L2 Journal

Generative AI has been called a disruptor of the status quo. However, what does status quo mean when it comes to World Language (WL) education? In this reflective essay, I describe my forays into generative AI tools wearing the hat of a language program director and foreign language teacher-educator to explore the affordances and constraints of generative AI tools for materials development in WL education. First, I discuss what I consider to be the status quo in WL education, followed by a discussion of how materials creation is a literacy process. I then describe several use cases with AI tools (Twee, Questionwell, ChatGPT, Claude.ai), demonstrating uses that might constrain innovation in WL education, either by producing materials that align with past practices or by not affording a dialogic process of co-construction between user and tool. Finally, I explore ways that generative AI can serve as a helpful collaborator in language teacher workflows and conclude with implications for policy guidelines for AI use among WL teachers.