ETA Conference Workshop Summary – Key Insights on AI Use in English Classrooms
Friday 21 November 2025
University of Western Sydney, Parramatta Campus
Overview
This workshop explored the practical realities, challenges, and opportunities that English teachers face as generative AI becomes increasingly embedded in student learning, assessment, and teacher workflows. Participants shared classroom experiences, ethical concerns, evolving school policies, and creative applications of AI that enhance rather than replace authentic learning.
1. Teachers’ Evolving Relationship with AI
- Teachers are increasingly using AI professionally to save time on tasks such as differentiating texts, generating reports, drafting programs, and collecting resources.
- Many teachers expressed that although they began hesitant, practical benefits have shifted their perception toward cautious acceptance.
- AI serves as a “personalized tutor” for students—especially when teachers cannot provide one‑on‑one help.
- Teachers noted that clear, guided prompting is essential; without prerequisite knowledge, students struggle to judge AI accuracy.
2. Supporting Diverse Learners
- AI helps break down texts for students working at lower levels by simplifying vocabulary, adjusting reading age, and generating scaffolded versions of the same material.
- Teachers reported strong benefits for EAL/D learners—AI assists with translation, clarification, and comprehension.
- AI supports students with dysgraphia or writing difficulties by transcribing handwriting from photos and enabling them to communicate ideas clearly.
3. Enhancing Engagement and Idea Generation
- AI assists students with summarising novels, identifying key ideas, generating brainstorm lists, and exploring themes in complex texts.
- Students who struggle with initial comprehension (e.g., in Jane Eyre, Henry IV, Macbeth) benefit from AI-generated summaries that build foundational understanding.
- AI can generate model responses, allowing teachers to compare class-written paragraphs with AI outputs—helping students understand what strong analytical writing looks like.
- Teachers noted the value in asking students to “outperform” AI analytically, strengthening personal voice and critical thinking.
4. Multimodal and Creative Uses
- AI greatly enhances multimodal assessments—students generate imagery, create speaking avatars, or build character-based presentations.
- In drama, students used AI to write monologues, generate scripts, or produce visuals to support performance tasks.
- In interdisciplinary projects (e.g., bilingual children’s books), AI created custom illustrations and supported translation.
5. Challenges: Authenticity, Academic Integrity, and Detection
- Teachers highlighted the unreliability of AI‑detection tools—reports of 97%, 52%, and 17% “AI-generated” outputs for genuine student work caused confusion.
- Many schools are transitioning written assessments toward invigilated tests or viva voce assessments to reduce plagiarism risk.
- Google Docs version history and draft tracking tools help verify student authorship.
- Several teachers noted students’ reluctance to perform or speak due to social‑media‑driven self-consciousness, complicating performance-based alternatives.
6. Emerging School Policies
- Some schools use an AI‑permission “score” per assessment (e.g., AI 0–3), with each level describing acceptable AI use.
- Zero‑AI tasks do not necessarily occur under timed conditions, but rely on classroom observation and draft tracking.
- Policies are inconsistent across schools; many are still developing frameworks.
- Some teachers require an AI log documenting:
- date and tool used
- summary of output
- how AI contributed to the final work
7. Pedagogical Themes
- Teachers emphasised that AI should support—but not replace—skill development.
- Effective use aligns with Bloom’s Taxonomy: AI can assist with lower‑order tasks (identify, describe), freeing class time for higher‑order skills (analyse, evaluate, create).
- AI can help students refine tone, correct grammar, expand vocabulary, and restructure paragraphs.
- Teachers stressed that students must still contribute meaningful personal intellectual effort; AI may provide “80%”, but students must provide the final 20%.
8. Opportunities for Classroom Practice
- AI-enabled pre‑lesson preparation boosts student confidence in speaking tasks.
- Teachers use AI to model sophisticated language and alternative phrasing for repetitive student writing.
- Pair and group work, supported by AI‑assisted preparation, increases likelihood of student participation.
- AI-generated practice questions, model paragraphs, and simplified explanations support differentiation across abilities.
Conclusion
Across the workshop, teachers demonstrated creativity and professionalism in adapting to AI’s rapid emergence. While concerns about authenticity and assessment integrity remain, the consensus is that AI—used ethically and transparently—can meaningfully enhance learning, support diverse student needs, reduce teacher workload, and elevate the sophistication of student thinking. The next steps include developing clearer policies, sharing resources, and continuing cross‑school dialogue to navigate AI’s expanding role in English education.
Share your experiences
Click here: Google Discussion Group: AI in English Teaching
Some Austi Classics releases
- Click here: Henry IV Part 1
- Click here: Macbeth
Click here: Shakespeare Study App for Android