Program

Exploring the Effectiveness of Language Learning Apps
Stiteler Hall, Room 263/264

The use of language learning apps to study an additional language on mobile phones, tablets, and laptops has become very popular, providing interested second language learners with access to learning materials anytime and anywhere. Apps such as Duolingo and Babbel, among others, have millions of users and continue to increase in popularity. However, some apps also make claims that seem too good to be true: Speak a language in 21 days. Most people can speak within 5 hours. 90-95% success rate with 35 hours. But are these apps really effective? This workshop examines several popular language learning apps, including Duolingo and Babbel, and explores:

1. Independent research studies investigating the effectiveness of various language apps.
2. The pros and cons of language apps.
3. The teaching methodologies used by these apps.
4. The apps’ motivational mechanisms, paying special attention to gamification strategies.

The workshop will encourage participants to think about how to ensure that language learners can receive greater benefits from using language learning apps to study a foreign language.

Shawn Loewen is a professor in the Second Language Studies and MA TESOL programs at Michigan State University. His research interests include: instructed second language acquisition, technology and instructed second language acquisition, second language interaction, quantitative research methodology.In addition to publishing in leading SLA journals, he has authored several books. The most recent is the Second Edition of Introduction to Instructed Second Language Acquisition (2020). He also co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Instructed Second Language Acquisition (2017) and Evidence-based second language pedagogy: A collection of instructed second language acquisition studies (2019) with Masatoshi Sato.

Welcome Reception
Stiteler Hall, Room 263/264

Enjoy light refreshments and engaging conversation with colleagues.

Check-in & Registration
Van Pelt Library, Kislak Center, 6th Floor

Check-in, pick up symposium materials, and enjoy some coffee.

Welcome
Van Pelt Library, Kislak Center, 6th Floor, Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion

Event organizers will give opening remarks.

Christina Frei is Executive Director of Language Instruction in the School of Arts & Sciences and Academic Director of Penn Language Center. She specializes in constructivist curriculum design, intercultural communication, and diverse applications of technology for teaching and learning world languages and cultures. Frei co-authored a textbook for introductory/intermediate German language and culture: Augenblicke, German through Film, Media and Texts. See her full bio.

Anne Pomerantz is an applied linguist, language instructor, and teacher educator. She is an expert in the teaching and learning of new languages in classroom and community contexts. At Penn GSE, Dr. Pomerantz directs the Ed.D. specialization in Educational Linguistics and teaches courses on language pedagogy, intercultural communication, and discourse analysis. She works closely with the Penn Language Center to support the dynamic and diverse education community on the Penn campus, including co-convening the annual Penn Language Educators Symposium. Skilled in community-engaged teaching, Dr. Pomerantz mentors university students who work as language educators and ethnographers in immigrant-serving organizations and has developed several academically based service-learning courses. See her full bio.

Reclaiming Agency: Educators as Architects of AI-Enhanced Learning Infrastructures
Van Pelt Library, Kislak Center, 6th Floor, Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion

As educators navigate AI integration, we face a fundamental question: Are we users of tools, or architects of learning infrastructures? This keynote challenges the narrative that positions educators as passive adopters of technology and argues for recognizing our role as architects and designers of the epistemic infrastructures through which learning happens. The talk unfolds in three parts. First, I examine how AI systems function not merely as productivity tools but as epistemic infrastructures that shape how knowledge is created, validated, and shared. Second, I critique current AI tools deployed in education, highlighting areas where they fall short. To make the case, I present empirical research showing lesson plan generators often embed outdated pedagogical biases that privilege teacher-centered classrooms, limit student agency, and restrict dialogue. Finally, I advance the imperative of educators as architects of learning infrastructures, an increasingly critical stance as agency shifts to AI systems. I do so by discussing ongoing pedagogical experimentation in my own teaching and my group's emerging efforts to support educators in preserving their epistemic agency: the pedagogical acumen, professional judgment, and deep content expertise that makes education deeply humane. This moment calls for asserting our expertise as architects of learning infrastructures.

Bodong Chen is Associate Professor at Penn's Graduate School of Education and Director of the Knowledge Building Innovation Network. He is a learning scientist and educational technologist who strives to make learning a meaningful part of social participation for people of all backgrounds and circumstances. His scholarly inquiry integrates knowledge media design, software engineering, and data science methods to continually improve infrastructures for learning. Guided by design-based research and participatory design approaches, he aims to generate justice-oriented pedagogical designs, technological innovations, and empirical understandings of learning in authentic settings.

AI and Translation: Tools, Strategies, and Ethics in the Classroom
Van Pelt Library, Kislak Center, 6th Floor, Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion

As AI becomes increasingly embedded in education, instructors face opportunities and challenges in cultivating meaningful engagement with these technologies. This workshop invites participants to explore the pedagogical potential of generative AI, emphasizing ethical integration, collaborative inquiry, and the development of AI literacy as essential components of contemporary language pedagogy.

This workshop approaches AI as a set of dynamic pedagogical strategies to deepen critical thinking, enhance transparency, and promote open dialogue between students and instructors about its responsible and creative use to sustain learning. Participants will examine how AI can be purposefully integrated into adaptable translation activities that support collaborative learning, digital literacy, and intercultural awareness.

Informed by pedagogical strategies developed in an undergraduate translation course, the workshop offers hands-on approaches for using AI across key stages of the translation process—including textual analysis, comparative critique, linguistic and cultural quality assessment, post-editing, and intentional prompting. The session also discusses the AI Assessment Scale (Perkins, Roe, & Furze, 2024) as a flexible framework for designing transparent, AI-enhanced tasks aligned with course outcomes.

Participants will leave with adaptable strategies to design AI-integrated activities that empower instructors and students to navigate the evolving landscape of AI in language education.

Workshop Activities:

• Reflect &Discuss: Poll to explore translation's role and transparency in teaching.
• Translate & Assess: Translate three excerpts (literary, ad, document) and evaluate AI outputs with one tool.
• Design with Purpose: Create an AI-integrated task aligned with a course learning outcome, using the AI Assessment Scale.
• Prompt & Edit: Experiment with prompts, then post-edit AI translations.

Arianna Fognani taught Italian language and content courses in English and Italian at Franklin & Marshall College and Coastal Carolina University. At CCU, she coordinated the Italian program and co-led a study abroad program in Tuscany in May 2022. Last spring, she received the "Faculty Innovation and Excellence Award" from the provost Office. She was also the recipient of a "Professional Enhancement Research Grant" for a project that aims to infuse digital humanities practices into the Italian curriculum. In June, as part of the grant, she flew to Vancouver to participate in the Digital Humanities Summer Institute at the University of Victoria. In addition to digital humanities, her scholarly work focuses on transnational subjects and the concepts of space, identity, and culture in relation to various forms of mobility. Her research examines Italy’s recent cultural challenges within the Mediterranean context as well as patterns of transnational migration to debunk the implicit bias in western literary constructions of Northern African cities, in particular Alexandria in Egypt during the interwar period.

AI-Enhanced Task-Based Language Teaching with My GPTs: Designing Engaging Activities for Language Learners
Van Pelt Library, Collaborative Classroom 113

This workshop explores the design and implementation of AI-driven, task-based activities in Japanese language courses. Previous research highlights the advantages of AI in language learning—such as opportunities for practice anytime and anywhere, immediate feedback, reduced anxiety, and enhanced retention (Wang et al., 2024). Building on these strengths, we introduce My GPTs, customized AI models tailored for specific educational contexts (Jaskari, 2025), to create engaging and context-specific tasks.

Drawing on Task-Based Language Teaching principles (Ellis, 2003) enhanced with gamification elements (Esteban, 2024), this approach leverages AI chatbots to facilitate meaning negotiation and problem-solving, fostering learner agency, critical thinking, communicative competence, and motivation (Jaafarawi, 2025). We share classroom-based insights on using My GPTs-driven tasks, including prompt writing techniques and assignment design, developed across four courses from beginning to intermediate levels to support diverse learners. Emphasis is placed on designing tailored environments with My GPTs that are well-aligned with classroom contexts, levels, and learners’ needs and interests.

By the end of the session, participants will gain insights and inspiration for incorporating My GPTs into their language instruction and take away ideas they can consider adapting to their own classroom contexts.

Workshop Activities:

• Introduction & Examples: The presenter will first introduce examples, benefits, and limitations of My GPTs-based tasks.
• Brainstorming: Participants will brainstorm ideas for effective task-based activities.
• Collaborative Design: Small groups will design language-specific tasks using My GPTs.
• Sharing & Application: Participants will share ideas and explore practical approaches for integration into their own teaching context

Ms. Megumu Tamura is a Lecturer in Foreign Languages in the Department of East Asian Languages & Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds an MA in Japanese Pedagogy from Purdue University. Since joining the faculty, she has taught a wide range of Japanese language courses across all proficiency levels. Her research explores how AI-mediated and multimodal learning environments can promote self-regulated learning, critical thinking, and metalinguistic awareness among learners of Japanese. She also investigates how translation, visual media, and dialogic interaction can foster interpretive skills, intercultural understanding, and awareness of linguistic diversity.

Ms. Nana Takeda Kolb, Lecturer in Foreign Languages, holds an MA in Human Sciences and a BA in Human Behavior and Environment Sciences from Waseda University. Her teaching and research focus on second language education and AI, Japanese language and culture instruction, and learners’ willingness to communicate. She has published on AI-assisted learning and media literacy in Japanese education and regularly presents at national and international conferences. Her coursesinclude Beginning to Advanced Japanese (JPAN 0100–1085). She is a member of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese and contributes to the National Japanese Exam as a test developer and writer.

Ryo Nakayama, Lecturer in Japanese, holds an MA from University of Massachusetts Amherst. His teaching and research focus on Japanese language pedagogy, curriculum design, and supporting learner autonomy and intercultural competence. He offers courses ranging from Beginning to Advanced Japanese and develops engaging instruction tailored for diverse learner needs.

Saki Hirozane, Lecturer in Japanese, earned her MA in Japanese from Portland State University. Her research explores Japanese media, culture, and gender studies—evidenced by her thesis “Japanese Gender Trouble in Revolutionary France: Riyoko Ikeda’s Shōjo Manga The Rose of Versailles.” She teaches Japanese language and culture in higher education, designing courses that engage learners through cultural literacy and media-analysis.

Combinatorial Processes and Curriculum Development with LLMs
Van Pelt Library, Class of 1955 Conference Room 241

This workshop will briefly present prompt engineering strategies, best practices, and current projects within the design of a new second-year German curriculum at Princeton University and subsequently offer participants the opportunity to develop their own approaches to using LLMs for the rapid development of curricular materials by combining processes. For example, using an LLM to produce a WordPress plugin that will permit short codes to be integrated into generated grammarexercises for immediate deployment in a website (combining JavaScript coding, L2 exercise generation, and markup).

Our goal is to equip language teachers with novel, combined approaches to the versatile tools available through LLMs in order to streamline and accelerate workflows, ease the creation of OER, strengthen existing course websites, and otherwise develop and improve language curricula from the instructor side.

Workshop Activities:

• Instructional Materials: Participants will receive instructive slides and printed handouts with examples, strategies, and best practices.
• Idea Development: Participants will scaffold their own LLM-based curriculum ideas.
• Hands-On Practice: Time will be provided to try out ideas and approaches in small groups.
• Peer Sharing & Reflection: Participants will share work, discuss challenges, and reflect on opportunities from these approaches.

Adam Oberlin, Senior Lecturer in the Department of German, received his PhD in Germanic Studies from the University of Minnesota in 2012 and has taught topics in linguistics, Germanic languages, Latin, medieval and modern literature,European history, and world geography to students ranging from middle school grades to graduate school in secondary schools, universities, and adult educational institutes since 2007. His research and teaching interests include historical and corpus linguistics, digital approaches to textual analysis, and content-based instruction. Recently published or forthcoming articles cover topics such as non-canonical subject marking in Germanic, diachronic approaches to phraseological research in German, the vocabulary of sensory disability and weather phenomena in Middle High German, medieval reception history in black metal, and approaches to periodization in language and literary history. Alongside teaching courses such as GER 1025, 105, 107, 207, and 208, he is currently the language coordinator for second- and third-year courses, supervising graduate student AIs in language teaching and working across university programs and centers to develop intermediate and advanced curricula, most recently with the aid of grants from the 250th Anniversary Fund for Innovation in Undergraduate Education and the Center for Digital Humanities.

Katya Soloveva Woodyard, a Lecturer in the German Department at Princeton, received her Ph.D. in German Language and Literature from Georgetown University in 2024, where she defended her dissertation, “Post-Soviet Migrant Identity in Germany: A Multimodal Systemic Functional Linguistics-based Study of Instagram Discourse”. Her research focuses on visual and verbal discourse analysis, examining the identities of post-Soviet migrants who came to Germany in the 1990s or were born to migrant parents and came of age in Germany. In her dissertation, Katya utilized ideological framework of Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA), which highlights the empowering role of language in marginalized communities, and methodological framework Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), which focuses on the meaning-making potential of language as a social semiotic system, as well as sociolinguistic theory of interactional stancetaking, to examine Instagram discourse by post-Soviet migrant activists in Germany.

Building Critical AI Literacy, AI Fluency, and Reflective Practices with Instructor, Peer, and GenAI Writing Feedback
Van Pelt Library, Meyerson Conference Center Room 223

As students increasingly use Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools for writing and feedback, there is a growing need for pedagogical frameworks that help language instructors guide students in developing critical GenAI literacy and fluency in their writing (Gegg-Harrison & Shapiro, 2025; Godwin-Jones, 2024; Kern, 2024).

This workshop seeks to address this need by engaging language instructors with the Peer and AI Review + Reflection (PAIRR) model, developed by Sperber et al. (2025), a practical, flexible approach for integrating peer and instructor feedback with GenAI into writing instruction in diverse language learning contexts (Stornaiuolo et al., 2023). PAIRR features a formative feedback cycle that combines collaborative student peer review, instructor feedback, instructor-generated AI prompts, and GenAI-generated feedback. This process gives students opportunities to:

• Reflect on their writing and revision processes with and without GenAI, considering the contributions of peers, instructors, and GenAI
• Critically evaluate GenAI feedback
• Recognize the strengths, limitations, and biases of GenAI

Workshop Goals:

This workshop has two overarching goals for language educators:

1. Provide practical guidance and student-centered resources for incorporating GenAI feedback into existing collaborative writing assignments using peer and instructor feedback.
2. Create a collaborative space for language educators to share classroom practices and experiences with GenAI, writing, and formative feedback.

Participants will:

• Work collaboratively on activities using curated AI prompts, GenAI tools, and PAIRR resources to adapt their own lesson plans for individual or collaborative writing activities, assignments, and assessments.

By the end of the workshop, participants will have:

• Practical materials and classroom strategies for promoting language learners' responsible and ethical GenAI use for individual and collaborative writing and formative feedback
• Assessment tools and reflection frameworks to support language learners' writing development and critical thinking about AI integration
• A network of language educators to sustain and expand their workshop collaborations with GenAI, writing, and feedback in this ever-evolving teaching and learning landscape

Workshop Activities:

• Hands-On Adaptation: Participants will collaboratively adapt and personalize curated workshop materials and PAIRR resources to fit their unique teaching contexts.
• Community Building: A shared Google Doc will serve as a hub for exchanging prompts, feedback, and resources, fostering an active peer-learning community that continues after the workshop.
• Real-Time Engagement: Participants will engage with anonymous live polls and each other to shape real-time discussions and questions relevant to their language teaching practices and environments.

Lee B. Abraham is Senior Lecturer and Interim Director of Undergraduate Studies at Columbia University's Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures. He has taught courses in Spanish language and linguistics, applied linguistics, foreign language teaching methods, and instructional technology at Penn State Abington, Temple University, and Villanova University. He believes in the importance ofunderstanding the relationships between cultures, communities, and communication. He strives to create a classroom environment that encourages critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. He co-edited with Lawrence Williams, Electronic Discourse in Language Learning and Language Teaching (John Benjamins), a volume that analyzes authentic language use and communicative practices in new media. His work has appeared in Language Teaching Research, Hispania, Foreign Language Annals, and Computer Assisted Language Learning.His current research focuses on the integration of new technologies in language teacher education as well as the use of forms of address in new media. He recently began working on a comparative study of multilingualism in the linguistic landscapes of the Americas and Europe.

Lunch
Van Pelt Library, Kislak Center, 6th Floor, Moelis Family Grand Reading Room

12TH STREET SIGNATURE SANDWICH PLATTER 
Includes: Chips, Pickles, Mayo and Mustard

CAPRESE 
fresh mozzarella / heirloom tomatoes / balsamic glaze / garlic-basil dressing

FALAFEL PITA SANDWICH 
Falafel, Hummus, Cucumber, Lettuce, Tomato, Tahini Drizzle, Tzatziki 

OVEN-ROASTED TURKEY BLT
bacon / lettuce / tomato / herb mayonnaise

CHIPOTLE CHICKEN
Smokey Chipotle Chicken, Havarti Cheese, Chipotle Aioli, Salsa Crudo, Avocado Cream, Lettuce

CLASSIC CHICKEN SALAD
Lettuce, Tomato

ROAST BEEF
provolone cheese / lettuce / tomato

CHUNK LIGHT TUNA SALAD 
lettuce / tomato

GLUTEN FREE SANDWICH CAPRESE 
fresh mozzarella / heirloom tomatoes / balsamic glaze / garlic-basil dressing

SWEET POTATO AND KALE SALAD
Tricolored Quinoa, Kale, Sweet Potato, Pickled Red Onions, Sunflower Seeds, Fresh Herbs, Orange
Citrus Vinaigrette

COOKIES AND BARS TRAY
Freshly Baked Cookies & Bars Assortment

VEGAN GLUTEN FREE BROWNIES

Provided by 12th Street Catering.

Technological Tools in Second Language Learning and Teaching
Van Pelt Library, Kislak Center, 6th Floor, Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion

Technology and instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) are increasingly intertwined as language educators seek to optimize digital tools for classroom learning, while ISLA researchers investigate how technological affordances can best support L2 development. However, technological innovation often outpaces the ability of teachers and researchers to adapt—whether through updates to existing platforms or the emergence of entirely new tools.

As a result, it is essential to adopt broad pedagogical perspectives that transcend specific technologies, rather than focusing narrowly on the latest versions. Drawing on my previous and ongoing research, this talk explores the relationship between ISLA and two technologies currently prominent in L2 learning and teaching: mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) apps and video chat platforms. MALL often supports (semi-)autonomous learning, though recent pedagogical research highlights the benefits of integrating MALL into classroom instruction. In contrast, video chat is more typically embedded in curricular contexts, enabling learners to interact with L1 or highly proficient L2 speakers, particularly where such opportunities are otherwise limited. At the same time, these platforms can also facilitate learner autonomy outside of formal instruction. Finally, given the growing influence of generative artificial intelligence (AI), the talk concludes by considering how AI may shape L2 interaction and L2 pedagogy more broadly.

Shawn Loewen is a professor in the Second Language Studies and MA TESOL programs at Michigan State University. His research interests include: instructed second language acquisition, technology and instructed second language acquisition, second language interaction, quantitative research methodology.In addition to publishing in leading SLA journals, he has authored several books. The most recent is the Second Edition of Introduction to Instructed Second Language Acquisition (2020). He also co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Instructed Second Language Acquisition (2017) and Evidence-based second language pedagogy: A collection of instructed second language acquisition studies (2019) with Masatoshi Sato.

Overcoming Technostress while Leveraging AI for Material Development
Van Pelt Library, Meyerson Conference Center Room 223

The APA defines technostress as “a form of occupational stress that is associated with information and communication technologies such as the Internet, mobile devices, and social media with affected employees becoming anxious or overwhelmed by working in computer-mediated environments in which there is a constant flow of new information” (APA, 2018).

Feeling overwhelmed by technology, especially generative AI, has become a common experience among language educators (Wang, 2024). Combating this technostress includes targeting professional development and gradual integration (Zou and Moorhouse, 2024). Taking small steps to engage with the technology is a sound practice. This presentation will allow educators to build their confidence while being introduced to three AI tools for material development. AI has numerous capabilities to easily create materials with little effort on all skills and on any topic. It also offers potential for creating lessons tailored to differentiated learning needs.

The three AI tools proposed are (subject to change as technology develops):

• Twee.com
• Brisk AI
• ChatGPT with audio tool

Other tools that may be substituted depending on AI developments include: NaturalReaders.com, Eigo.ai, Gilgish, and Turboscribe.com.

Participants will leave with a decreased feeling of technostress. They will have engaged with three AI tools for materials creation and will leave with ideas for how to integrate these tools into their classroom pedagogy.

Workshop Activities:

• Technostress Reflection: Discussion of common feelings of overwhelm around AI integration.
• Tool Demonstration: Live introduction to three AI tools for material development.
• Interactive Practice: Participants will explore and test tools during the session.
• Confidence Building: Practical takeaways to help participants feel empowered in using AI tools in their own classrooms.

Judith Otterburn-Martinez is a Professor at Atlantic Cape Community College (ACCC) in Atlantic City, NJ where she teaches academic reading, writing and college skills. Judith holds an MA in Applied Linguists from Columbia University and an MA in Social Anthropology from Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. She is an EdD student in Educational Linguistics at University of Pennsylvania. She serves for the US Department of State as an English Language Specialist and has been the Strand Coordinator for the Materials Development and Publishing Strand for TESOL Convention for five years. Currently, she is working on an NSF grant developing course work for aviation English at ACCC. Judith’s specialties include: content-based instruction, materials development, teaching of culture and language through literature, and teacher training.

AI as Coach, Not Ghostwriter: Effective Prompting for Revision
Van Pelt Library, Collaborative Classroom 113

This hands-on workshop equips world language educators with a three-stage, tool-agnostic prompting framework that treats AI as a coach—not a ghostwriter—to improve revision quality, speed, and learner autonomy. In 45 minutes of guided practice, participants will apply (1) a baseline prompt, (2) a context-rich prompt using course goals/materials, and (3) targeted prompts on grammar, vocabulary, structure, and tone to an anonymized learner text in the target language, pausing after each pass for quick reflections on voice, accuracy, and next-step revisions; the final 15 minutes synthesize implementation plans and Q&A.

We model ethical guardrails (disclosure, attribution, privacy), lightweight formative assessment, and scalable feedback cycles that do not increase grading load. Attendees will leave able to implement the three-stage sequence, preserve learner voice through structured reflection, build metacognition and transferable prompting habits, align AI use with outcomes and integrity policies, and adapt the materials across Less Commonly Taught Languages and widely taught languages—on campus or online—with ready-to-use templates (prompt banks, reflection stems, mini-rubrics, and a checklist).

Workshop Activities:

• Live Prompt Lab: Think–pair–revise cycles with real-time prompting practice.
• Role-Based Triads: Participants take on roles of writer, AI coach, and auditor.
• Quick Polls: Used to collaboratively choose prompt constraints.
• Micro-Reflections: Short reflection slips after each revision pass.
• Gallery Walk: Review and discuss drafts and AI outputs.
• Collaborative Prompt Bank: Co-create adaptable prompts for future use.
• Exit Tickets: Commit-to-try notes for post-workshop implementation.
• Fishbowl Q&A: Brief session on practical application and scalability.

Mahyar Entezari is a Lecturer in Foreign Languages at the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, as well as the Director of the Persian Language Program. In addition to teaching Persian (alsoknownas Farsi or Dari), he offers courses on modern Iran. His research explores national identity, political discourse, and cultural expression in Iran. Dr. Entezari earned his Ph.D. in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of Texas at Austin, where he also trained in Arabic and Turkish. His scholarly contributions include publications on Iranian nationalism and the Iran–Iraq War. He has presented his research at institutions such as Princeton University and the United States Military Academy at West Point, among others.Beyond teaching, Dr. Entezari plays an active role in leadership, co-organizing the Middle East Film Festival, serving on academic committees, and leading teacher trainings. His work has been recognized by the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, and the Department of Education.

Closing
Van Pelt Library, Kislak Center, 6th Floor, Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion

Symposium hosts, invited speakers, and Penn faculty will discuss the day's themes and future implications for language learning and teaching.