27 Aug AI for Theological Education TheoEnglish – A case study

English is the new Latin!

For over a thousand years, church leaders in Europe needed to know Latin to read most of the theological works. Similarly, today, if theological students want to access good resources, they require good English. However, most students entering theological colleges in India need help with English. Their struggles include a lack of vocabulary and grammar, difficulty in comprehending theological books, and an inability to write clear and coherent thoughts. The traditional textbook grammar-based approach rarely solves these problems and fails to maintain the student’s interest.

That’s where TheoEnglish comes in. In May 2023, we started developing TheoEnglish as a Bible-based English curriculum that is theology-focused and resource-rich. We aim to make English accessible and fun for theological students through learning videos and digital assignments. The fully digital curriculum is given to theological colleges who then appoint a facilitator to use it with the students. Students can access the videos in class as a group and do the assignments as individuals after class.

It is a full-fledged curriculum. We have vocabulary videos that teach students a few words every day with their proper usage. Each lesson video covers one grammar topic with an emphasis on daily usage. There are classroom activities that students can do after watching these videos. Some are individual activities where students practice the vocabulary of the day and the grammar lesson on their own. This is followed by group activities where students team up with their friends and practice using the grammar and vocabulary learned in the written or spoken format. Each lesson has assignments to continue practicing and consolidate learning. After every unit – comprising four lessons – is completed, students are assessed on their learning progress in a unit assessment.

Apart from the grammar lessons and vocabulary, we also use paraphrased portions of scripture to help students from vernacular backgrounds to pick up English. These Bible portions not only help them read scripture sequentially but also serves as a source of vocabulary as they see words used in context. We also use songs as a source of vocabulary practice. Students are encouraged to sing along and the lyrics are displayed on screen along with difficult words and their meaning alongside. The joy of singing is coupled with the joy of learning as students see the meaning of rich theological words used in context.

So how did we use AI for such an extensive program?

To begin with, we created our teaching framework by comparing various learning philosophies for teaching ESL (English as Second Language). We kept the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) levels as a benchmark for level design and went on to compare various English curriculums that were in use. We also had to keep in mind the schedule of Bible colleges and so we chose a 12-week duration for our modules with four lessons and one assessment per week. For each module, we had to ensure that students are able to acquire the essential skills they need for that level. So, with the help of ChatGPT, we finalised our approach by synthesizing the best practices of ESL teaching to suit the needs of theological students in the given time frame. Thus, TheoEnglish’s lesson plan framework was born!

ChatGPT continued to be a trusted assistant as we trained it with relevant prompts and our data. We were able to pick relevant vocabulary for each level, find different example sentences for each word and put them into the teaching slides, activities, assignments and assessments. ChatGPT did an impressive job in creating activities for classroom practice. This included various kinds of question format like fill-in-the-blanks, multiple choice questions, match the correct answer, etc. We used paraphrased articles from good online resources for students to read. This was followed by comprehension questions for individual practice and also discussion questions for group practice. Students were thus able to read and understand written text and then express their thoughts in a spoken form. We also could make excellent role play scripts for students to practice speaking with their peers in class. This ability of creating a variety of learning resources on the same topic was an essential component of second language acquisition.

Apart from ChatGPT we used a lot of digital tools to create content and make learning more fun. Tools like Canva helped us create our lesson and vocabulary slides and it also has AI features for autocompleting sentences. We use tools like Wordwall and Educaplay to create fun revision activities that gamify learning. Our Learning Management System (LMS) also offers crucial insights on student engagement and helps us fine tune our approach in the way the curriculum flows.

As we look back at our TheoEnglish journey, we thank God for His faithfulness. He provided us with the right people who were willing to do a pilot batch for their students. ChatGPT was a wonderful tool that came at the right time which accelerated the customised content creation process. The feedback from the first year of TheoEnglish roll out has been very encouraging. One of our students recently said, “TheoEnglish is the best course I have ever seen. It is very suitable, especially for basic English learners. For Christian students, it provides Bible knowledge, and even for non-Christian learners, it offers insight into the Bible.”

It is our aim to continue developing more levels for TheoEnglish and reach out to more students and learners. We expect to roll out a course for individual learners by mid-2024. We truly hope that TheoEnglish serves everyone who wants to learn English with the aim of reading good Christian resources and using the language for the glory of God’s Kingdom.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Note: You can get more information about TheoEnglish
on our webpage, theoenglish.in

Davis Abraham works as the Project Lead for TheoEnglish and is based in Lucknow. He was part of NIT Calicut EU during his post-graduation years in 2012-’14.