I am an assistant professor of French language teaching at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. I am affiliated with the Institute for the Analysis of Change in Contemporary and Historical Societies (IACCHOS), co-directing the Cripedis research center, and co-affiliated with Girsef. I collaborate intensely with researchers at CENTAL, CECL and TeAMM research groups. I am also an associated professor at ITEC, an imec research group at KU Leuven. I was previously a professor and a French and English teacher trainer at Universidad Central del Ecuador.
I study conversational AI for language learning, or dialogue-based CALL, more precisely task-oriented chatbots (or dialogue systems) for language learning, at the intersection of task-based language teaching (TBLT), computer-assisted language learning and natural language processing (NLP). My research focuses on the instructional design and the evaluation of the effectiveness of conversational AI for L2 proficiency development, particularly L2 vocabulary size, spoken and written L2 fluency, and longitudinal assessment of L2 proficiency in various instructed SLA contexts.
recent and upcoming talks
| 1 Apr 2025 | Paper at TBLT Conference 2025 University of Groningen, Groningen AI vs Human Task-based Tutoring: Engagement, perceptions and written fluency with Anaïs Tack |
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| 22 Mar 2025 | Keynote at Prix de l'ABPF Université libre de Bruxelles, Etterbeek Intelligence artificielle en (classe de) français : au-delà du blabla |
| 4 Feb 2025 | Keynote at Journée du français / Dag van Frans Eeckhout Academy, KU Leuven Kulak, Kortrijk Intelligence artificielle et langues : au-delà du blabla / Intelligence artificielle et activités intelligentes pour la classe de français ? with Michel Boiron |
| 7 Nov 2024 | Keynote at International Conference “Shifting Boundaries: AI and Human Interactions” (SHAI) Universitá di Napoli L’Orientale, Naples Looking back, looking forward: From dialogue-based CALL to LLM chatbots for language learning |
