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Following the public release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2023, Winfried Kretschmann, Governor of Baden-Wuerttemberg, argued that artificial intelligence (AI) would soon make it obsolete for students to learn additional languages at school. Arguably, the advent of AI-based language tools and real-time translation requires English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers to rethink the educational value of teaching and learning foreign languages.
This class moves beyond the hype to equip students with the necessary competences for evidence-based teaching in the age of AI. The primary aim is to enable students to critically reflect upon the benefits and pitfalls of using AI to support English language teaching and learning. To achieve this, the class is structured around three key learning outcomes:
- Understanding generative AI: We will start by decoding the fundamental principles of large language models, including how they function and what they can (and cannot) do.
- AI as content: We will explore the pedagogical potential of AI, discussing to what extent AI itself can serve as a fruitful, critical topic for EFL lessons.
- Application of AI-based tools: Students will be introduced to a variety of AI-based tools designed to support teachers and students in teaching and learning EFL respectively. Students are invited to bring their tried-and-tested AI tools to class and share their teaching experiences.
Students are expected to regularly participate, thoroughly prepare and actively contribute to each meeting. Students participating in this seminar are expected to take an oral exam after completing the module FD 2 (oral exam in combination with the second seminar of this module). |
