Takako Aikawa

        

As a Sr. Lecturer in Japanese in the Global Languages Department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), I am responsible for directing the Japanese language program while tackling questions such as how to utilize technology for language learning.  I have a long history of teaching Japanese at various universities both in the United States and in Japan. 

Prior to MIT, I worked for the Machine Translation team and Natural Language Processing group at Microsoft Research (Redmond, WA).  During my time at Microsoft Research, I worked on various projects related to language technology including machine translation.

My research interests include: interface issues between language education and AI technology; language pedagogy; Human Computer Interactions; use of Augmented/Virtual Reality for Language Learning, project-based language learning, Natural Language Processing, and Japanese Linguistics.