Can Generative AI Really Empower Teachers’ Professional Practices? Comparative Study on Human-Tailored and GenAI-Designed Reading Comprehension Learning Materials

This study compares the efficiency and quality of reading comprehension materials designed by human teachers and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) for middle school English classes. Six K-12 English teachers in China and two GenAI tools, Twee and Kimi, each created five multiple-choice reading comprehension questions based on the exact text. The time taken to design the materials and their quality were evaluated by experts and participating teachers using a specifically designed rubric. Additionally, open-ended questionnaires were used to explore the teachers’ logic and principles in material design and to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, and complementarities of human versus GenAI-assisted creation. This research aims to identify collaborative pathways and methods for human-GenAI co-design in educational tasks to enhance effectiveness. By examining how GenAI can support and augment teachers’ work, the study seeks to discover innovative strategies for improving educational outcomes through human-AI collaboration.