This year, we expanded our collaborative grant programs and continued to offer grants to support Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) applied research projects. Our collaborative programs include grants in partnership with Extempore, Pangea Chat, and Speakology AI. As with previous grant cycles, we received more viable proposals than we were able to fund. Once again, we are proud to share the project title and an excerpt from each that sums up its focus. Those active in the field will be able to read about the results of these projects in published studies and/or hear about them in person or online in professional conference and webinar settings.
CALL Grants
Data-driven learning meets generative artificial intelligence: Informal internet written language in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean | Our outcomes for this project include providing a methodological approach to creating bespoke GenAI chatbots for language learning and teaching, We aim to illustrate process-oriented approaches to designing a DDL worksheet to facilitate the use of a GenAI chatbot through corpus linguistics. Our objectives for this project is to show how YouTube comments as authentic language can be used in a GenAI chatbot and DDL through corpus linguistics. We hope that future language teachers can also create their own custom-made chatbots for their language instruction. Our goals for this project include showcasing how LCTLs like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, can be use in corpus linguistics research at the intersection of GenAI and DDL to facilitate the learning of informal internet written language. We hope that language learners can discover through metacognitive strategies and regulation the affordances of using a GenAI chatbot trained on YouTube comments through a RAG file, and how language learning is facilitated through corpus linguistics and DDL. This project is an excellent way to expand on the existing literature on Informal Digital Learning of English (IDLE) to Informal Digital Learning of Chinese (IDLC), Informal Digital Learning of Japanese (IDLJ), and Informal Digital Learning of Korean (IDLK). |
AI-Powered Cultural Podcast Series for Vietnamese Language Learners: An Open-Access CALL Initiative | This project will produce a series of AI-assisted cultural podcasts for Vietnamese language learners at the beginner and intermediate levels… The problem this project addresses is well-documented: Vietnamese is among the most widely spoken languages in the United States yet remains severely under-resourced in formal instruction. Commercially available textbooks rarely include materials that reflect contemporary Vietnamese culture… This project formalizes and scales an AI-assisted production workflow that has already been tested. The instructors’ existing written cultural notes, developed for their Vietnamese courses, serve as the content base. Claude Pro adapts these notes into structured podcast scripts. The researchers review, edit, and scaffold each script for accuracy and pedagogical value. Google AI Studio converts the finalized script into audio. Each episode is then paired with an interactive cultural notes page hosted on a dedicated open-access website. |
AI-Powered App Creation for Language Learning: Empowering Educators to Build Scalable Tools for LCTLs | The project will develop an AI-powered language learning application for Hungarian using no-code and AI-assisted development tools. The application will focus on communicative practice, vocabulary expansion, and cultural engagement, incorporating interactive tasks aligned with interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational modes of communication. In addition to supporting learners, the project will model a scalable approach that enables educators to create similar applications without requiring programming knowledge… The project has clear and measurable objectives. First, it will result in a functional prototype of an AI-supported application for intermediate Hungarian learners. Second, it will evaluate the effectiveness of AI-generated activities in supporting communicative practice and learner engagement. Third, it will produce a replicable model for educators teaching other LCTLs, including practical guidance on using AI tools for app creation. Finally, it will contribute to the field of CALL by examining how AI can support scalable, inclusive, and pedagogically grounded language learning resources. |
Bridging Practice and Performance: Using Generative AI to Support Interpersonal Communication in Beginning Spanish | This project investigates how structured, AI-mediated rehearsal can support the development of willingness to communicate (WTC), reduce speaking anxiety, and improve performance in synchronous interpersonal communication among novice Spanish learners. While CALL research has extensively explored digital tools for input, feedback, and communication, there is a critical gap in how generative AI can be used as a structured pedagogical bridge between classroom practice and real-time interaction. “Building Practice and Performance…” addresses that gap by designing and implementing guided, scenario-based ChatGPT activities that function as a low-stakes rehearsal environment prior to synchronous conversations with native speakers. |
Developing COIL to Foster Intercultural Competence in High School World Language Education | This project aims to design, implement, and evaluate a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project for high school world language students, connecting students in Japan learning English with students in Hawaiʻi learning Japanese. COIL, also known as telecollaboration or virtual exchange, has gained momentum as a pedagogical approach for promoting intercultural competence through online collaboration between educators and students from different countries. While widely implemented in universities, its application in high schools remains underexplored. The project adopts a project-based approach that emphasizes authentic communication and intercultural exchange, using digital platforms such as Padlet, Google Classroom, and Zoom to facilitate both synchronous and asynchronous interaction. My primary goal is to foster students’ intercultural competence while identifying the technological and pedagogical practices that best support meaningful human interaction in digitally mediated environments. My ultimate goal is promoting COIL projects in world language classes in high schools and creating a multicultural and inclusive global academic community for both students and educators. |
World Languages 360 – Extempore Grants
Integrating Intercultural Competence in Online Spanish for the Professions Using Extempore | Spanish for the Professions instruction continues to face a persistent and well-documented structural limitation: while curricula build functional communicative competence in workplace contexts (e.g., writing emails, delivering presentations, navigating client interactions, conducting interviews), they tend to center a narrow segment of the Spanish-speaking professional world… Over the past several years, a range of technology-enhanced approaches have been implemented and evaluated in the online section of this course… Taken together, these experiences highlight both the potential and the limitations of current approaches, underscoring the need for a unified platform capable of supporting all four skills, all three communication modes, and longitudinal tracking of learner development. This project positions Extempore as that integrative solution… The project enriches each of the course’s four professional content domains (marketing and economics, technology and innovation, health and wellness, and legal and civic communication) through an intercultural lens paired with an underrepresented Spanish-speaking regional context. Rather than displacing existing course content, this framework introduces a layer of regional and sociolinguistic specificity that transforms familiar professional tasks into structured intercultural inquiry. The result is four modules per semester, each centered on a professional genre, a regional context, and the integration of all language skills and communication modes. |
World Languages 360 – Pangea Chat Grants
Transforming Creative Writing into Interactive Language Acquisition with AI | Our current curriculum in the Spanish department…includes six creative writing exercises per level designed to reinforce the specific structures and vocabulary of the different units. I am familiar with Pangea Chat’s functionality and believe its implementation will provide more detailed feedback to students’ assessments while fostering greater communicative competence.I propose to implement a pilot program that transitions these traditional assignments into an interactive experience using Pangea Chat’s virtual bot. Given my background in linguistics, I am particularly interested in how the platform’s real-time feedback can enhance the acquisition of syntax and vocabulary compared to static writing tasks with traditional slow feedback provided by the professor…My project addresses a common challenge in language education: the feedback gap. We can have classrooms with students who are clever and produce a lot of output, but that huge amount of output needs formative feedback. By documenting how Pangea Chat’s real-time corrections influence syntax and vocabulary acquisition compared to traditional professors’ feedback, I can offer insights into how hybrid AI tools can reduce instructors’ workload while potentially increasing student proficiency. Ultimately, this study can be extended to other variables that affect the class development, such as learner anxiety. Specifically, I aim to observe whether the app’s voice dictation functionality fosters greater communicative confidence. By allowing L2 learners to practice their speaking skills in a low stress environment with the bot, they may develop the self confidence needed for more active participation during in person class discussions. |
Fostering Communication in Hybrid Course Formats through Technology: A Comparison of Custom GPTs, VR, and Chat-Based Exercises | This project develops and evaluates an innovative hybrid model for Elementary German, specifically designed for STEM learners. The course reduces in-person meeting time to twice per week and replaces the third contact hour with a structured asynchronous component. Crucially, this asynchronous element is not conceived as independent homework, but as an extension of communicative practice, designed to approximate the interpersonal engagement of the classroom.The project integrates three complementary technological modalities to support this goal: a custom GPT-based conversational tool for individualized, proficiency-aligned speaking practice grounded in course materials; immersive virtual reality (VR) environments to simulate contextualized, experiential language use; and Pangea Chat, a platform for interactive, peer-based written communication in a conversational format. In addition, course content is tailored to STEM-relevant themes, emphasizing professional communication, innovation, and global workplace contexts.The research component of the project is twofold. First, it investigates the relative effectiveness and perceived value of the three modalities in supporting communicative language development. Second, it evaluates learning outcomes with a focus on measurable proficiency gains and changes in students’ willingness to communicate. |
Extending Task-Based Language Learning Beyond the Classroom: A 6-Week AI-Mediated “Newcomer Survival Guide” Project | This project proposes a 6-week pilot study examining how task-based language learning (TBLT) unfolds in an AI-mediated, out-of-class environment using Pangea Chat. The project is organized around a multi-stage, real-world task in which learners develop a “Newcomer Survival Guide” for international students. Subtasks include identifying challenges, evaluating solutions, developing recommendations, and producing a final guide. Tasks are communicative, meaning-oriented, authentic, and goal-based…The project provides a replicable model for out-of-class TBLT, shareable task designs, and insights into AI-mediated interaction and learner engagement…Learners will use Pangea Chat AI as the primary environment for completing structured, task-based conversational activities outside of class. Across Fall 2026 and Spring 2027, they will engage in brief sessions (2–3 per week) to complete communicative subtasks connected to a larger project (developing a “Newcomer Survival Guide” for international students). Through interaction with the AI (and optionally peers), learners will ask questions, exchange information, and develop recommendations to achieve meaningful, real-world outcomes, supported by the platform’s feedback features. The instructors will use Pangea Chat to design and sequence tasks, monitor participation, and analyze interactional and engagement data (e.g., conversation logs and usage patterns). |
World Languages 360 – Speakology AI Grants
The Development of Interpersonal Communication: An Analysis of Interactions with Avatar-Based Chatbots as a Learning Tool | There is, therefore, a gap in the research: the critical analysis of the nature of the interactions facilitated by bots. That is, there is a lack of studies evaluating the transferability of theoretical principles derived from research on human interactions—particularly in the field of L2 acquisition—to dialogues between students and AI systems. This type of research, focused on the characteristics and dynamics of interactions mediated by chatbots, is particularly important given that L2 learners have limited linguistic resources compared to native speakers (NS), who, in most cases, constitute the corpus used to train the chatbots.This project is based on the Computers are Social Actors (CASA) framework (Nass & Moon, 2002), which states that users interact with computer systems as if they were social agents, and adopts a conversational analysis methodology (Seedhouse, 2004) to explore how Spanish as an L2 learners (levels A1–B2) respond, adapt, and interpret linguistic interactions mediated by chatbots with avatars. Using a mixed-methods approach that integrates quantitative and qualitative analysis, this project will examine 1) the dynamics of interaction during episodes of negotiation of meaning and 2) how learners perceive and internalize these interactions as social practices. Furthermore, the role of the interaction modality (CCA vs. CHN) in willingness to communicate (WTC) and lexical complexity will be examined. Both linguistic competence and modality can affect student interaction (Kim, 2016), and therefore, this project will consider these two variables. |
Rethinking the Interlocutor: New Forms of Human-AI Collaboration in L2 Development | This project investigates the efficacy of AI-mediated versus human conversation partners in beginning university language study. Specifically, it examines how interaction with Speakology AI compares to interaction with human partners through the TandemPlus language and culture exchange program in supporting linguistic, affective, and sociocultural development…in which learners are paired with human conversation partners for reciprocal language practice and intercultural exchange. In this study, TandemPlus serves as the human interaction condition, while Speakology AI serves as the AI-mediated conversation partner. The study will involve 40 learners of various target languages, divided into two groups: 20 learners paired with human conversation partners (TandemPlus) and 20 learners paired with Speakology AI. All participants will complete 10 structured conversation sessions of equal duration using identical prompts derived from the most common themes across 30 beginning-level language textbooks (e.g., introductions, food, daily life, family, narration)…The project adopts a mixed-methods design, integrating pre- and post-surveys, audio recordings of first and final sessions for phonetic analysis, an analysis of learner and conversation partner interactional strategies, and qualitative reflections. The goal is to evaluate effectiveness, and identify where AI supports, differs from, and/or complements human interaction in language learning. |
Expanding Speaking Opportunities in Community ESL: Integrating Speakology AI with Adult Immigrant Learners in the U.S. | This project integrates Speakology AI into volunteer-led ESL programs to support adult immigrant learners’ speaking development through structured, low-stakes practice opportunities. It builds on research on:•AI and chatbot use to improve speaking skills (Kohnke, 2022; Yang et al., 2022; Zhou et al., 2025). Current research has shown that interactions with chatbots can lead to increased student engagement, output and reduced anxiety. Learners also benefit from increased speaking opportunities and extensions of language learning beyond classrooms through such interactions.•Digital equity and AI literacy building in adult ESL immigrant communities (Vanek, 2026)The research has been inspired by:•Cognitive-interactionist SLA theory emphasizing L2 input, output and negotiation of meaning to improve language learning (Foster & Ohta, 2005) as well as the affective filter and levels of learner anxiety as a key component in L2 production (Krashen, 1979).•The importance of AI-literacy in adult ESL contexts and limited research on the benefits of AI-based technologies for language learning, especially speaking, in immigrant communitiesThis project addresses that gap by embedding AI into adult ESL instruction for immigrants.I plan to implement the project in five steps: •Step 1: Participant interviews, research orientation and task design •Step 2: Introduction to Speakology AI (first guided, then independent familiarization) •Step 3: Integration into weekly ESL lessons (or as independent practice beyond lessons, following teacher/learner preferences) over a period of 2-3 weeks•Step 4: Collection of participant feedback and analysis (interviews and journal logs) •Step 5: Dissemination (through conference presentation, a journal article and teacher-oriented resources) |
From Practice to Proficiency: A Longitudinal Study of AI-Mediated Speaking Development in Intermediate Japanese | This project investigates how structured, AI-mediated speaking practice can support the development of oral proficiency among intermediate learners of Japanese, with a particular focus on fluency, confidence, and willingness to communicate (WTC) over time. The project builds on my current classroom implementation of weekly AI-based speaking activities and seeks to formalize this approach into a systematic, research-informed instructional model.A central challenge in language instruction is providing students with consistent, high-frequency speaking practice beyond the classroom while maintaining pedagogical structure and accountability. From a second language acquisition (SLA) perspective, repeated, meaningful practice is essential for the development of proceduralized knowledge… Students will complete weekly speaking tasks through Speakology aligned with course themes (e.g., daily life, cultural comparison, future goals). These tasks are designed to promote repeated, scaffolded interaction, supporting the transition from declarative to procedural knowledge while also increasing opportunities for output, which plays a key role in language development. Each AI-mediated activity will be paired with in-class interpersonal communication tasks and reflective assignments, creating a cycle of practice, reflection, and communicative application. |