Page 35 - ELG2505 May Issue 494

INTERVIEW

FC: How do you use AI in your classes? negotiated the opportunities and limitations, Take writing as an example. Many of the
SM: I educate students about what AI is and and how they defined those. It was fascinating tasks we assign are still formulaic—twentieth
what it isn’t, how it can support learning, to speak with them. century-style writing tasks, like the five-
and how it might bypass learning if used What really struck me was how paragraph essay. Generative AI is extremely
uncritically. sophisticated many of their uses already good at producing those.
These conversations aren’t one-off lessons. were. I found that many students used AI So, what’s the real issue? AI or the task
Like all digital literacies, this needs to be to support their learning, not bypass it. All itself?
embedded in our lessons, discussions, and these uses are ad hoc, unsupervised, and
reflections. With our students, we need to sometimes even done in secret, especially Sophia Mavridi is a senior
talk about opportunities but also the issues in institutions where AI is banned. And I’m lecturer in educational
that come with AI, like transparency, labour not talking about copying and pasting AI- technology and TESOL at
exploitation, and environmental concerns. generated content. The students themselves De Montfort University, UK,
And we need to be honest. Institutions said that simply copying and pasting isn’t
say, “embrace innovation,” but then penalise something they value or accept as good where she teaches on the MA
students for using AI. That’s confusing. practice. in ELT and leads digital learning in her
Instead, we should educate students and then Instead, I’m talking about things like department. She is also a teacher educator
invite them to make informed decisions and paraphrasing, editing, and refining—actions who has worked with major organisations
take responsibility. that might lead some educators to look at such as the British Council, NILE, Bell
As for my own use, I use AI to develop students’ work and ask: Is this the student’s Foundation, and International House.
teaching materials and lesson ideas. I tell my work or the machine’s? And what learning Her publications reflect a strong interest in
students how I use it, so they can explore might have been lost in the process? innovative pedagogies in language education.
ways they might want to use it too. From the teacher’s perspective, it might
look like students are trying to hack their Fabio Cerpelloni is many
FC: What did your own research into way to success. But when the system is about things: a writing teacher, a
AI reveal? marks and only about marks, some students freelance writer, a blogger, an
SM: I’d like to point out that my research might want to use AI to get higher scores. author, an English language
wasn’t hype driven. It began in 2022, a time Students are aware of academic integrity tutor, a YouTuber, and a
when AI wasn’t such a hot topic like it is issues, too. It is a myth that only teachers podcaster. He holds a Cambridge CELTA,
today. and institutions care about these. Students a Delta, and an MA in Professional
I explored students’ experiences with AI, do care. Development for Language Education. You
from the students’ perspective. I didn’t just So, my research led me to ask some can learn more about him and his work at
explore what they did with AI, but also how important questions: Is AI the problem? Or is www.fabiocerpelloni.com.
they navigated the experience, how they AI simply breaking what is already broken?

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