What can generative AI do for language teaching and learning—and where does it fall short? Mat and Phil beam us back to Oxford, Ohio, for Part 2 of their conversations from the 2026 CALICO Conference, exploring AI for language learning, language teacher education, AI-generated feedback, and conversational AI through four perspectives.

Dorothy Chun, Professor Emerita of Education and Applied Linguistics at UC Santa Barbara and recipient of the 2026 CALICO Lifetime Achievement Award, reflects on what decades of experience with language-learning technology can teach us about the current AI moment, including how to move beyond the hype to identify what AI can and cannot do and whether AI can reproduce the social, pragmatic, and intercultural dimensions of human interaction. Bin Zou, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China, examines the opportunities and challenges of generative AI for language teachers, including AI feedback and ways educators can incorporate their own pedagogical expertise into general-purpose AI tools. Visiting Professor of Applied Linguistics at Ohio University Francesca Marino considers AI and language teacher education, including how U.S. universities are preparing future language teachers and CALL researchers to integrate emerging technologies. Finally, Ben Altschuler, CEO of Speakology AI, explains how conversational AI can support language learning through realistic AI avatars and teacher-designed speaking activities.

In this episode:

• CALICO 2027 in Fairbanks, Alaska: https://calico.org/calico-2027/
• Dorothy Chun: https://education.ucsb.edu/people/emeriti-faculty/dorothy-chun
• Bin Zou: https://scholar.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/persons/BinZou/
• Francesca Marino: https://webcmsqa.ohio.edu/cas/linguistics/fmarino
• Ben Altschuler, CEO of Speakology AI: https://speakology.ai/