Teaching English as a Second Language in an Evolving Digital Landscape

Abstract

Intensive English Programs have undergone major changes in how technology supports language education and research. At the University of Pittsburgh&s;s English Language Institute, early efforts centered on custom-built software that supported both classroom instruction and research, culminating in projects such as the PELIC corpus. Over time, however, there has been an industry-wide shift toward off-the-shelf platforms emphasizing usability and integration, often at the cost of research adaptability. Throughout these shifts, work in linguistics, applied linguistics, and related fields (such as second language studies, corpus linguistics, and psycholinguistics) have remained a key influence, and these areas have been strongly influenced by the scholarship of Alan Juffs. Looking ahead, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools such as large language models offer personalized learning opportunities but also pose risks. They challenge assumptions about the assessment of linguistic proficiency and complicate future research by undermining the provenance of learner-provided text. The PELIC corpus, completed under Juffs’ leadership just before the rise of GenAI, serves as a gift to future research, capturing robust learner data from the “pre-AI” era.