Patrick J. Burns

Associate Research Scholar, Digital Projects @ Institute for the Study of the Ancient World / NYU | Formerly Culture Cognition, and Coevolution Lab (Harvard) & Quantitative Criticism Lab (UT-Austin) | Fordham PhD, Classics | LatinCy developer

(Re)active Latin: Computational Chat as Future colloquia

Abstract for article in New England Classical Journal

Citation

Burns, P. 2024. “(Re)Active Latin: Computational Chat as Future Colloquia.” NECJ 51 (1): 1–18. [doi:10.52284/NECJ.51.1.article.burns].

Abstract

What do chatbots have to do with the teaching of Latin? In taking up such a question, this article has two goals: 1. to situate computational chat, and ChatGPT specifically, as a technological next step in a tradition—from the colloquia scholastica to active Latin—of dialogue as a primary mode of teaching the language; and 2. to argue that large language models can bolster Latin pedagogy by providing ubiquitous, on-demand, contextually responsive interlocutors for language practice. I discuss conversation-based classroom activities drawn from recent Latin pedagogical literature and demonstrate how they can be adapted to chat. A conclusion argues for deeper interdisciplinary collaboration between classics and computer science as a way to leverage recent innovations while ensuring that technologies are “fine-tuned” to teaching expectations within the field.