Takako Aikawa

Takako Aikawa is a Senior Lecturer in Japanese. Her work explores how AI can enrich human-centered language learning, especially through personalized learning and the use of custom large language models. She previously worked at Microsoft Research in machine translation and natural language processing. Her current research centers on technology-enhanced language teaching, with a particular focus on the pedagogically grounded integration of artificial intelligence into language education. She has held teaching positions in Japanese at universities in both Japan and the United States, bringing together expertise in language pedagogy and language technology. She is currently developing an AI-augmented pedagogical framework, FLaP (Fluid Language Pedagogy), which reimagines language learning as a learner-centered process supported by guided personalization, learner agency, and teacher scaffolding.

Aikawa earned a BA from Japan’s Tsuda University and an MA and a PhD from Ohio State University.