Introduction to the First Thematic Issue: Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Translation in the Teaching of Slavic Languages and Literatures

This editorial introduction frames Russian Language Journal’s first thematic issue on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine translation in the teaching of Russian and other Slavic languages, literatures, and cultures. It argues that the rapid spread of large language models makes AI impossible to treat as an optional add-on, pushing educators to revisit authorship, genre, literacy, and assessment while avoiding both moral panic and “quick-fix” approaches. The article synthesizes contributions that (1) integrate chatbots into genre-based writing and conversational practice while emphasizing critical AI literacy; (2) design context-aware conversational agents for Russian and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, noting pedagogical benefits alongside risks such as inaccuracies and flattened language; (3) use AI to interrogate proficiency and foster critical literacy; and (4) apply AI to literature and media analysis, including “glitch” readings and collaborative learning-lab models. It also highlights the new Digital Resources Corner and summarizes regular-section studies on Russian pragmatics and case instruction.