Classroom-tested: Immigrant youth help gov't polish AI language tool

Students converse at Ansan Seonil Middle School in Gyeonggi Province, July 26, 2023. The institution serves as a prominent example of Korea’s evolving student demographics, with about 70 percent of its enrollment consisting of students from migration backgrounds. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

In an effort to better support the growing population of students from multicultural backgrounds, the Ministry of Education and the Korea Education and Research Information Service announced Tuesday the launch of a new student advisory group.

The initiative is designed to directly integrate student feedback into Everyone's Korean, the government's flagship artificial intelligence (AI)-driven language platform.

The advisory panel, which will run through December, consists of 22 teams comprising roughly 60 immigrant-background students and 22 guiding teachers. The participating students represent 15 different countries of heritage, including Vietnam, China, Russia, Nigeria and Brazil, bringing a highly diverse set of linguistic perspectives to the table.

Launched as an online service to help students learn Korean both at school and at home, the Everyone’s Korean platform utilizes AI technology to determine language proficiency, track individual progress and suggest tailored educational content. As of June, the platform is actively used by over 29,000 students, teachers and administrators across more than 7,200 institutions nationwide.

The newly formed student advisory board was conceived to bridge the gap between software development and actual classroom realities. By gathering monthly feedback on usability, the ministry plans to roll out critical technical and content upgrades. Planned improvements include the development of a dedicated mobile application by 2027, expanded educational vocabulary for middle school science and math courses and the addition of interactive typing games.

"I was frustrated because it was hard to objectively gauge my Korean skills, but Everyone's Korean allowed me to pinpoint exactly where I was falling short in speaking and writing," a student from the participating Korean Master team said in a statement released by the ministry.

Educators also praised the platform's versatility.

"It allows for highly personalized lessons," said a guiding teacher from another advisory team. "A newly arrived student can focus on basic vocabulary, while longer-term students expand on their grammar — all studying the same topic simultaneously."

The initiative is part of Korea’s broader national education policy aimed at narrowing learning gaps.

"By listening to the experiences and vivid voices of the students who actually rely on this platform, we will continue to meticulously refine the system to make learning Korean easier and more enjoyable," said Noh Jin-young, director general of the education ministry's Student Support Bureau.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.