Speaker
Description
A study conducted by Mitchell R. Bradford Jr. (Doctorate student at the University of St Andrews) in 2024 amongst 100+ teachers and 500+ students of EAP at 20+ transnational universities in China explored some of the challenges they face. One area which warranted attention was AI, with findings showing that there are concerns about students using it too much to complete assignments and using it blindly without checking for accuracy. Furthermore, a fear of AI has caused some teachers to try to avoid or ban it. Students, however, tend to use it regardless, but the lack of clear guidance on how to employ it effectively may result in a reckless and/or over usage of it, potentially leading to concerns in regards to academic integrity. These issues will be addressed in this workshop. It will begin with a discussion about what AI is, followed by what might be considered the overreliance on a variety of available tools and technologies. This will be followed by analyzing the reasons students choose to use AI, before exploring suggestions and activities that could help students understand how to use it more appropriately and effectively. The session will end with an examination of some useful tools and websites for teachers and students.
Biography
Mitchell R. Bradford Jr. is an EAP lecturer and teacher trainer at the University of Waikato Joint Institute at Hangzhou City University. Hailing from Arkansas (southern U.S.A.), the former football coach holds degrees in Foreign Languages (Southern Arkansas University) and TESOL (Nottingham-Ningbo, China) along with a DELTA. Mitchell has taught in the US, Guatemala, and China from kindergarten to university. He also helps with teacher training courses held by the Regional English Language Office (RELO) at the US embassy in Beijing. Mitchell has published and presented research internationally about EAP, virtual education, and Intercultural Communication in English and Spanish. He is partaking in TESOL doctoral studies at the University of St Andrews and is exploring the challenges of EAP teachers (and students) at Sino-Foreign institutions and teacher professional development. When back home in the US, Mitchell delivers talks and workshops about world cultures and TESOL at local schools and universities
