Breaking the Cycle: AI Boosting Communication Skills of Low-Income Students in Brazil

Improving communication skills is challenging for low-income students because they do not have the same opportunities to access quality educational services as other students. To tackle this problem, Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions have been proposed to improve students’ written communication. However, engagement is essential to enhance students’ writing skills when using such solutions. We propose a gamified approach based on Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory, evidencing effectiveness in helping students achieve a flow state and enhance their ability to produce texts. We conducted a pre-test/post-test quasi-experiment involving 27 high school students from a low-income Rio de Janeiro, Brazil area. The flow state and learning scores were higher when the solution was gamified. A higher flow state among students may be attributed to the rapid and clear feedback provided. Thus, we provide valuable insights into the gamification of extracurricular activities and the development of educational technologies, such as tutoring systems based on AI. Our approach can assist in planning the use of AI to reduce the risk of promoting inequalities instead of improving engagement and writing skills.