Eun Hee Kim and Chin-Hung Chang receive Alumnae Award for Curriculum Innovation

Eun Hee Kim and Chin-Hung Chang have been named the 2024 recipients of the Alumnae of Northwestern University’s Award for Curriculum Innovation.

Kim and Chang plan to enhance Korean and Chinese language learning with a conversational chatbot that will help students practice outside the classroom.

Administered by the Office of the Provost, the award recognizes and supports faculty who have innovative ideas for new courses, methods of instruction, and components of existing classes.

The award comes with $12,500 in funding to be split among expenses for the development of the innovation, a stipend for the awardee, and the faculty member’s home department. The three recipients will be recognized during a reception in the spring.

Eun Hee Kim is an assistant professor of instruction, and Chin-Hung Chang is an associate professor of instruction in department of Asian languages and cultures at Northwestern University. Their curricular innovation responds to growing student interest in learning Asian languages. They will develop a customized conversational chatbot to create a more extensive practice with the target language outside of the classroom.

This interactive technology will be a powerful tool for facilitating language learning for second-year Korean and Chinese language students, equipping them with scaffolded practice with newly learned vocabulary, grammar and expressions and laying the foundation for effective engagement in diverse cultural communities.

Kim has been teaching Korean for eight years. Her research interests include the investigation of innovative pedagogical approaches within language education settings. Her current research centers on the effectiveness of the use of collaborative tasks for language learning.

Chang has been teaching Chinese for 15 years. Her research interests include the intersection of technology and language learning. Her current research focuses on prompting in generative AI and informal language learning using technology.