Mississauga – An innovative language education research project aimed at supporting newcomers and refugees to Canada is finding that when it comes to helping them learn English, an AI tutor can be just as effective as a human — with the added benefit of providing much needed support in other areas of life as well.
“With an AI tutor, newcomers don’t just learn language skills, they also get exposed to cutting-edge technology that helps them adjust to their new life here in several meaningful ways, and sometimes that’s a much richer experience than the communication that takes place in a regular English instruction classroom,” said education expert Liz Coulson, an associate professor in the Department of Language Studies at University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM).
Coulson will join co-project lead Ji-young Shin, UTM assistant professor, in presenting findings from a multi-year mixed-methods study comparing the effectiveness of AI tutors to human tutors, at the upcoming Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Congress 2025), Canada’s leading academic gathering and one of the most comprehensive in the world, taking place May 30 to June 6 in Toronto.
Billed as a leading conference on the critical conversations of our time, Congress 2025 — themed “Reframing togetherness” — serves as a platform for the unveiling of thousands of research papers and presentations from social sciences and humanities experts worldwide. With more than 7,000 scholars, graduate students and practitioners expected to participate, the event will challenge attendees to model togetherness by working across differences, questioning hierarchies, and bridging divides in knowledge and experience to tackle the world’s most persistent challenges.
In their Congress presentation, Shin and Coulson – whose research was supported by other participating UTM professors – will highlight the significant role generative AI (GenAI) is playing in helping to remove language barriers and improve digital literacy among resettled refugees. Funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and conducted in partnership with the Syrian Canadian Foundation (SCF), their study involved 87 newcomers enrolled in the SCF English program between April and November 2023, representing 11 nationalities and a variety of highly skilled people, including a judge, lawyer and obstetrician.
Participants were randomly assigned to either a control group or experimental group and participated in weekly half-day sessions over the course of eight weeks. Both groups were taught English by native speaking university students in a classroom. The difference was the follow-up classroom activities, where one group was supported by human tutors and the other GenAI.
The curriculum was prepared in advance based on input from certified educators to ensure the sequence of events occurring in each class were similar, regardless of whether the tutors were human or AI-generated. Rather than focusing on grammar and vocabulary in isolation, the task-based learning activities were designed to mirror real life situations, such as preparing for a job interview or planning a road trip across Canada. Data collected from pre- and post-program testing — using a curriculum-embedded elicited imitation test (EIT) to assess language functions and grammar uses — were analyzed to measure improvements in English proficiency in both groups and to determine statistical significance.
“Our most important finding is that GenAI-enhanced language teaching is just as effective as human tutoring,” said Shin, who specializes in language education and educational technology. “But when we asked participants to share their experiences through one-on-one interviews, we also discovered that they felt less intimidated by GenAI tutors and freer to ask frequent questions without feeling apologetic.”
In fact, after becoming familiar with their GenAI tutor, participants were more apt to use GenAI as a valuable resource to support other daily activities, such as searching for a home, setting up a social media account or rehearsing conversations specific to their job. One participant even went so far as to call GenAI their friend.
Overall, the findings from the study were positive, indicating that GenAI technologies like ChatGPT have the potential to extend real-life language learning beyond the classroom, particularly when resources to support instructor-led learning may be scarce. Coulson was particularly excited to learn that one study participant, a woman from Afghanistan who lost her job when the Taliban government came to power, successfully improved her English to the point where she’s now applying to university.
“For the most part, these are highly skilled people who need support in advancing their professions now that they’re in Canada,” said Coulson. “GenAI has the capacity to help them level up their skills, and they appreciate that.”
“An important implication of this research is that it shows how incorporating innovative technology into language learning, especially for newcomers and refugees, actually helps to break down barriers, enabling them to live a more comfortable life here,” added Shin.
Organized by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences in partnership with George Brown College, Congress 2025 is sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Universities Canada, Colleges and Institutes Canada, University Affairs, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Sage, and The Conversation Canada.
Registration – which includes 100+ keynote and open Congress sessions, with a virtual attendance option for many presentations – is $30. Visit https://www.federationhss.ca/en/congress2025 to register for a community pass and access the program of events open to the public.
Source GBPR
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