Professional Biography

Alexander J. Barron is a language educator and emerging scholar whose research examines AI-augmented curriculum design, situated learning theory, and teacher identity within urban Mandarin programs. His central inquiry explores how artificial intelligence can support the development of culturally relevant, identity-safe Chinese language instruction for K-5 African American students in Title I schools.

Barron holds an M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and World Language Education from the University of Georgia (GPA 3.9) and a B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature from Heilongjiang University, where he graduated as valedictorian. He also completed coursework in Political Science at Morehouse College. His ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview is rated Advanced High, and his Writing Proficiency Test is rated Intermediate High.

His scholarship has appeared in the University of Georgia's Winter Conference as well as the Georgia Children's Literature Conference; he has presented at the Kaigler Children's Book Festival on topics including immigrant narratives in children's literature and the sociopolitical dimensions of Dr. Seuss's wartime works. Barron is a member of the National Language Service Corps and, since 2022, serves as an IB Chinese Teacher and the Head Debate Coach at Wesley International Academy in Atlanta, Georgia.

His areas of research include situated learning models, children's literature, war and immigration narratives, second language acquisition as phenomenology, and the integration and meaning of AI in American classroom contexts.