Developed by Liu Cao, English Language Centre, School of Languages, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Target area
Writing for disciplinary task, specific vocabulary
Target Skills
Descriptive writing skills, ESAP vocabulary for architecture
Target Language Level:
CEFR B2+
The EAP AI Tutor is designed to enhance architecture students’ language learning through personalized, task-based support. In this writing task, students describe a visualized architectural design with a paragraph using discipline-specific vocabulary. The AI tutor provides real-time feedback and guidance through the process. The AI helps students refine their descriptions details, improving structure, sentence clarity, and especially offers professional vocabulary usage. By offering instant, customizable feedback, the EAP AI Tutor fosters learner autonomy, enabling students to master the language skills necessary for accurately and effectively describing architectural concepts in English.
Key features:
- Discipline-Focused Writing Support: Tailored guidance for architecture students on task-specific writing.
- Real-Time Disciplinary Knowledge: Provides instant clarification on discipline-specific terms, complementing language teachers’ expertise.
- Instant Feedback and on Writing Details: Personalized, detailed corrections for structure and language details.
- Student-Centered Approach: Encourages students’ autonomy and active problem-solving through independent task completion.
- Evolving Teacher Roles: Teachers are consultants who guide AI interaction and gain insights.
Suggestion for users
Time Management for Task Completion
When using the AI tutor, it is important to allocate sufficient time for students to complete the task. Students typically need over 30 minutes to interact with the AI and produce a near-final paragraph.
Pre-Task Preparation by Teachers
Before using the EAP AI tutor, teachers should conduct a pre-task session to help students understand the purpose of the EAP AI tutor, and how to ask the AI questions. Some students may try to use shortcuts, such as writing in Chinese, to complete the task. Therefore, it is recommended that the learning process be supervised and guided by the teacher to ensure effective usage.
Flexibility for Task Changes
The EAP AI tutor is designed based on a specific writing task requirements. If a different task is needed, the content and target language can be modified by replacing the knowledge base with new materials suited to the new task.
Additional information
I would like to share a video that demonstrates how we used the EAP AI Tutor and a writing task in a class session with EAP107 Design students from the Architecture department. This video was originally created for a project participating in the XIPU AI Innovation Competition in 2024 to showcase the application of this EAP AI tutor. The project collaborators include fellow instructors from EAP107, Shu Deng and Yuehong Gao.
This video provides a detailed look at the students’ vocabulary proficiency before and after the task, as well as a demonstration of how the EAP AI Tutor provides feedback and supports students throughout the process. The video showcases some of the students’ learning outcome and feedback and illustrates the practical application and functionality of the EAP AI Tutor in a real classroom setting.
This video will help you gain a better understanding of the EAP AI Tutor’s real-world usage and how it works in practice.
https://video.xjtlu.edu.cn/Mediasite/Play/b21e30ad1e274f638246a66c151f14f01d
The architecture images for the design description writing task are below:
