Panel The Future of Language Teaching: What Still Matters (and Why) more

Against the backdrop of social changes, including fewer language majors, increasingly useful AI tools, and the popularity of language learning apps, what will language teaching look like in 5, 10, or 25 years? Four experts provide their predictions and advice from diverse perspectives. Betsy Lavolette predicts that extrinsic motivations, such as travel or work, will no longer drive enrollments. Rather, intrinsic motivations, which cannot be fulfilled by AI tools, will dominate, and our teaching should shift focus to accommodate this. Dennis Koyama argues that AI creates a new baseline for how the value of language learning is measured. Accordingly, assessments must make non-AI competencies visible, with an emphasis on critical thinking and creative rhetorical design, evidenced through communicative agency, mediation, and collaborative competence. Noriko Hanabusa reflects on the traditional role of teachers in the classroom and considers what language educators should focus on to coexist with AI. To promote autonomous learning, teachers should devote more time to designing individualized learning and providing personalized instruction. Bruno Vannieu argues that foreign language learning will stay relevant if we can help students feel that they are exercising their brains and experiencing how languages shape the way humans think.