Intersections between digital technologies and social agency in the teaching of reading in English

Abstract

The concept of technology encompasses techniques, knowledge, and tools developed to solve or mitigate human problems (Silva et al., 2013). From ancient inventions like the wheel to contemporary software, all technological advancements stem from a common source, human intelligence. These creations shape everyday life and contribute to the reconfiguration of social practices. In the present context, a specific form of digital technology has sparked significant debates across various domains of human activity, particularly in the academic/school sphere: the Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI). This article focuses on the teaching of reading in English as a foreign language in higher education, drawing from a qualitative master's research conducted by Albuquerque (2024) at the School of Science and Technology of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (in Portuguese, ECT/UFRN). The study aims to analyze how the collaborative production of Digital Educational Resources (DER) using GAI (ChatGPT) can foster the development of social agency among individuals engaged in such practices. The research was carried out in the course “Reading Practice in English” (in Portuguese, PLI), offered at ECT/UFRN, and involved seven participants — one professor and six undergraduate student monitors from different engineering fields. Over the course of three multiliteracies workshops, the participants explored the use of ChatGPT in conjunction with other digital platforms (Quizizz, Plickers, and Flippity) to create DER for teaching reading in English, aligned with the pedagogical objectives of the PLI course. For data analysis, a theoretical framework was adopted to integrate studies on technology, Artificial Intelligence, social agency, and multiliteracies. The findings indicate that the critical and creative use of GAI in pedagogical practices can enhance the development of learners’ social agency, contributing to the reconfiguration of ways of acting, teaching, and constructing meaning in the academic/school sphere.