Transforming language teacher education in response to GenAI and technological advancements: Preparing ‘future-ready’ language teachers

Benjamin Luke MOORHOUSE

    Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference abstractpeer-review

    Abstract

    The primary goal of language teacher education is to ensure graduates are workplace ready (du Plessis & Sunde, 2017). This means they have the knowledge and skills to design and implement learning activities to maximise language learning and help students achieve their language learning goals. However, the last decade has seen rapid social, cultural, political and technological changes that have affected language teaching and learning profoundly. Technological advancements have, arguably, affected the entirety of humankind and dramatically changed how people think, live, work, play, interact and learn. The literacy practices we follow, the skills needed for the job market, and how people sustain relationships, have all changed and continue to change because of technology. Historically, language teacher education has been slow to respond to technological advancements (Park & Son, 2022) meaning that graduates can leave programmes under-prepared to use technology for teaching. As ‘second order’ teachers, language teacher educators have reported feeling unable to model the use of technology for teaching due to lack of competence (Lindfors et al., 2021). However, the development of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) means that language teacher education has to transform in order to stay relevant and prepare ‘future-ready’ language teachers who know how have the skills and knowledge to capitalise on the affordances of GenAI while being aware of the ethical and social issues related to GenAI and technology (Meniado, 2023).
    This presentation, draws on several studies conducted in Hong Kong (e.g., Moorhouse & Kohnke, 2024, Moorhouse, 2024, Moorhouse, Wan, Wu, Ho, Kohnke & Ho, under review) to explore the effects of GenAI on language teacher education and propose ways we can transform our programmes to ensure our graduates are ‘future-ready’. Emphasis will be placed on examining the skills and knowledge language teachers need in the GenAI-age and how our programmes can help develop these skills and knowledge in our pre-service teachers. The presenter argues that language teacher education programmes need to be more flexible and dynamic and offer multiple pathways to professional learning that reflect rapid technological advancements.
    Original languageEnglish
    Publication statusPublished - 3 Jul 2024
    EventInternational Conference on Technology-enhanced Language Learning and Teaching & Corpus-based Language Learning and Teaching
    - The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
    Duration: 3 Jul 20245 Jul 2024
    https://www.eduhk.hk/lml/telltcollt2024/ (Conference website)
    https://www.eduhk.hk/lml/telltcollt2024/downloads/Programme%20Schedule_TeLLT&CoLLT2024_Final.pdf (Conference's programme schedule)
    https://www.eduhk.hk/lml/telltcollt2024/downloads/TeLLT%20&%20CoLLT%202024_%20Programme%20Book_Final.pdf (Conference's programme book)

    Conference

    ConferenceInternational Conference on Technology-enhanced Language Learning and Teaching & Corpus-based Language Learning and Teaching
    Abbreviated titleTeLLT & CoLLT2024 conference
    Country/TerritoryChina
    CityHong Kong
    Period3/07/245/07/24
    OtherThe jointly held TeLLT 2024 conference and CoLLT 2024 conference aim to bring together academics from around the world to report on their various research work related to technology-enhanced language learning and teaching (TeLLT), and corpus-based language learning and teaching (CoLLT). As TeLLT and CoLLT are gaining momentum in this digitized world, we hope that, through the two jointly held conferences, we can promote Hong Kong as a hub for academic exchanges and collaborations in the area of technology-enhanced language learning and teaching, and corpus-based language learning and teaching. We welcome scholars and researchers to report their studies on technology-enhanced (including corpus-based) learning and teaching of English, Putonghua, Cantonese, and other modern languages (e.g., French, Japanese, Spanish, Korean, etc.)
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