Teaching English language for non-native speakers at university level requires special attention to students’ abilities and learning process.

This is where AI technology should be involved. One of the teaching tools being used in Skyline University College nowadays is English Central Software.

This is an advanced tool that helps students develop their skills and knowledge in English. The software consists of 5 parts: watching videos, pronouncing sentences and words, finding the meaning of words in English, speaking the line and then answering questions related to the videos.

The software helps students to learn English language anytime and anywhere. This is a very good way to let them understand the common language used in movies. They can practice listening, speaking, reading and vocabulary in a very interesting way. Once the video starts, it pauses on each sentence and asks the students to click on any word they could not understand, and the meaning appears. Videos are short, between 20 seconds to 1 minute. After the students finish the video, vocabulary practice starts and the students need to say the word to fill in the blank. Then another practice comes, where the students are asked to repeat the sentence using the mic. An automatic evaluation will tell if they pronounce the sentence correctly or not.

The last stage is the most amusing part where the software uses AI. Students will be given questions about the video they watched and they are required to speak and record the answer. The AI will tell whether the answer is correct, relevant to the topic or not, and then more challenging questions show on the screen for further practice. It is a conversation-discussion type. Students feel that they actually do a conversation with a real person, not an AI tool. This tool is clever and amusing for students.

There are more than 20000 videos and over 50 pre-built course units, so teachers can customize curriculum according to students’ requirements and levels. (English Central: Universities, 2022)

Teachers may contact support center for further clarifications and discounts about the software. There is an option where teachers can be as administrator mode, where they can add their own group and assign certain number of videos for practice. They can also set date, time and number of hours for students to practice on weekly or monthly basis. Teachers can check students’ process in the software, too. And, teachers may ask for Teacher’s Guide, which has detailed information on how to use the software. (English Central, 2014)

Registration is easy. Simply create a username and a password and then you can use it few times for free. If you like the software, you need to upgrade monthly or yearly subscription according to your plan.

The only disadvantage about the software is that you will be given limited access to resources and limited time to try. You may try to features in the software for two three days maximum; and this does not give enough time to users to practice and experience all features. So, to save the hassle, simply go through the software fast or see videos on YouTube to check how the software works, then go for full membership. (BUSYTEACHER_admin, 2021)

This software is highly recommend for English classes. Students will be able to listen, read, speak and enjoy the learning process.

The link for this software is: https://ar.englishcentral.com/browse/videos

References

English Central: Universities. (2022). https://solutions.englishcentral.com/universities/ English Central Inc. 8^th June 2023

English Central. (2014). 50 ways to use EnglishCentral. https://www.slideshare.net/englishcentral/50-ways-to-use-english-central. SlideShare 8^th June 2023

BUSYTEACHER_admin. (2021). Busty teacher: Englishcentral.com: BusyTeacher's Detailed Review. https://busyteacher.org/15742-english-central-busy-teacher-detailed-review.html. 8^th June 2023