Language Teaching Research Quarterly

This contribution examines the risks and affordances of new technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence, for language learning, teaching and assessment, paying special attention to higher education. Based on a synthesis of recent literature, we argue in support of e.g., Gao (2024), González-Lloret (2024), Kern (2024), or Thorne (2024) that language learning and language use is at its core a deeply human endeavour, which cannot be outsourced to technology. Based on our central thesis that humans in language education cannot be replaced by technologies, we then summarize affordances and limitations posed by technology in language education, before we look at a strategic level from an institutional perspective. Based on these insights we synthesize the new roles, needs and demands that emerge for languages teachers and learners in the era of GenAI. We illustrate these theoretical deliberations with concrete examples from one large language centre in the North of Germany, covering the strategies developed at the institutional level, the supporting measures offered for and developed with teachers as well as the approaches taken to include students in the discussions about the role of technologies in language education.