Digital Fusion: Development of Augmented Lesson Planning in EFL Teacher Education

Benjamin Ade-Thurow & Bianca Roters (University of Education Ludwigsburg, Germany)

With the publication of the new educational standards for English at the lower secondary level (KMK 2023), foreign language-specific digital competence has been introduced as an integral component of competence development. Consequently, it is essential to prepare prospective EFL teachers for the implementation of this concept from the very beginning of their professionalization process in order to enhance their professional vision (e.g., Hüttner 2022).

The presented concept aims to foster augmented lesson planning competencies, using artificial intelligence (AI) as a debate bot to assist in developing lesson sketches. Based on established models for lesson planning in English language teaching (e.g., ProPLan, Diehr 2020, 2021), prospective teachers create initial lesson sketches in response to a video prompt, which are then compared with AI-generated outcomes. This process is critically reflected upon in terms of subject-specific pedagogical standards and modified in subsequent iterations.

As part of their training, students learn to adjust prompts in order to iteratively refine their lesson planning. The concept will be implemented in seminars starting in the winter semester 2024/2025 at the University of Education Ludwigsburg (Germany) and will be evaluated with regard to students’ professional vision and reflection competence.

publications:
Roters, Bianca & Ade-Thurow, Benjamin (accepted). Professional vision and digitally-enhanced lesson planning in EFL pre-service teacher education. Special Issue, The Language Learning Journal.
Ade-Thurow, Benjamin & Roters, Bianca (accepted). Augmented Lesson Planning als Professionalisierungsmoment für die agency angehender Englischlehrkräfte. k:ON – Kölner Online Journal für Lehrer*innenbildung.