Conference Speakers
Meet our distinguished keynote speakers and presenters
Keynote Speakers
Prof. Dr. Xuesong (Andy) Gao
University of New South Wales, Australia
Prof. Dr. Xuesong (Andy) Gao is a distinguished researcher and educator specializing in language teacher education and professional development. His expertise brings profound insights into the evolving landscape of language learning.
Keynote abstract ▾
Reframing Language Education in the Age of Generative AI
The rapid rise of Generative AI (GenAI) has placed language education at a critical juncture. Like professionals in other fields such as accounting and law, language teachers may fear displacement by AI technologies, while language education programs simultaneously face funding cuts in many contexts, including Australia and the United States. In this climate, language teacher education programs must equip teachers to better articulate and communicate the value of language learning. Drawing on findings from a recent systematic review, this paper argues that language teachers need to strengthen their professional capacity to support learners’ holistic development across several key dimensions: well-being and identity, cognitive development, professional growth, linguistic competence, intercultural communicative competence, and academic achievement. While future pedagogical efforts should foreground the humanistic growth of language learners (e.g. agency), language education professionals must also prepare to teach increasingly cognitively and neurodiverse populations. In particular, demographic shifts in some global contexts suggest a gradual move away from an exclusive focus on young and adolescent learners toward greater engagement with third-age language learners.
Dr. Marie Yeo
Senior Language Specialist, SEAMEO RELC, Singapore
Marie Alina Yeo is a Senior Language Specialist at SEAMEO RELC, Singapore. She is Co-Editor of the RELC Journal and Series Editor of the RELC New Portfolio Series. Her work spans English language teaching, teacher development, and educational project management across Australia and Southeast Asia. Her research examines generative AI, academic integrity, language assessment, and academic publishing. She has co-authored widely cited studies on AI and assessment policy and currently investigates how AI is reshaping academic publishing and assessment.
Keynote abstract ▾
Fostering Language Learning through Formative Assessment in the GenAI Era
This presentation explores how classroom-based formative assessment can foster language learning in the GenAI era. It revisits Black and Wiliam’s five formative assessment strategies and the overarching principle of using assessment evidence to inform subsequent teaching and learning decisions. Together, these form a 5+1 framework that provides a coherent approach to formative assessment. The presentation then considers how GenAI reshapes these strategies, particularly in writing instruction, where AI-mediated outputs may not accurately reflect learners’ abilities. Drawing on practical examples, the presentation illustrates how GenAI can help teachers clarify learning intentions and success criteria, elicit evidence of learning, support learners’ engagement with feedback, develop greater learner agency and ownership, and utilize feedback more effectively. The presentation concludes by considering how teachers can integrate GenAI into formative assessment while keeping learners at the centre of learning.