Fall 2025 Professional Development Series

Fostering language acquisition through the guided use of AI and online translation

Dr. Errol M O’Neill, Ph.D

Date: Friday, September 12th from 12:00 -12:50 pm

Watch the recording

Dr. Errol M. O’Neill is an Assistant Professor, Course Coordinator, and Supervisor of Graduate Teaching Assistants in French at the University of Memphis. Errol’s research has investigated the frequency of online translator and dictionary usage among students, the effects of student use of these tools on their composition writing, the impact of training students in the appropriate use of online tools, and the implications for the modern second language classroom.

Dornsife Language Faculty Spotlight: Presentation by the recipients of the Language Teaching Innovation Grants

Date: Friday, October 17th from 11:00 – 11:50

Prof. Karen Perez, Prof. Rania Ben Amor and Ms. Sasha Pchelintseva have received the Language Teaching Innovation grants in the 2024- 2025 academic year. This grant allows Dornsife language faculty to explore innovative methods, strategies, and tools in the field of language teaching to provide students with a wider array of learning opportunities, resources, and tools. The professors will present their innovation, findings and recommendations.

Augmenting Language Learning: AI for All Levels

Dr. Takako Aikawa

Date: Friday, November 7th from 11:00-11:50 am

Zoom meeting ID: 935 8816 1663

Dr. Takako Aikawa is a Senior Lecturer in Japanese at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she leads the Japanese language curriculum. Prior to joining MIT, she worked at Microsoft Research in machine translation and natural language processing and was an instructor of Japanese at universities in Japan and the United States.