Learning about GenAI? Phil and I talk about the first four (of ten) knowledge areas and skills language teachers should aim to have now: prompting, ethics, chatbots, and translation. Combining practical examples with theoretical insights, we discuss these knowledge areas and skills in more detail than we could give in our position paper: AI and the future of language teaching: Motivating Sustained Integrated Professional Development (SIPD). This is the second episode of the OAILL podcast series and also the second discussion of the position paper on SIPD; episode 1 looked at the technical underpinnings of GenAI. Listen right here:
With the rapid development of GenAI technology, I find it interesting to revisit facts and ideas. Phil and I wrote this position paper in early 2025, it was published on May 1, 2025. About the ten knowledge and skill areas, I posted here in this blog on January 22, 2026. And things kept changing, just think about prompting, one of the skills: when we wrote the paper, some people made the argument that prompt engineer would be a job in the future. Because the large language models got bigger and were tweaked with additional rules, even a quick and short prompt often yields the result one was hoping for.
I believe that this is just a tiny – yet relevant – example for the ongoing changes. That is why Phil and find it important to keep learning and talking about GenAI in the context of language education.
These are publications mentioned in this conversation:
- Hubbard and Schulze (2025). AI and the future of language teaching: Motivating Sustained Integrated Professional Development. International Journal for Computer Assisted Language Learning and Teaching https://www.igi-global.com/gateway/article/full-text-html/378304
- UNESCO. (2024). AI competency framework for teachers. UNESCO Publishing. Available at https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000391104
- Educause Framework for AI literacy in teaching and learning (2024) https://www.educause.edu/content/2024/ai-literacy-in-teaching-and-learning/faculty-altl
- ISTE Whitepaper about evolving teacher education in an AI world: https://1818747.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/1818747/2024_ISTE_whitepaper_EvolvingTeacher_Ed_in_an_AI_World.pdf
- Paradox Learning AI toolkit for educators: https://paradoxlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AI-Toolkit-for-Educators_v3.pdf
- Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna (2025), The AI Con https://thecon.ai/
- Ohashi L. and Hubbard P. (2025). Generative AI ethics: Emerging principles for language teachers. In Ohashi L., Hills M., and Dykes R. (Eds.), Artificial intelligence in our language learning classrooms. Candlin and Mynard. https://www.candlinandmynard.com/uploads/1/2/5/0/12502105/chapter_5_open_access.pdf https://www.candlinandmynard.com/genai1.html
