Adapting an EFL Course to Incorporate AI-Mediated Activities: An Action Research Inquiry

Intermediate (CEFR B1-B2) university students in Japan often struggle with the“communicative gap,” where a high level of passive grammatical knowledge does not translate into functional fluency. When these students use foundational course materials, there is a risk that the simplistic nature of the content will lead to cognitive disengagement and a lack of motivation. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)-led additional activities may help improve fluency by providing real-time feedback, personalized content suggestions, and acting as a partner in short conversations. In this paper, I present the first two stages of an ongoing action research project: Planning and Acting. I discuss planning the integration of GenAI using the TPACK framework into a compulsory first-year English course at a small private university in Japan. I also describe how each activity is created and introduced to students while considering the ethical responsibilities of using GenAI tools. These phases establish a pragmatic framework for adopting GenAI-mediated materials in the EFL classroom.