Enhancing structural awareness with AI-powered sentence reordering: An automated tool for CLIL-based primary English education in Japan

• Hazuki Nakata ^[1]
  1. [1] Konan Women's University

     Konan Women's University

     Chuo-ku, Japón

     
• Localización: EuroCALL 2025. Advancing CALL: New research agendas / Yazdan Choubsaz (dir. congr.), Paz Díez Arcón (dir. congr.), Ana Gimeno Sanz (dir. congr.), 2025, ISBN 978-84-1396-326-6, págs. 121-130
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This study presents an AI-powered tool designed to promote structural awareness in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) lessons in Japanese primary schools. Since English became compulsory in 2020, teachers have encountered various challenges, such as restricted class time, insufficient resources and heavier workloads. The tool addresses these issues by enabling teachers to generate exercises for reconstructing word order using Excel input. Using large language models (LLMs) for content generation and browser-native text-to-speech (TTS) for accessible audio support, the tool fosters syntactic awareness through the Usage-Based Model and Focus on Form approaches. These approaches are guided by teachers and facilitated through interactive activities.In CLIL lessons, the tool is applied with meaningful subject content (e.g., mathematics, science, and social studies), so that students listen to and manipulate target sentences directly linked to the content. A mixed-methods evaluation involving six experienced teachers revealed reduced preparation time and increased student focus on sentence structure. Interviews confirmed engagement and compatibility with subject-based instruction in CLIL contexts. This study contributes to the design of theory-informed digital materials and supports the implementation of CLIL by making it easier for educators with limited ICT skills to create materials and enabling the sustainable integration of form-focused activities into subject-based instruction.