Saturday, 24 October 2026
Sustainability in Language Education:
Practices That Endure
Monterey Peninsula College
980 Fremont Street
Monterey, CA 93940
Virtual sessions are available exclusively to international presenters
Location: The Lecture Forum building is centrally located on the Monterey campus, situated right next to the Student Center and the College Theater. Monterey Campus Map PDF download.
Parking (Free): The closest guest parking is typically in Lot A or Lot B near the Fremont Street entrance.
Conference Agenda
Keynote Speaker: Eduardo R. Muñoz-Muñoz, PhD
Stanford University/San Jose State University
Stanford World Language Project (SWLP) Site Director
Assistant Professor, Bilingual Program Coordinator, San José State University
Awards: 1st Kennedy-Diamond Award for Community Engaged Research, Stanford 2016
Dr. Muñoz-Muñoz is a board member of the California Association for Bilingual Teacher Educators (CABTE),
the California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE), and a co-chair of
the Advocacy Committee in the California Language Teachers Association (CLTA).
13: 10 - 14:00 @ Lecture Forum # 101 – Bldg. 13
08:00 – 8:30 Conference Registration (Serving coffee, bagels & fruit) @ Lecture Forum (LF) # 101 – Bldg. 13
08:40 – 9:00 Dr. Branka Sarac, FLANC President, Welcome Note @ Lecture Forum (LF) # 101 – Bldg. 13
09:10 – 10:00 Concurrent Session 1 @ Social Science (SS) – Bldg. 12
10:10 - 11:00 Concurrent Session 2 @ Social Science (SS) – Bldg. 12
11:10 - 12:00 Concurrent Session 3 @ Social Science (SS) – Bldg. 12
12:10 – 13:00 Lunch (Lunch is not served) -ATSP Nor-Cal Meeting during lunch (SS Bld. 12 # 101)
13:10 - 14:00 Keynote Speaker: Dr. Eduardo R. Muñoz-Muñoz
14:10 – 15:00 Concurrent Session 4 @ Social Science (SS) – Bldg. 12
15:10- 16:00 Concurrent Session 5 @ Social Science (SS) – Bldg. 12
16:10 - 17:30 Silent Auction & Raffle Prizes, and Closing Circle @ Lecture Forum (LF) # 101 – Bldg. 13
Parking is Free
* FLANC Conference Registration is required for all participants.
FLANC President’s Welcome Note @ Lecture Forum (LF) # 101 – Bldg. 13
08:40 – 9:00
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Concurrent Session 1
9:10 - 10:00
Presentation 1A - SS Bld. 12 # 101
Sustainable and Dynamic AI Use in Foreign Language Classrooms
This session introduces Gemini Canvas to transform language education through sustainable tech integration that reduces teacher workload. By dynamically generating customized materials for authentic interaction, role-plays, and culturally contextualized feedback, educators foster sustained proficiency and student motivation. Participants will engage in hands-on design, creating AI-enhanced tools for effective, long-term classroom implementation.
Presenters: Sung Shim Choi & Jisoo Lee
Presentation 1B - SS Bld. 12 # 102
Feedback That Sticks: Formative Assessment Cycles for Lasting Language Proficiency
This session presents a research-based formative assessment framework developed in an intensive language-learning environment. By integrating diagnostic assessment, mediated feedback, and learner reflection, the model creates continuous feedback cycles that support individualized learning, learner agency, and measurable proficiency growth. Participants receive practical tools adaptable across language programs.
Presenters: Mustafa Abid & Hamid Mohammed Ahmed
Presentation 1C - SS Bld. 12 # 104
Beyond the Classroom: AI for Sustained Language Learning
This proposal presents a practical AI-supported language learning approach using personalized automated tasks that promote spaced practice, delayed recall, and timely feedback. By reducing preparation effort for teachers and learners while supporting sustained learner engagement, the approach demonstrates how generative AI facilitates efficient, scalable, long-term language development beyond the classroom.
Presenters: Jean Young Chun, Edna Lima & Sonia Perchaud
Presentation 1D - LF Bldg. 13 # 101
Towards a more dialogic approach in lecturers’ video feedback for students’ L2 writing: A multiple case study of Vietnamese lecturers’ perceptions and practices
This mixed-methods study investigated how a semester-long extensive reading (ER) program could be structured to support students' basic psychological needs and foster self-determined motivation.
Presenter: Trang Nguyen
Presentation 1E - SS Bld. 12 # 202
Multimodal and Transformative Approaches to Vocabulary Acquisition in Foreign Language Learning
This hands-on workshop explores multimodal strategies for vocabulary acquisition through visual-phonetic associations, cognitive learning principles, and AI-supported tools. Participants will learn practical techniques to reduce cognitive load, strengthen long-term vocabulary retention, and create engaging, personalized learning materials for diverse foreign language classrooms.
Presenter: Valeriya Podolyak
Presentation 1F - SS Bld. 12 # 205
Unpacking Sustained Motivational Mechanisms in Middle School Extensive Reading: A Mixed-Methods Study
Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this mixed-methods study investigates how a semester-long extensive reading (ER) program can be deliberately structured to support learners’ basic psychological needs, offering a model for sustainable, enduring practices in language education. These findings demonstrate that ER, when intentionally designed to be socially interactive and progress-oriented, serves as a need-supportive, self-sustaining classroom practice that minimizes reliance on fleeting external motivators. Implications highlight practical frameworks for embedding autonomy, competence, and relatedness into everyday instructional routines to cultivate resilient, lifelong reading habits.
Presenters: Jing Zhou & Yuman Xiao
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Concurrent Session 2
10:10 - 11:00
Presentation 2A - SS Bld. 12 # 101
AI Soundscapes: Revolutionizing Chinese Grammar Instruction Through Music
This interactive session introduces an innovative approach to teaching Chinese grammar by integrating artificial intelligence (AI), music, and authentic language input. Participants will discover how recurring grammar patterns in Chinese popular songs, combined with AI-generated music, can reinforce key grammatical structures through melody and rhythm. The presenter will demonstrate classroom-ready activities that promote grammar discovery, pattern recognition, guided production, and communicative practice while incorporating principles of memory science and multimodal learning. Attendees will explore practical strategies for using AI as a creative instructional partner to design engaging, low-anxiety learning experiences that enhance grammar retention, learner motivation, and long-term language acquisition. Participants will leave with adaptable resources and instructional ideas that can be implemented in Chinese language classrooms across proficiency levels.
Presenters: Li-Yuan Liao, Pei J Chang & Yongling Ma
Presentation 2B - SS Bld. 12 # 102
Revitalizing Reading Aloud: Blending Enduring Pedagogy with Modern Strategies
Reading aloud remains a valuable yet often overlooked language-learning strategy. This presentation demonstrates how structured reading-aloud activities, enhanced with AI and digital tools, improve pronunciation, fluency, grammar, listening comprehension, and learner confidence. Participants will explore practical techniques that transform traditional reading aloud into an engaging, proficiency-oriented classroom practice.
Presenters: Ying Amatya & Jing Shi
Presentation 2C - SS Bld. 12 # 104
Sustainable AI Integration for Language Teachers: Reducing Workload Effectively
This session presents practical, sustainable ways to integrate AI tools into language teaching to reduce planning, grading, and feedback workload while supporting meaningful language learning. Participants will explore tools and routines that save time without sacrificing pedagogical quality, leaving with ready-to-use strategies that support both teacher sustainability and student growth.
Presenters: Dima Almoamin & Mustafa Abid
Presentation 2D - LF Bldg. 13 # 101
Beyond Boredom: Triggering “Flow” to Sustain Engagement for Language Success
This presentation explores how Flow Theory can strengthen lesson design by helping language instructors create learning experiences that sustain enthusiasm while preventing disengagement, boredom, and burnout. Participants will discover adaptable, practical strategies to customize classroom activities and spark deep, intrinsic student motivation.
Presenters: Ivanisa Ferrer & Michelle Omidi
Presentation 2E - SS Bld. 12 # 202
From Cultural Symbols to Critical Cultural Literacy: Reframing Chinese Culture in U.S. Classrooms
This presentation examines how Chinese culture in U.S. language classrooms is often reduced to symbolic elements such as festivals, food, calligraphy, and the Chinese zodiac. Moving beyond these surface-level representations, it proposes a framework for critical cultural literacy that centers diaspora histories, contemporary sociopolitical contexts, and Chinese American experiences. Drawing on culturally sustaining pedagogy and classroom-based examples, the session offers practical strategies for reframing culture as dynamic, contested, and lived, thereby fostering deeper student engagement, identity development, and critical inquiry.
Presenters: Li-Yuan Liao, Chi-Ning Liu & Kara MacDonald
Presentation 2F - SS Bld. 12 # 205
Sustaining Proficiency Gains Across Extended Higher Education Language Courses
This session presents classroom routines that sustain proficiency growth across long-duration language courses. Drawing on SLA research in spaced retrieval, task-based interaction, and scaffolded feedback, presenters will share recurring instructional cycles that help learners consolidate gains over time, resisting the plateaus and attrition that often undercut progress in extended programs.
Presenter: Xiaohoui Wu
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Concurrent Session 3
11:10 - 12:00
Presentation 3A - SS Bld. 12 # 101
AI Integration in Italian Language Instruction: Balancing Innovation and Enduring Pedagogical Practice
Second language acquisition is shaped by multiple factors, yielding varied outcomes among learners. This study engaged one professor and two teaching assistants who surveyed 20 beginning-level Italian students across two semesters, collaborating to develop course materials tailored to diverse learning styles and proficiency levels. During the first semester, four AI-based applications were systematically integrated into classroom instruction to assess their impact on language learning. In the second semester, AI was used to generate study guides and expand instructional methodologies. Central to the research was the question of how AI advancements can function as an educational tool and source of individualized support, rather than a replacement for traditional pedagogy. Quantitative data were collected through recurring student surveys, while qualitative data captured subjective learner feedback. Combined analyses will measure the impact of AI-assisted and non-AI resources on student engagement and proficiency outcomes.
Presenters: Maria Grazia De Angelis
Presentation 3B - SS Bld. 12 # 102
Mapping for Sustainability: Visual Practices that Endure in Language Education
This session explores mapping—concept maps and visual thinking routines—as a sustainable practice in language education. By making thinking visible, mapping helps learners connect language, culture, and meaning over time. Participants engage in a hands-on activity and access QR-linked resources with practical strategies for immediate use in heritage language classroom settings.
Presenter: Tanya de Hoyos
Presentation 3C - SS Bld. 12 # 104
Empowering Foreign Language Memorization through the Timed Method
Foreign language learners are often confronted with the challenge of acquiring and retaining a large amount of information within a limited period. The stress associated with intensive language training can negatively affect memory and the ability to retain newly acquired knowledge. The Timed Method is designed to help learners expand their knowledge within constrained time frames while developing more effective and sustainable learning strategies.
Presenter: Sandrine Chorin
Presentation 3D - LF Bldg. 13 # 101
Beyond Prompting: Building Sustainable Instructional Systems Through GPTs and Agents
While teachers are increasingly incorporating AI tools into course design and classroom activities, many “reinvent the wheel” each time, unaware of the customizable tools available to them. Using classroom-tested examples, this session demonstrates how building reusable custom GPTs and Copilot Agents increase learner engagement, streamline feedback, and reduce teacher workload.
Presenters: Robin Berube & Pyong Gag Ahn
Presentation 3E - SS Bld. 12 # 202
The Last Human Skill: Teaching Culture When Technology Speaks Languages
As AI increasingly handles translation and language support, the role of language teachers is evolving. This session shares classroom-tested strategies that cultivate intercultural competence, perspective-taking, and interpretation—human capacities that technology cannot fully replace and that continue to benefit learners beyond the language classroom.
Presenters: Svetlana Davidek & Mariya Serttunc
Presentation 3F - SS Bld. 12 # 205
Building Sustainable Cultural Readiness Through AI-supported Background Knowledge Enhancement
This presentation shares a practical, AI-supported Background Knowledge Enhancement Curriculum that builds sustainable cultural readiness for language learners. The session reports mixed-methods research findings from the curriculum pilot involving 50 learners, showing increased learner engagement, intercultural competence, and readiness for intercultural communication, all of which support sustained language development.
Presenters: Siyi Gao & Ra'ed Qasem
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12:10 – 13:00 Lunch
ATSP Nor-Cal Meeting (SS Bld. 12 # 101)
***************************************************
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Eduardo R. Muñoz-Muñoz
13:10 - 14:00
Stanford University/San Jose State University
Stanford World Language Project (SWLP) Site Director
Assistant Professor, Bilingual Program Coordinator, San José State University
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Concurrent Session 4
14:10 – 15:00
Presentation 4A - SS Bld. 12 # 101
Repositioning the Instructor in the AI Era: A Product Positioning Approach to Metacognitive Pedagogy
This presentation introduces a "Product Positioning" framework to redefine the instructor's role in the AI-integrated classroom. By strategically situating AI as a feedback-providing agent between teacher and student, we shift the instructor's role from sole lecturer to facilitator of metacognitive development and self-directed learning.
Presenters: Jeonsun Kim & Ji Soo Lee
Presentation 4B - SS Bld. 12 # 102
Streamlining Language Feedback Loops with Simple AI Integration
Providing timely, individualized feedback often drives educator burnout. This session demonstrates how simple, targeted AI prompting can generate high-quality student feedback while ensuring active learner accountability. Attendees will discover practical strategies to integrate AI sustainably into their routines, reducing administrative workloads without sacrificing the quality of student interaction.
Presenter: Yerie Han
Presentation 4C - SS Bld. 12 # 104
Work Smarter, Not Harder: Sustainable Technology for Educators
As educators face increasing instructional, administrative, and technological demands, sustainable technology integration has become essential. Too often, new tools are adopted without considering their long-term impact on teacher workload and effectiveness. This interactive session focuses on practical strategies for using technology to simplify, rather than complicate, teaching and learning. Participants will explore how digital tools and AI-powered applications can streamline lesson planning, assessment creation, grading, feedback, and progress monitoring. The session will highlight sustainable practices such as automating routine tasks, developing reusable instructional resources, leveraging learning management systems, and using data-informed workflows to support instruction. Through case studies, audience polling, and collaborative discussions, attendees will evaluate technology through the lens of efficiency, sustainability, and instructional value. Participants will leave with actionable strategies, a technology decision-making framework, and a personalized plan for implementing tools that save time, reduce burnout, and create more opportunities for meaningful teaching, learning, and student support.
Presenters: Hamid Mohammed Ahmed & Mustafa Abid
Presentation 4D - LF Bldg. 13 # 101
Chunking, Retrieval Practice, and in-class engagement
This presentation focuses on sustainable practices using a three-pronged approach. 1) Help learners build small chunks of collocations through flipped-class materials developed by applying Assistive AI tools. 2) Retrieve the chunks in working memory enough times to be stored in long-term memory. 3) Form complex neural pathways through in-class engagement.
Presenter: Wendy Tu
Presentation 4E - SS Bld. 12 # 202
Sustaining Advanced Language Learning through Korean Four-Character Idioms and Reflection
This presentation introduces a sustainable instructional model that integrates Korean four-character idioms (sajaseongeo), authentic reading texts, intercultural comparison, and reflective journals. Findings suggest that culturally embedded expressions promote advanced literacy, critical thinking, intercultural competence, and lifelong learning while supporting sustained language development beyond classroom instruction.
Presenter: Deborah Choi
Presentation 4F - SS Bld. 12 # 205
Reinforcing Verbal Skills Using Communication in Action: An Enhanced Role Play Approach
Traditional role play is an effective instructional strategy that helps learners develop the ability to express, support, and defend their ideas. Communication in Action expands upon the traditional role-play model by allowing students to design and develop their own roles in depth before engaging in authentic interaction. This learner-centered approach promotes greater ownership of the learning process while strengthening verbal communication, critical thinking, and spontaneous language production.
Presenter: Sandrine Chorin
Concurrent Session 5
15:10- 16:00
Presentation 5A - SS Bld. 12 # 101
Reducing Cognitive Overload to Improve Reading and Listening Retention
This session presents a research-based formative assessment framework developed in an intensive language-learning environment. By integrating diagnostic assessment, mediated feedback, and learner reflection, the model creates continuous feedback cycles that support individualized learning, learner agency, and measurable proficiency growth. Participants receive practical tools adaptable across language programs.
Presenters: Mustafa Abid & Hamid Mohammed Ahmed
Presentation 5B - SS Bld. 12 # 102
From Overload to Retention: Sustainable Practices for Language Classrooms
In technology-rich language classrooms, learners often face cognitive overload from digital distractions and excessive information. This session explores practical, sustainable strategies grounded in Cognitive Load Theory to support attention, retention, and language acquisition. Participants will gain adaptable, classroom-tested techniques that reduce cognitive demands and promote long-term learning success.
Presenters: Ying Shiroma & Cong Li
Presentation 5C - SS Bld. 12 # 104
Enhancing Self-Regulated Learning Through AI: Strengthening Learner Autonomy
This study examines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) enhances self-regulated learning by fostering learner autonomy. AI-powered tools provide personalized learning experiences, timely feedback, goal-setting support, and self-monitoring opportunities. The presentation discusses key benefits, challenges, and the potential of AI to develop independent, lifelong learners equipped for future educational demands.
Presenters: Lin Tsai Liao & Yu Fang
Presentation 5D - LF Bldg. 13 # 101
Beyond Text: Creating Accessible Hindi Listening Experiences that Foster Communication, Independence, and Lasting Proficiency
Unpack how an AI-powered voice synthesis and audio generation platform transforms Hindi instruction by generating accessible, inclusive, authentic listening experiences for Hindi learners, including ELlearners and students with reading disabilities. This interactive session showcases sustainable practices that strengthen three modes of communication while fostering learner independence and Hindi proficiency.
Presenter: Bhavya Singh
Presentation 5E - SS Bld. 12 # 202
Teaching Smarter with Generative AI for Sustainable Language Learning
This session demonstrates how generative AI supports sustainable language teaching through practical, communication-focused classroom activities. Participants explore AI-generated reading, listening, speaking, and image-based tasks that reduce preparation time while promoting learner engagement, creativity, critical thinking, and meaningful language use. Teachers receive adaptable strategies for immediate classroom implementation.
Presenters: Pyong Gag Ahn & Junghee L. Laxton
Presentation 5F - SS Bld. 12 # 205
Small Changes, Lasting Learning: Reducing Cognitive Overload in Language Classrooms
Reading aloud remains a valuable yet often overlooked language-learning strategy. This presentation demonstrates how structured reading-aloud activities, enhanced with AI and digital tools, improve pronunciation, fluency, grammar, listening comprehension, and learner confidence. Participants will explore practical techniques that transform traditional reading aloud into an engaging, proficiency-oriented classroom practice.
Presenter: Yingxin Lu
Silent Auction & Raffle Prizes, and Closing Circle
@ Lecture Forum (LF) # 101 – Bldg. 13
16:10 - 16:40