its 137 islands, many of which have never been written down.
There are some initiatives underway: Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has pledged “No Language Left Behind” to ensure languages are included in AI translations.
There are also many language nuances, idioms, and cultural contexts that must be taught by humans, not machines.
“AI can only do so much,” Gaugler says. “Without understanding the nuances of culture and language, I don't see how it can help you propose marriage to someone or close a business deal.”
He said that even if a universal translator could provide a “Star Trek moment”, “there's value in not speaking through a machine”.
Generative AI also doesn't take into account the training teachers receive to help students learn difficult material, and Krebs said AI doesn't add the literal human element that's needed.
“Without the human interactions and cultural context that make a language a language, I'm not sure that AI on its own would be of any value to language learning,” she said.
An uncertain future
Krebs said MLA is conducting its next survey to look at students taking foreign language courses. A recent report based on 2021 data found that foreign language course enrollment recorded its largest ever decline, dropping by more than 16% over five years.
But it's not just a matter of declining student interest, Krebs said, pointing to overall declines in higher education enrollment and major cuts at institutions like West Virginia University and the Department of Defense. He also said many institutions don't include foreign languages in their data because most students don't take them as their only major.
Piper believes the cuts are due to high costs, as foreign language courses must be kept small — 20 to 30 in the school's case — while other courses, such as introduction to chemistry, can have 100 or more instructors.
MLA is currently forming a task force to fine-tune regulations and best practices for the adoption of AI. The organization has focused on computer-assisted English courses for the past few years, but after the first year realized it needed a separate focus on foreign languages.
“We know we need to take a more integrated approach to this problem,” Krebs said, “because every time I turn around someone asks me, 'What's the deal with AI for foreign language teaching?' And I say, 'Sentence by sentence, [AI translation] “That doesn't serve the purpose of language education. It's not the same thing.”
