Hayley Goodwin and Sara Machan Research AI in the ESL Classroom

In Spring 2025, Professors Hayley Goodwin, Sara Machan, and external consultant, Madhumini Rajapakse, were awarded a Generator Growth Grant and a SSHRC Explore Grant for their project, Using GenAI as a Classroom Assistant for Low-Level ESL Students. The project is being supported by research assistant, Professor Dana Victor Hazin, a Sheridan TESOL Plus alumni. Starting in September 2025, this project is exploring two questions:

• How do adult learners perceive Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in helping them to develop their English language speaking skills?
• What are best practices for teachers when introducing GenAI to their low-level ESL students?

Students in Sheridan’s ESL program come from myriad educational and cultural backgrounds ranging in ages from 16 to 65. As such, there are varying degrees of digital literacy amongst any class or language level of students. However, there is a basic digital skillset students must have in order to operate successfully in a post-secondary educational environment.  Many of these students are newcomers to Canada and have significant gaps in their education, resulting in poor digital literacy skills.

Sheridan’s ESL program is looking to support students’ digital literacy skills through the development of new courses in the next academic year. Indeed, the introduction of GenAI has increased this necessity as otherwise an AI divide will emerge; one which is defined less by access and more by differences in learners’ abilities to understand, navigate and critically use AI tools for educational purposes. Students are now faced with software, such as Chat GPT, Microsoft Co-Pilot, or Google Gemini, capable of error-free language production using a single prompt.  It is crucial that educators help these students to recognize its incredible capabilities to support their language learning journey, while also understanding its limitations and potential negative outcomes.

Hayley and Sara intend to introduce GenAI to their students through communicative classroom activities. Initial activities will involve prompt writing, including how to introduce yourself to the software and what you do/ don’t want the software to do. Future activities will then highlight different capabilities of the software such as live role plays, presentation preparation, or pronunciation practice. 

Feedback from participating students will be solicited at three points during the semester. Their feedback, in addition to the experiences of the co-investigators and research assistant, will help clarify how students perceived the software and in helping them to develop their English language speaking skills. These data sources will also inform a list of best practices that can be shared with other educators interested in introducing GenAI to their students, regardless of their education, culture, age or language proficiency level, in an intentional scaffolded manner. The overall goal of the research is to ensure that newcomers aren’t left behind as AI has already begun to revolutionize classrooms and workplaces.