This experience was implemented in the BA Applied Languages and B.Ed in Modern Languages. 88 students (typically). All students are in semester three of the second year and are also preparing to leave UL for two semesters to go out on work placement in semester four and then on to the ERASMUS study abroad programme in semester five, returning to UL in Semester six. The student profile is mixed with student applied linguists studying with future Modern Language teachers.

This is important to know because sections of our module are designed to help students become more autonomous and self-regulated in their learning. GenAI tools can help a lot in this regard. This module also majorly deals with the evaluation of Technology and Second Language Acquisition, so a range of GenAI tools are evaluated as a matter of course for this module. The overall aim of the module is to help students become optimal language learners with their use of varied apps and technologies, with a high personalisation of the learning experience in the use of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL).

Task / Goal

Goals: To introduce students to the major pedagogical, professional and research applications of technology in modern languages and to enable students to integrate these into their studies. By the end of the Semester, students will have engaged in practices and reflections on their language learning methods and experiences with technologies, especially GenAI tools, in order to gain a better understanding of themselves as language learners.

Over 12 weeks, the students are introduced to a major theme in CALL in the weekly lecture. Themes include evaluation of GenAI for language acquisition, gamification of learning, Critical Digital Literacies, and critical pedagogies. Each week in the 2-hour lab session, students are asked to write their reflections on the particular weekly theme in their own blog area contained in our VLE, which is visible to all students in the module. This is important because students are invited to comment on the reflections of other student blogs (minimum six comments) in an “intelligent, engaging and constructive way”. Feedback and further discussion are led by the Lab Tutor. This exercise takes up to 30 minutes.

At the end of the semester, the students assess their previously written blog posts, reflect on them, and compile and submit what they believe to be their four best blog posts for evaluation and feedback. Also in the Labs, students are afforded the time and opportunity to assess relevant apps and websites for their language learning and also as prep for their study abroad. One session, for example, on Digital Games-Based Language Learning is always highly engaging and helps to dispel prejudices against gaming for learning and encourages students to open their minds to other opportunities for language and culture acquisition.

The final assessment is a personalised reflective essay (worth 40%) of 2000 words on CALL, answering the current question of “Using AI Tools to Transform my Student Learning Experiences at UL”. Week 12 is entirely devoted to class discussion on this topic, looking back over the whole semester whilst the lab sessions allow the prep, structure and part composition of the essay which must include a number of relevant research articles related to GenAI and student (language) learning.

Actions / Implementation

As part of the module (Technology and Language Learning), students had one face-to-face weekly lecture introducing the main theme of study for the week and one two-hour tutor-guided lab class in which to practise, reflect upon and compose a multimodal blog about the topic at hand.

The primary and overarching theme throughout the module is: GenAI for language acquisition. The range of topics included: CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning) and GenAI Evaluation (two weeks at beginning, one final week at the end of the module); Critical Digital Literacies; Machine Translation/GenAI literacy; DGBLL (Digital Games-Based Language Learning.

Due to the large numbers of students, and in the spirit of UDL, we have a range of assessments, ranging from multimodal blogging to MCQs. Most importantly and as is reflected in the weighting given to it, the final essay, for outside the teaching spaces, amounts to 40% of the final grade. For the last few years, we have been experimenting with various assessments titles and tasks for this reflective essay. Given the prevalence, opportunity and indeed temptation for students to use GenAI in composing the essay, we decided to try to personalise the topic as much as possible. The current title is: “Using AI Tools to Transform my Student Learning Experiences at UL.” There is no formal final written examination.

Outcomes

The outcomes were very revealing and quite rewarding for our students, as evidenced by the content from the student essays, blog postings, and final discussions in Week 12. Eighty-seven out of 88 of the essays discussed the issue of integrating GenAI in various ways in order to become better and more optimal language learners. Many of the students stated that they are much more informed about the potential of GenAI in their learning, but also the need for them to develop a “critical layer” of assessment for when, where, how and how much of the GenAI tools they could use to help them in their learning and not allow themselves to become lazy in casually using the tools.

The students also revealed a fear of accusations of plagiarism and possible expulsion from the course, which was holding back a great use of GenAI tools. A typical student statement: “I can often forget how much I have used Copilot, but I know that I need to go back over my work both to check my own output and where the AI tool has helped me.” Another very typical example: “GenAI tools are very useful for brainstorming ideas at the start, and then I work on them myself with my own ideas” and also “you really need to learn and practise how to write and refine those prompts to take maximum advantage.”

Reflections

With their usual brutal honesty, student feedback was very informative. We learned that for many students last year, prior to the module, they feared using GenAI tools because they might be severely disciplined if they were suspected of plagiarism, had they made any use of GenAI tools in completing any assessments on their course.

We learned that currently, we still need to complete techno-ethical audits regularly across all of our modules until we reach a point of balance with our students on how to integrate these tools effectively so as to become more rounded and better critical thinkers for sustainable learning with GenAI. Techno-ethical audits can take several forms extending beyond the student declaration that this is “all my own work” when submitting a written or multimodal assessment. There can and perhaps should be open and frank discussions with students in class at the beginning, middle and end of the semester on the ethical uses of GenAI tools in their own learning. These can be reassuring and helpful for both students and lecturers.

In this current semester, we have seen a definite change in student thinking and practices. ChatGPT has now become a verb, with certain students declaring that they intend “to ChatGPT a question/topic/issue” in preparing their assignments. So, the change continues, and Tutors need to upskill accordingly. Improve for next time? Full knowledge of AI policies from EU, Irish, University and School/Department/local unit levels and being open and direct with students on this – now central – issue in their learning.

Digital Resources

Typical resources as examples:

https://feedbackfruits.com/ai-chatgpt-resources-hub#categories

https://poe.com/ (for creating their own customised GenAI chatbot)

https://paradoxlearning.com/resources/

References:

Hockly, N. (2024). Nicky Hockly’s 30 considerations for using AI. Cambridge University Press. (In press).

Kew, T., Schottman, F., & Sennrich, R. (2023). Turning English-centric LLMs into polyglots: How much multilinguality is needed? ArXiv.

Author Biographies

Prof. Liam Murray is a Professor in French and Language Technologies in the School of Languages Literature, Culture and Communication at the University of Limerick, Ireland and teaches courses on CALL, digital games-based language learning, French civilisation, and media, GenAI in language learning, e-learning, and evaluation.