Throughout history, change has stirred insecurity as people try to hold on to the familiar as it crumbles before them. Good leaders understand the emerging world and offer a path through the tumult of adjustment. Bad leaders pretend that the old world will reassert itself and use insecurity to legitimize their leadership. Over the past several years, more bad leaders than good have emerged, forcing a discussion of the future off the table.

The future doesn’t wait, of course, and technological developments are coming together that portend rapid change in the 2020s. The most important of these developments is artificial intelligence because it will allow machines to take jobs from humans in large numbers.

AI includes a wide range of technology that give machines human-like capabilities. Algorithms help machines make judgements that can be applied to a wide range of situations. They determine what pops up on your Facebook feed and offer health advice based on your medical history. Artificial vision, for example, helps driverless cars “see” what’s on the road.

The applications of AI are endless, but they come with the loss of human work. One such area of human work is second-language learning. In Korea, great amounts of time and money are invested in learning English. As English is a required language from elementary school through the first years of university, it supports many public-school teachers and a system that educates them. English is also required for entrance to university, which supports a network of private for-profit schools. All of this supports an industry of publishers and materials developers.

English isn’t the only language Koreans learn, of course. Many students take Chinese or Japanese in high school and people continue to learn these languages in for-profit language schools later in life. And like English, these languages support a materials development industry.

Korea is a leader in applying technology to language learning as the popularity of e-learning materials and television classes shows. AI applications will improve these existing formats while creating new options. Voice synthesis technology, for example, has improved greatly and could soon approximate native-speaker pronunciation, reducing the need for expensive native-speaker teachers.

Just last week, Casio’s Lesson Pod, a “digital conversation partner” went on sale in Japan. The device models practical sentences with near-native pronunciation.

Improvements in AI could lead to the expanded use of automated essay rating technology. Already many states in the US use machine grading in public schools to assess writing skills development. This has stirred considerable controversy, but the technology continues to improve and expand. English education in Korea currently contains very little writing, but improved machine grading would make it possible to include a written English exam in the university entrance exam.

New technologies often put existing industries out of business. AI could help make up for deficiencies in second-language education, but it could also reduce the need for learning a second language.

Though English is required, the number of Koreans who can use it effectively after learning it for years in school is limited. Many among the elite, of course, are fluent in English because of their studies overseas and their network of international connections. Improved AI might reduce the need for spoken English in many situations because a language robot is faster and more accurate. This would mean that the time and money spent to learn English could be spent on other subjects that offer greater cultural and practical benefits.

Another reason for learning English is to access that wealth of information in the language. Like it or not, English is by far the most dominant language in all fields of research and academic endeavors. It is the common language of business, diplomacy and the news media. Being able to read English gives access to this huge body of knowledge.

The dream of machines that turn language A into language B flawlessly is old, but the results have continued to disappoint, as anybody who has tried to translate sarcastic Facebook posts knows. In the past few years, however, AI has helped to improve the technology. As the pace picks up, the need for human translators will decline. The day when reading in a second language requires only a click instead of years of study is approaching.

If the rapid advancement of AI has the potential to redefine and remake second-language learning, then it also has the potential to do the same in other areas of human work. The question then is how we will deal with the mass dislocation that is sure to follow. 


By Robert J. Fouser

Robert J. Fouser, a former associate professor of Korean language education at Seoul National University, writes on Korea from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He can be reached at robertjfouser@gmail.com. -- Ed.