Frederick Cecil Yarquah
Department of English, Shane English School,
Tokyo, Japan
OVERVIEW
AI can support teachers by addressing unexpected situations and creating engaging experiences for students. It helps with appropriate language use in different social contexts, adjusting examples to cater to varying language proficiency levels. AI can generate diverse examples within a simple context and provide visual depictions to enhance comprehension and interest in learning.
KEYWORDS
AI (Artificial Intelligence), Collaboration, Second Language Studies, Lesson Planning, Lesson Objective
THE TEACHER’S ASSISTANT
The use of AI as a tool or partner in the role of a teacher’s assistant is increasingly being adopted by educators in their lesson planning (Tierney, 2024). Depending on the available technology in the classroom, AI can enhance the effectiveness of a lesson. Even when used through a simple mobile device, AI can provide significant support to teachers and improve their performance in the classroom. AI can serve as a safeguard against unexpected situations, such as addressing questions that are not covered in the prepared lesson and can create a challenging and enjoyable experience for students who finish their work quickly. However, AI cannot directly assist with behavioral, emotional, or cognitive aspects of classroom engagement. Nevertheless, it can enhance a teacher's preparedness by offering suggestions and providing verified research to support innovative classroom practices that may have been unknown to the teacher. This collaborative role of AI in enhancing classroom engagement practices can be further customized to meet the demands of different contexts and cultures. This phenomenon can be analyzed and discussed under four practical domains.
THE PRACTICAL DOMAIN
Cultural Rules and Conventions in Communication
Cultural norms and conventions play a significant role in communication, particularly in the analysis of discourse. Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a valuable tool in facilitating appropriate language use within specific social contexts, particularly in adult education where cultural factors are unavoidable (Chiu, 2023). In specialized fields like English for Specific Purposes, AI establishes a suitable connection between the target language and its pragmatic application, ensuring that values, beliefs, and attitudes are not marginalized in the communication process. By considering all relevant factors and adapting to the context, AI generates language that is both appropriate and non-offensive to learners and their interlocutors, thereby fostering meaningful conversations. Moreover, AI aids teachers in understanding unfamiliar contexts by interpreting the context, providing explanations based on existing research, and offering examples from other educators. However, it is important to note that AI does not replace the teacher's efforts but rather expands their resources for lesson preparation. Consequently, AI serves as an effective tool for critical discourse analysis, as it can analyze a wide range of data and consider numerous factors to meet both general and specific needs, particularly in unique circumstances.
Adjusting Examples
AI can adjust and refine the examples provided by teachers to cater to varying levels of language proficiency among learners. This is particularly beneficial in the current educational climate, where there is a strong emphasis on promoting inclusivity and improving the learning experience for all students. By collaborating with teachers and following their guidance, AI can creatively contextualize lessons to incorporate elements that are relevant and engaging to specific learners, considering their individual interests, and learning requirements (Martin et al., 2018). Even in situations where teachers may be unfamiliar with certain examples, AI can assist in providing contextual explanations and presenting relevant information to help teachers design appropriate lessons. Furthermore, AI can generate multiple presentations or simplify complex scenarios to cater to the specific needs of each learner, effectively acting as a teaching assistant that complements the teacher's role in providing examples that meet the unique requirements of each student.
Optional Explanations and Alternative Examples
A comprehensive lesson necessitates ample examples to enhance the learner's comprehension. Artificial intelligence (AI) can provide diverse examples within a simple context. By utilizing a single word, AI can generate an extensive range of examples to fulfill the requirements of the lesson. The quantity of examples can be adjusted based on the specific needs of the learner, whether it be ten or twenty examples. Additionally, AI can present these examples in any desired format as instructed by the teacher, whether it involves breaking them down into phonological sounds or expanding them grammatically. This adaptability allows AI to tailor the explanations to align with the objectives of the lesson. Moreover, AI can help the teacher gain a deeper understanding of the lesson and aid in developing appropriate lesson objectives. Collaborating with AI on the lesson objectives can generate a multitude of ideas to expand future lessons and even create new ones. AI is also capable of reconstructing explanations in numerous ways, such as creatively, culturally, or contextually, and can generate distinct types of assessments as directed by the teacher for formative or summative evaluation (Aqua, 2023). In terms of practice activities, such as role plays, AI can assist in generating diverse settings for the same language usage. This customization can cater to the creative, cultural, or contextual requirements of the lesson design, facilitating an effective learning process.
Graphical Illustrations and Representations
One valuable contribution of artificial intelligence (AI) in education is its ability to generate visual depictions or graphical representations that effectively convey contextual usage and practical application of language. This capability is particularly beneficial in the instruction of vocabulary and specialized terminologies (Crompton & Burke, 2023). By incorporating storytelling techniques, AI can present graphic illustrations of language, thereby enhancing learners' comprehension and facilitating a more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. A lesson can be narrated as a story with vivid graphical illustrations to enhance learners' relatability and understanding. Students no longer need to struggle with imagining the context or setting of a conversation. Explanations can be illustrated with art, thanks to AI's ability to generate a series of pictures that explain various aspects of the lesson as instructed. Guided by the teacher's imagination, AI can generate useful graphical illustrations as examples to assist in explaining the content of the lesson and sometimes to clarify the main points. It can effectively paint a detailed picture of a setting in which language is used. This helps the teacher provide engaging narratives for the lesson, thus enhancing the overall quality of the educational experience.
CONCLUSION
In second language studies, many factors must be considered to ensure an effective and high-quality lesson. The simultaneous development of acquisition and learning is crucial for students to effortlessly attain their language learning objectives. This can pose a challenging and overwhelming task for teachers, necessitating support. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers this support by aiding teachers in establishing a conducive environment for acquisition and assisting in the creation of suitable lesson plans that enhance the learning process and align with the lesson objectives. AI can further cultivate students' interest in the learning process by generating novel ideas, delivering creative presentations, and incorporating diverse practical activities within the classroom setting.
REFERENCES
Aqua. (2023, July 30). The impact of artificial intelligence on education – How AI is revolutionizing the learning experience. Aquarius AI. Retrieved June, 2024, from https://aquariusai.ca/blog/the-impact-of-artificial-intelligence-on-education-how-ai-is-revolutionizing-the-learning-experience
Chiu, T. K. F. (2023). The impact of generative AI (GenAI) on practices, policies and research direction in education: A case of ChatGPT and Midjourney. Interactive Learning Environments. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2023.2253861.
Crompton, H., & Burke, D. (2023). Artificial intelligence in higher education: The state of the field. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 20(1), 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-023-00392-8.
Martin, F., Wang, C., & Sadaf, A. (2018). Student perception of helpfulness of facilitation strategies that enhance instructor presence, connectedness, engagement and learning in online courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 37, 52–65.
Tierney, L. (2024, March 5). “Perspective | Statistics snapshot: The intersection of AI use in education and plagiarism.” EDNC. Retrieved June, 2024, from https://www.ednc.org/perspective-statistics-snapshot-the-intersection-of-ai-use-in-education-and-plagiarism/
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