Cambridge English & EDUCATE Ventures Research Funded Programme:

Generative AI for English language learning, teaching and assessment

Cambridge University Press & Assessment in collaboration with EDUCATE Ventures Research are delighted to announce a Call for Proposals for funded research on the use of generative AI for English language learning, teaching and assessment.

With recent developments and significant coverage in the press, there has been an increased interest in the use of generative AI tools for language education. Governments and educational institutions are starting to issue statements on how genAI may or may not be used in education and are taking measures, including banning the technology, restricting access on campus or bringing assessed coursework into the classroom. Other institutions, practitioners and learners are embracing the new technology. Against this educational background, we particularly encourage research that will provide insights into how generative AI can enhance and reshape current approaches to English language learning, teaching and assessment in an ethical, equitable manner - not simply replicate or substitute current practices.

Priority research topics for Round 13 are listed below. 

• Use of generative AI to augment or transform language learning tasks, activities and processes
• Suitability of generative AI for development of learning and/or assessment tasks tailored to language level, age and stage of learning, and implications for learning and assessment contexts
• Personalisation of the learning experience both in terms of tailoring learning to individual needs, interests or learning aims and in terms of potential for formative assessment and feedback to support progress
• Role of generative AI as a teacher’s AI collaborator
• Approaches to addressing the risk for malpractice
• Use of generative AI to widen accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion of learners in language education
• Ways of mitigating the risk of AI reinforcing and reproducing existing social, economic, racial and gender biases and inequality in society found in historical data
• Development of competencies to support human interaction with generative AI
• Evaluating the impact of generative AI on language education practices

Successful proposals will receive funding of up to GBP 13,000, including institutional overheads. Projects will follow the schedule and the duration of each project will be approximately twelve months. Successful applicants will work in collaboration with researchers from Cambridge English and EDUCATE Ventures Research (https://www.educateventures.com/team). Upon completion, opportunities for publication will be supported.

Application form can be found here 

The deadline is 17^th September 2023.

We look forward to receiving your proposals for research projects on generative AI and English language education.