AI and the Future of Language Classes

I have been asked several times recently about my thoughts on where Language Teaching is headed now that AI is here to stay. Note, this post is about my personal thoughts, and is not based on research. Here are my thoughts:

First: A history lesson to help give us perspective. (As I understand it.)

Classes for modern languages began thanks to the World Wars, when the world first truly began interacting regularly at a global level and people started migrating between language groups more regularly and permanently. The purpose of the modern language classroom was to help students be able to successfully interact with people who spoke other languages. Note: The goal was to help students have communicative success, not to help them become fluent in the language. The reason we have pushed fluency is that, traditionally, that was the easiest way to obtain quick communicative success.

Over time, the focus of many educators (and many of their organizations) has shifted from communicative success to fluency. However, the focus of most of our students and stakeholders (when it isn't exclusively on grades) is still usually on communicative success.

This difference in goals is where I believe we have the biggest problem. Students often feel that cheating is justified because their goal isn't fluency, it is to communicate, and with the tasks we are asking them to complete, they can do that with the help of technology! And stakeholders are beginning to question the value of modern language classes because they aren't producing students who are any better at communicating in the target language than some random person with a smartphone.

Why aren't language classes more successful at producing fluent speakers? Because acquiring a language takes time! If I remember the research correctly, it takes something like 5000 hours of focused language use (mostly in the form of input) for someone to obtain near-native fluency. Since our students average an hour a day, 180 days a year, that only gives us 180 hours! At best! At that rate, in an optimum classroom it would take our students almost 28 years to become fluent, if they only take classes! (Aside: This is why you only find fluent speakers with students who have enough motivation to study outside the classroom.) If you remove Culture Mondays, test days, football game days, etc. you're looking at an even longer amount of time needed!

Okay, so, where does that leave us? As I see it, here are our options:

Option 1: We continue to focus on pure fluency (without the aid of outside resources). If we want to do this, we will need to make our classes more and more artificial; banning online translators and AI. From what I can tell, this is the way most teachers are currently leaning. Warning! This option will make our classes more and more obsolete for stakeholders who want communicative success! And, I believe it is doomed to failure. Almost all our classes will be canceled.

Option 2: We focus on communicative success. If we want to do this, we will need to allow our students to use online translators and AI in our classes. Our goal will need to shift from fluency in the language, to fluency in the culture and fluency in using the available technologies. We will teach our students how to use these technologies correctly and recognize when they have given them good or bad results. Warning! This approach will require a complete overhaul of the current system. We won't be testing for grammar and vocabulary very much any more. Instead, we'll be testing for how successful and natural their use of the language is.

Will fluency still be valued? Absolutely! Students with higher levels of fluency will be able to communicate more effectively and quickly! Fluency will become the new way of "cheating." ;D This is the approach that I am currently most interested in. I am interested in how it will be graded. I picture rubrics more focused on the length of pauses, eye contact, body language, etc. than on linguistic accuracy (though that will still be there.) I anticipate that, in this system, students will enjoy a lot of incidental language learning. I visualize classes with enthusiastic students, because they can take what they are learning and use it that day in the real world! At work, at play, wherever they want! They are getting what they want! The ability to communicate more effectively in the target language with the aid of technologies that they were going to use anyway!

Note: In Option 2, it will be practically impossible for students to cheat, because they will be allowed to use any aids they want! Assessments and classes will be designed to help them use their resources, rather than punish them for using what is right there.

How I Do My Classes

One of the questions I am most often asked is: How do you actually do your classes? So, I thought I'd share my usual procedure here for a normal class:

With vocabulary, this is the process I normally follow:

Step 1 (before class): Ask them to read the section on vocabulary in the textbook.

Step 2 (before class): Play the vocabulary game at home. (My version of the game allows me to see their results online.)

Step 3 (in class): We read and write with the vocabulary. This step usually has three parts: 

1. Individually, they write sentences using the vocabulary for an activity. (For example, they might write sentences about what their family members are like, and one of the sentences could be a lie.)

2. Then, in groups, I ask them to read each other’s sentences and complete the activity (for example: guessing which sentence is the lie). 

3. Finally, I collect one sheet from each group, write the sentences from that sheet in front of the class, and they read them and do the activity, usually through Quick Questions. (For example: they guess whose sentences they are and which one is the lie.)

Step 4 (in class): We listen and speak using the vocabulary. This step usually has two parts: 

1. In groups, they complete an activity with the vocabulary. (For example: they could compare their family's habits to see who has the busiest family.) 

2. Then, each group (if we have time) has to give a report to the class, and the class has to do something with the information. (For example: One person from each group can say who has the busiest family in their group and explain why. The class then votes using Quick Questions on which group has the busiest family and why.)

In general, these steps take up the whole class period.

For grammar, I do basically the same thing:

Step 1: Read about the grammar before class.  

Step 2: Play the grammar game before class.  

Step 3: Read and write in class with an activity that uses the grammar (individually, then in groups, then as a class).  

Step 4: Listen and speak in class with an activity that uses the grammar (in groups, then as a class).

I hope this helps. If you want to see more examples, here are the writing activities I use in my Spanish 1 classes, and here are the oral activities I use in my Spanish 1 classes.