Can AI Serve Multilingual Learners? It can help…with expert MLL oversight.
Artificial intelligence is no longer on the K-12 horizon. It has arrived in our classrooms at staggering speed and scale. A recent EdSource article stated that 68% of K-12 educators use AI, and 73% of parents say their children use it. The article closed with an important message: “People want clearer guidance on where AI can support learning, where it may create risk and when learners need to rely on their own judgment.”
Beyond the classroom, AI has created new possibilities for how we build instructional materials, giving us a robust tool to design adaptive tutoring, feedback chatbots, and instructional content itself. But, in the rush to scale automated tools, educational leaders face an urgent challenge: How do we ensure these rapid technological shifts actually serve Multilingual Learners (MLLs), one of our most underserved student demographics?
At ELSF, our position is grounded in decades of foundational educational research and remains consistent: As technology evolves, the research supporting proven MLL pedagogy and best practices does not change just because the medium does.
No matter how AI is woven into the development of instructional materials, these materials must maintain cognitive rigor, build academic language proficiency, and honor students' cultural and linguistic assets. Because of this, we firmly believe that human oversight is non-negotiable in AI-generated product development, particularly oversight by an experienced educator with MLL experience.
This is the only way to ensure that AI-generated products and resources add value without compromising quality or opportunities for multilingual learners.
Understanding where AI fits within the EdTech Instructional Materials Market
This technology will continue evolving rapidly. As it does, the conversation around what constitutes AI, the role of AI within different product types, and broader questions around the EdTech product market will become even more important, and likely more overwhelming.
The EdTech instructional materials market is vast, with a wide range of product types. There’s also great diversity in the intended users for particular EdTech products, as well as the purpose each product serves. Some products support teachers or student learning, while others support classroom or school-wide diagnostics and planning. They can be used to prepare lessons, during lessons, or to reflect on lessons and evaluate learning.
Many EdTech products have begun incorporating AI-generated content, or using AI as a tool in certain aspects of product development. As AI’s influence grows across multiple sectors of the instructional materials market, the need for guidance on its use has become increasingly urgent.
To support content developers, state and district leaders, and other educational partners grappling with how to responsibly incorporate new technologies within their instructional materials, ELSF has created preliminary AI Guidance, including Practical Do's and Don'ts and a high-level visual one-page overview. This new guidance is grounded in our years of research and work alongside content developers and educators alike.
ELSF’S AI GUIDANCE
Grounded in the ELSF Guidelines for Instructional Materials, ELSF’s decades of foundational research, and informed by our engagements with content developers and EdTech product teams, the guidance offers Do’s and Don’ts. These Do’s and Don’ts are the first in a series of guidance on how to maximize AI-generated content so it’s inclusive of MLLs. We started by answering the questions most asked based on our work with EdTech partners, and will continue to release guidance as we monitor advancements in product development.
The information outlined in this guidance is designed to provide curriculum developers and EdTech product teams with an immediate starting point for assessing the current use of AI and informing new ones.
The AI Guidance is separated into 5 sections:
- Language Analysis: Language Objectives and Progressions
- Translation
- Formative and Summative Assessment of Language Development
- Actionable Teacher Guidance
- Quality Work at Varying Proficiencies
Each section includes recommendations of how AI can support the stated topic, how AI should not be used, and a rationale explaining why it matters. As with all of our resources, the guidance also comes with a list of references for further reading and clarification.
ELSF’s AI Guidance is meant to provide an immediate overview, applicable to a wide range of potential tools and products.
For Content developers and EdTeach teams, immediate actions can include:
- Download and share ELSF’s new AI guidance with your teams or include as part of your team training.
- Ensure your teams working on AI products include experts on MLL pedagogy.
- Always have an experienced educator, with an understanding of MLL needs and the specific content area, review AI products or outputs.
- For further support, reach out to ELSF to learn how we can help your team with this process.
State and district leaders can also utilize this new AI Guidance. While the guidance is explicitly tailored for content developers and EdTech companies producing AI products, education leaders can use and share this tool to understand what to look for and ask for when reviewing EdTech products.
Moving Ahead with Informed Urgency
We are cautiously optimistic about the potential for AI and educational technology to amplify learning, but it will never replace the human connection at the heart of education.
At ELSF we fundamentally believe that learning is a social act, negotiated among students, teachers, and the world we live in.
Given this lens, we know that technology can help us do so much [better], but it should never replace the richness and complexity of human interactions in learning settings.
Stay tuned as ELSF will continue to release guidance to support MLL inclusion in AI-created instructional materials. Let’s build the future of education for our MLLs responsibly.
If you’re interested in learning more about how ELSF can support the thoughtful integration of EdTech products and resources into your curriculum materials and student learning, please reach out to us at opportunities@elsuccessforum.org.
