ESL
Community Discussions
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AI Detection for ESL Students: The False Positive Problem
This is something I feel strongly about, and I think it's one of the most important equity issues in the AI detection conversation. AI detectors disproportionately flag writing by non-native English speakers…
AI Writing Tools for ELL Students – Legitimate Support or Off-Limits?
This is something I've been going back and forth on and I need to think it through with other teachers. I teach ESL in Ontario. Several of my students are at intermediate…
Do AI Detectors Flag ESL Students More? 8 Months of Tracking
I teach ESL and ELL students at UBC and I've been systematically logging something that I think needs to be part of the policy conversation. Over the past two terms, I recorded…
8 Months of False Positive Data on ESL Students – Complete Update
Reporting back after 8 months of systematic tracking. Posted preliminary findings in April - here's the complete dataset. Sample: 847 detection events across my ESL and ELL students at UBC. 3 tools…
ESL students getting flagged more often, anyone tracking the pattern at their school
ive started keeping informal records this year of which students get flagged by detection tools after a colleague mentioned it felt like a pattern. out of the eleven flags in our department…
AI for ESL Writing – Literacy Tool or Crutch? Three Months of Watching
I teach ESL and English at the secondary level and I've been watching how my ESL students use AI writing tools for three months now. My honest take. For students at higher…
Language development apps vs ChatGPT for ESL vocabulary building
Spending my prep periods this week trying to figure out what to actually recommend to my ESL students for vocabulary practice at home since parents keep asking what app to buy. I've…
Differentiated AI assignments for mixed-level ESL classes
my ESL block this semester has kids ranging from basically beginner to almost fully fluent all in one room, which is normal for us but makes any kind of blanket AI assignment…
Our school’s AI policy doesn’t account for ESL at all
Our new AI policy came out this week, board wide, one size fits all, and there is not a single line in it about ESL learners. Same detection thresholds, same consequences, same…
Our library built an AI literacy unit for ESL students, sharing what we learned
our school library ran a three session AI literacy unit specifically designed for our ESL students this fall, separate from the general digital citizenship unit we do for the whole school. wanted…
International students using AI translation before AI writing tools, layered detection nightmare
working with our international student support office on a case thats more complicated than the usual ai detection conversation. student writes an essay in their first language, runs it through a translation…
International students getting flagged way more than domestic students, anyone else seeing this
i teach a first year writing course with a large international student population, probably 60% of my roster this term. i pulled our detection flag data from the first month, informally, just…
International students getting different detection results than domestic students
i've been keeping informal notes for my own sanity since january and i noticed something i cant explain away easily. across my three sections this semester, international students have been flagged by…
GPTZero flagged my ESL student’s essay, feeling stuck on what to do
first year teacher here so please be gentle. one of my ESL students got flagged by gptzero at 71% ai probability and i genuinely don't know what the right move is. she's…
Communicating AI concerns to parents who don’t speak English fluently
Parent teacher night last week did not go the way I planned. I had a parent come in with her daughter translating for her because she wanted to understand why her kid's…
Our library is running ESL-specific AI writing workshops
Our teacher-librarian started a monthly AI writing workshop specifically for our ESL students this year and I wanted to share because its been going really well. Instead of a general how-to-use-AI-responsibly assembly…