Abstract
This paper presents the preliminary findings of collaborative classroom research that aims to investigate how the Danish SkoleGPT (Københavnsprofessionshøjskole), a pedagogically adapted and GDPR-compliant version of ChatGPT (large language model), can be employed to support the processes of writing (Weigles, 2014) among lower-secondary school writers of English, French, and German in the Danish school system. The research question driving this study is the extent to which a single AI-technology such as skoleGPT can support multiple writing processes. The investigation is framed by action research (Burns, 2009), where six lower-secondary school language teachers, in collaboration with three education researchers, design and trial LLM-supported writing learning activities in their own classroom praxis. Each of the three languages is represented by a collaboration team comprising one education researcher and two schoolteachers. The development of the writing learning activities will be further qualified using such action research methods as semi-structured observation and guided reflective dialogue. The use of AI-technology by the participating teachers’ students (approximately 150) will be charted prior to the intervention through the use of a written questionnaire (designed in accordance with Dörnyei, 2003), while their response to the LMM-based writing learning activities will both be recorded through observation and elicited with the use of post-intervention focus group interviews (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2015). In addition to producing a catalogue of ready-to-use LLM-supported writing learning activities, this collaborative investigation is expected to give rise to new, empirically grounded, cross-language principles for the teaching of LLM-supported writing. Furthermore, any unique technology and didactic related challenges experienced within the realm of each of the targeted language subjects will also be brought to the fore.
The impetus for this research is the recent explosion of interest in the application of artificial intelligence technology, following the public release of ChatGPT in November of 2022. This rise in interest has not just been observed in education in general (Chen et al., 2022) but also in foreign language teaching in particular (Kohnke et al., 2023). Much of the recently published scholarship on the application of ChatGPT in the field of foreign language teaching merely suffices to identify the various language skills and components that appear to lend themselves to the support of this technology and to list one-off examples of ChatGPT-based activities (e.g., Kostka & Toncelli, 2023; Özcelik & Gündüz, 2023). This body of literature does not explore how this technology can support the learning of any one language skill or knowledge component in a sustained and meaningful way. Nor does this literature investigate how this technology can serve to augment the learning of a given language skill or knowledge component (Puentedura, 2013), let alone how it can serve to innovate the current didactics of such a language skill or knowledge component. The investigation conducted here aims to contribute toward the closing of these research gaps.
References
Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2015). InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing. (3. ed.) SAGE Publications.
Burns, A. (2009). Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching. Routledge.
Chen, X., Zou, D., Xie. H., Cheng, G., & Liu, C. (2022). Two Decades of Artificial Intelligence in Education: Contributors, Collaborations, Research Topics, Challenges, and Future Directions. Education Technology & Society 25, 1: 28-47.
Dörneyei, Z. (2003). Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration and Processing. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
The impetus for this research is the recent explosion of interest in the application of artificial intelligence technology, following the public release of ChatGPT in November of 2022. This rise in interest has not just been observed in education in general (Chen et al., 2022) but also in foreign language teaching in particular (Kohnke et al., 2023). Much of the recently published scholarship on the application of ChatGPT in the field of foreign language teaching merely suffices to identify the various language skills and components that appear to lend themselves to the support of this technology and to list one-off examples of ChatGPT-based activities (e.g., Kostka & Toncelli, 2023; Özcelik & Gündüz, 2023). This body of literature does not explore how this technology can support the learning of any one language skill or knowledge component in a sustained and meaningful way. Nor does this literature investigate how this technology can serve to augment the learning of a given language skill or knowledge component (Puentedura, 2013), let alone how it can serve to innovate the current didactics of such a language skill or knowledge component. The investigation conducted here aims to contribute toward the closing of these research gaps.
References
Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2015). InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing. (3. ed.) SAGE Publications.
Burns, A. (2009). Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching. Routledge.
Chen, X., Zou, D., Xie. H., Cheng, G., & Liu, C. (2022). Two Decades of Artificial Intelligence in Education: Contributors, Collaborations, Research Topics, Challenges, and Future Directions. Education Technology & Society 25, 1: 28-47.
Dörneyei, Z. (2003). Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration and Processing. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
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Titel | Theoretical and applied perspectives on enhancing FL learning through the adoption of AI |
Redaktører | Georgis Neokleous, Joana Duarte |
Vol/bind | New insights on learning (foreign) languages with and through AI |
Forlag | Multilingual Matters |
Status | Under udarbejdelse - 2025 |