Speaker
Description
Increasing access to the Internet results in teachers and parents expect students to achieve high level of English proficiency through self-directed learning with high-tech tools. However, even when students have overcome first level, they still face second level of digital divide. Without digital literacy, the process of self-learning is ineffective and limited. In Vietnam, emerging research about artificial intelligence (AI) and information and communication technology (ICT) in ELT focuses on access and general usage, with limited attention to how disparities in digital skills shape learning outcomes. Consequently, the core problem of inequality in learning English has not been addressed and solved.
This study aims to investigate students’ awareness of the divide and their strategies to reduce it. Task-based observation will be used to track students’ learning practices, followed by in-depth interviews and analysis of AI prompts to understand their beliefs and thought processes.
The anticipated results suggest that students with fewer resources encounter a gap in skill and usage, limiting their ability to acquire English. At the same time, although AI can promote autonomous learning, it can also reinforce or reproduce the existing inequality depending on how effectively students use it. This study contributes to current discussions on digital equity in English language teaching and highlights the need to develop critical digital literacy and more inclusive AI-informed practices.
Biography
Trà is a freelance English teacher and an independent researcher in Hanoi, Vietnam. She used to teach English for Academic Purposes and General English to undergraduate students at Hanoi Law University. Her research interests lie in sociolinguistics and critical applied linguistics, with a particular focus on equity issues in English language teaching, symbolic power in EFL classrooms, and the social construction of language learning discourses in Vietnamese higher education. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Jan van Dijk, her current work examines the inequality in accessing and using high-tech tools in teaching and learning English. This is her first international conference presentation, and she is passionate about bridging critical theory with classroom practice to promote more equitable English education in Vietnam.
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