"AI, Machine Translation, and English Language Learning: The Future Seen Through Educational Practice"

2024/06/27

When I was a freshman at SFC, I took a class on "Modern Thought" taught by Professor Toshiaki Iseki, who was the Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management at the time. I still haven't forgotten how, in the first lecture, he spoke about "The Season for New Glasses." To put it in more complex terms, it was about paradigm theory, but Professor Iseki explained it in a way that was easy for us—who were not much different from high school students—to understand.

This book is a discussion with fellow faculty members and others about the possibility that current generative AI presents a "next big narrative," to the extent that it needs to be considered within the scope of such paradigm theory. Fortunately or unfortunately, the penetration of generative AI into real society has not progressed as much as expected. The same is true for the world of education, which has long been criticized for being slow to change; some teachers still loudly oppose it and are desperate to provide education that intentionally avoids using AI.

But that is not the case. Educators must recognize the possibility that the paradigm has already shifted, and that the rules of the game—or the game itself—may have been replaced. Otherwise, it is far too irresponsible for those in a position to lead young people with a future.

I am a researcher specializing in applied linguistics and the philosophy of language (pragmatism), and I stand at the podium as a practitioner of foreign language education at a university. While ChatGPT has recently begun to compose music and draw pictures, it is originally an AI based on large language models. In other words, text data—massive amounts of written language—is its true origin, and the sweet spot of generative AI is indeed language. That is to say, language is the field where generative AI excels most, and therefore, it is only natural to utilize its performance in language education, including foreign languages.

In this book, I discuss in detail what the impact of generative AI will bring, particularly to foreign language education—an impact that is certain to be revolutionary or even catastrophic. Generative AI possesses the potential impact to truly shift the paradigm. I do not intend to simply deny or blindly criticize English education as it has existed until now. I simply want to emphasize that the paradigm has become fundamentally different.

"AI, Machine Translation, and English Language Learning: The Future Seen Through Educational Practice"

Tsukasa Yamanaka (Editor/Author)

Asahi Press

280 pages, 2,420 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.