Biography
Romaissa Ouail is a PhD candidate at the École Normale Supérieure de Bouzaréah in Algiers, Algeria. Drawing on her experience teaching English as a foreign language, she researches intercultural pedagogy and English for Specific Purposes.
Conference contributions 1
CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE OR COPY-PASTE? EFL TEACHERS' EVALUATION OF AI-GENERATED/ENHANCED LESSON PLANS' CULTURAL APPROPRIATENESS:
Case of Algerian high school EFL teachers.
The rise of AI-powered Large Language Models (LLMs) such as Chat GPT, Gemini, and Claude has opened novel pedagogical possibilities in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Education. Indubitably, the use of LLMs in EFL lesson planning is increasing, yet the cultural appropriateness of AI-generated/enhanced lesson plans has received limited attention from both teachers and scholars. As such, a discussion is due about how teachers evaluate the extent to which their AI-generated lesson plans' content, examples, names, norms, values and practices align with Algerian high school students cultural background in order to mitigate the risk of confusion, offense or disengagement among students, prior to the actual lesson implementation. As a result, this mixed method study examines how 20 Algerian high school EFL teachers evaluate and mediate lesson plans designed or enhanced with the use of AI tools namely LLMs. Data were collected through document analysis of paired materials; the initial AI output and the teachers' final version used in class. Informed by document analysis results, semi-structured interviews with few EFL teachers will follow for further explanation of the matter. The present study concludes that teacher evaluation of lesson plans'cultural appropriateness is essential for customizing them to local contexts and eventually for enhancing the overall pedagogical practice. Moreover, it highlights implications for EFL teacher training on critical AI literacy as well as cultural adaptation.