Translanguaging + AI: Designing Inclusive and Sustainable Language Learning

Translanguaging + AI: Designing Inclusive and Sustainable Language Learning

Professor Zhongfeng Tian
Department of Urban Education
Rutgers University–Newark

May 12, 2026 (Wednesday)
Room 408-410, Meng Wah Complex, HKU
12:45 – 14:00
Chair: Professor Kevin Tai

Abstract:
This seminar examines how translanguaging and generative AI can work together to promote inclusion, creativity, and sustainability in language education. Drawing on classroom-based research and global examples, Professor Tian illustrates how educators can design learning ecologies that leverage students’ full linguistic repertoires alongside AI tools to foster equity, agency, and innovation.

About the speaker:
Zhongfeng Tian is an Associate Professor of Bilingual Education at Rutgers University–Newark, USA. His research bridges bilingual and multilingual education, TESOL, teacher education, second language writing, and generative AI, with a focus on translanguaging and equity-oriented approaches to language education. His work examines how educators can support multilingual learners across diverse educational contexts through decolonial, translingual, and justice-oriented perspectives, drawing on participatory design research and self-reflexive methods.

He has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles in leading venues such as TESOL Quarterly, The Modern Language Journal, Applied Linguistics Review, Language Policy, and Journal of Second Language Writing. He has also co-edited multiple special issues and books with major publishers including Routledge, Multilingual Matters, Springer, Bloomsbury, and De Gruyter Mouton. His research has been supported by organizations such as the Spencer Foundation, AERA, ACTFL, NCTE, and TESOL. He currently serves as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, The Modern Language Journal, and Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education.

~ All are welcome ~