CercleS webinar: Machine translation and AI in the language classroom

Description:

This workshop deals with ubiquitous tools in language learning, namely neural machine translation (MT) systems. It will also touch on the latest tool to join the language classroom: ChatGPT and other text generation tools, based on the same large language model (LLM) technology. Most learners use these tools but few teachers address this topic in class, mainly because they don’t feel comfortable enough. This workshop’s main aim is to allow teachers to share their fears about, attitudes towards and experiments with AI tools and to give them information about how these systems work. We will also introduce the notion of digital tool literacy, share a protocol tested at a Swiss university language centre and suggest practical ways to introduce MT into the language classroom. The last part of the workshop will be dedicated to practical work done in small groups.

Language: The workshop will take place in English but small groups should be available in other languages (French, Italian, German, etc.).

Coordinators:

Sara Cotelli Kureth (Université de Neuchâtel) and Elizabeth Steele (Berner Fachhochschule), members of the swissuniversities project Digital Literacy in University Contexts (DigLit).