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Description
Abstract:
English in many EFL contexts is often positioned as an academic subject associated with grammar mastery, examinations, and language proficiency. However, in literature classrooms where inquiry, interpretation, and creative expression are emphasized, English may function differently as a medium for meaning-making and personal expression. This classroom-based qualitative study explores how inquiry-based learning and AI-supported creative tasks contributed to repositioning English beyond language learning in a Grade 7 Standard English Literature class at an International Baccalaureate (IB) school in Ho Chi Minh City. The participants were twenty lower-secondary learners with relatively low proficiency and limited interest in English Literature. Over a 2.5-month unit centered on a historical novel, students engaged in inquiry questions, storyboards, character posters, oral presentations, analytical essays, and AI-supported creative narratives. Data were triangulated across teacher observations, students’ artifacts, Google Form reflections, and analyzed through thematic coding. The findings suggest that inquiry-based and AI-supported activities appeared to gradually reposition English from an academic requirement toward a medium for literature interpretation, imagination, discussion, and personal expression. Students also demonstrated increased willingness to communicate ideas, connect literature with personal perspectives, and perceive English as a resource for meaning-making. The study highlights the potential of AI-supported literature learning environments in repositioning English from a school subject toward a lived medium for meaning-making, creativity, and identity construction among adolescent learners.
Key words: literature education; English as meaning-making; inquiry-based learning; AI-supported creative tasks; learner agency
Biography
Tran Thao Uyen is a lecturer at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Ton Duc Thang University, Vietnam. She has been teaching in higher education since 2011, delivering courses in language skills, English linguistics, Business English, Translation, and Interpretation. In addition to higher education, she has several years of experience in English Literature instruction within an International Baccalaureate (IB) context, working with lower-secondary learners in inquiry-based literature classrooms. Her research interests focus on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in language education, learner agency, translation studies, and innovative pedagogical approaches to literature teaching. Her recent work explores how AI-supported learning environments influence meaning-making, creativity, and reflective engagement in language classrooms across different educational settings
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