Innovation in Language Learning
Preparing African Languages for Digital Education: Language Preparation as a Framework for AI-Enabled Language Teaching and Learning
Gratien G. Atindogbe, University of Buea (Cameroon)
Rachel Ayuk Ojong Diba, University of Buea (Cameroon)
Abstract
Digital technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are transforming language teaching and learning through intelligent tutoring systems, speech technologies, automatic assessment, and generative AI. Yet African languages remain significantly underrepresented in these innovations because they often lack the linguistic, educational, digital, and institutional capacities required to support technology-enhanced teaching and learning (Filita & Jita, 2022; Mokala, 2025). We argue that the principal challenge is not merely technological but one of language readiness. Building on the emerging theory of Language Preparation (LP) (Atindogbe & Ojong Diba, in preparation), this paper introduces Language Preparation for Digital Education (LP-DE) as a framework for preparing African languages to participate effectively in AI-enabled education. LP conceives language preparation as a deliberate and anticipatory process of developing the capacities that enable a language to function in emerging domains before technological demand arises. These capacities include language standardisation, terminology development, educational materials, digital corpora, AI-ready datasets, teacher preparation, and supportive language policies. Drawing on current scholarship on AI-enabled language education and African language technologies, the paper argues that sustainable digital innovation depends on systematic investment in these dimensions of language preparedness. Rather than viewing the limited use of African languages in digital education as primarily a technological problem, LP-DE demonstrates that many constraints originate in insufficient language preparation. The paper concludes that LP-DE provides an integrative framework linking African linguistics, language education, educational technology, and AI-assisted language learning. By conceptualising language readiness as a process of capacity building, LP-DE identifies the foundational conditions under which African languages can participate meaningfully in AI-enabled education.
Keywords: Language Preparation; African languages; Digital education; Artificial Intelligence; Language teaching and learning, Language Technologies.
REFERENCES
[1] Atindogbe, G. G., & Ojong Diba, R. A. (in preparation). Language Preparation: Towards a New Paradigm in Linguistics.
[2] Filita, N., & Jita, T. (2022). Teachers' perspectives on the use of ICT in the teaching of a South African home language, Sesotho. Journal for Language Teaching, 55(2), 219–241.
[3] Mokala, N. (2025). Integrating technology in teaching African languages in institutions of higher learning in South Africa: Gaps and challenges.
