Using Artificial Intelligence to Support Students in Developing Startup Products in English as a Foreign Language Course ^†

Abstract

We explored the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing the English proficiency of students in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) course through a startup product development curriculum. In the course, real-world business scenarios of startup companies were offered for students to analyze English communication skills on crowdfunding platforms and in product promotional videos. The EFL students used entrepreneurial skills to create and present their product videos in a team to the class who acted as potential investors. Pre- and post-test analyses were conducted to assess the impact of AI-assisted learning on enhancing English listening and reading ability. Significant improvements were observed, suggesting AI-enhanced entrepreneurial experiences and the listening and reading ability of the EFL students.

1. Introduction

Entrepreneurship plays a vital role in shaping the global economy, and fostering it demands the use of diverse, hands-on experiential learning. By incorporating entrepreneurship into education and fostering risk-taking, creativity, confidence, and social responsibility, students can be prepared for global competitiveness [1]. To teach entrepreneurship to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students, educators must formulate effective teaching strategies to enhance the language proficiency and entrepreneurial knowledge of students. Educators must develop appropriate methods to help students learn entrepreneurship and the required linguistic skills for effective communication.

Artificial intelligence (AI) enables personalized learning, particularly in business education [2]. AI’s ability to analyze language and communication patterns is valuable for EFL students to develop proficiency in English through specialized business discourse. Therefore, we investigated the potential of AI to assist EFL students in developing entrepreneurial skills and improving their English reading and listening comprehension.

The usefulness of entrepreneurial projects using EFL has not been researched yet. Although AI is recognized as an effective tool for language education, its integration into product development through crowdfunding campaigns or startup ventures in Business English is essential. Such integration enables language proficiency enhancement which requires further research.

This study was carried out to enhance language education by providing practical, evidence-based strategies that cater to workplace demands, with a specific focus on Business English. We determined whether an AI-assisted curriculum to create a startup product video effectively enhanced the English listening and reading ability of EFL students through entrepreneurial simulation and AI’s guidance. We examined the effect of the AI-assisted startup product curriculum on EFL students’ listening and reading scores in this study.

2. Literature Review

2.1. AI in Education

Research results on AI in education emphasize its potential to create personalized learning experiences and provide instant feedback, particularly in language learning [3,4]. AI supported EFL students by offering real-time corrective feedback, language practice, and opportunities in simulated conversations in various professional and business contexts [4]. Similarly, AI tools in business education have proven their effectiveness in helping students develop skills in market analysis, product development, and business communication [5]. Previous studies on AI in EFL education have explored its ability to offer opportunities to enhance English-speaking practice and interaction [6,7]. For example, AI tools analyze the communication styles of famous speakers and provide information on effective language use, which is beneficial for non-native speakers. However, there remains a gap in research regarding how to integrate AI into experiential learning that targets entrepreneurship and listening and reading acquisition for EFL students.

2.2. Entrepreneurship and EFL Skills

Integrating the EFL curriculum into startup product development enhances students’ business vocabulary and expressions, facilitating their understanding of language usage [8]. The students’ engagement in entrepreneurship-related projects, motivation, and English speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills showed significant improvement [9].

Crowdfunding in English facilitated the improvement of teaching materials and prepared students for a dynamic and changing business environment [10]. This modern funding method promotes ideas to potential supporters, representing the integration of language in entrepreneurial communication [11]. In addition, the advantages of crowdfunding, such as a variety of materials to enrich teaching and learning experiences, unique learning opportunities beyond traditional methods, a sense of community, and empowering educators and students to meet their educational needs can be used in language education [11]. Videos in crowdfunding campaigns have a significant effect on attracting potential donors and strengthening support and contributions [10].

EFL students learn how to utilize the English language to attractively impress, market, and distinguish. To be competitive in the future, the key to success is to innovate, promote ideas, and attract attention. In today’s constantly changing markets, it is urgent to adopt forward-thinking strategies and customer-oriented approaches [12,13]. Companies need to communicate effectively with their target audience and develop a cooperative identity to sell products and services [14]. EFL students can understand how startup companies use these strategies.

3. Methodology

We conducted a one-group pre- and post-test study. Sixty EFL students enrolled in the Workplace English course underwent a pre-test using Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC)-style listening and reading tests to assess their English proficiency. After the pre-test, the participants engaged in a startup product development curriculum for 12 weeks using AI-assisted video-based instruction to enhance their language proficiency and professional skills. In the curriculum, a post-test with TOEIC-style listening and reading assessments was administered 1 week after completing the 12-week program. The participant’s performance was evaluated and compared with that of the pre-test. The effectiveness of the AI-supported instructional method was compared in terms of improving English listening and reading scores in a workplace-relevant context (Figure 1). The pre and post-test rubrics were created based on TOEIC to assess student performance and language proficiency. The Cronbach’s alpha for the teacher-created TOEIC-style tests was 0.891.

3.1. Participants

The participants were 60 EFL students enrolled in a university-level Workplace English course. They had a level of English proficiency of CEFR B1. The participants’ majors included Communication Arts (30.0%), Architectural Studies (21.67%), Visual Communication (16.67%), Early Childhood Education (15.0%), Social Work (6.67%), Industrial Design (5.0%), Landscape and Urban Planning (3.33%), and Business Administration (1.67%).

3.2. Curriculum of AI-Assisted Startup Product Development

The curriculum was designed to engage EFL students in an AI-assisted, project-based learning experience to create a startup product (Figure 2).

AI tools such as Chatbots, AI-generated image platforms, and AI video subtitle platforms were introduced to students. Students replied to the guided questions to interact with Chatbots such as ChatGPT 3.5, Gemini 2.5, Character.ai (https://character.ai/), and Claude 3.5 conversational agents to decide on product features and marketing ideas. Students discussed with the Chatbot using the following questions, initiated by the following prompt: Can you act as a business partner to assist me in discussing our product? (

Table 1. Guided questions of AI chatbots.

Questions

What are the key features of our product?

How can we effectively market and sell our product?

What are the potential benefits of our product?

Can you analyze the potential threats or challenges to our product?

How can we differentiate our product from competitors?

What strategies can we use to reach our target audience?

How can we improve our product based on customer feedback?

Can you suggest innovative ways to promote our product?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of our product compared to others?

).

The participant generated prompts to explore and experiment with AI tools such as DALLE (https://www.dall-efree.com/), SeaArt (https://www.seaart.ai/zhCN), and GizAI (https://www.giz.ai/) to create unique visual content based on their ideas and interpretations. The AI-driven speech recognition platform VEED (https://www.veed.io/) provided subtitles for presentations of startup CEOs. This enabled students to effectively replicate and mimic communication styles, intonations, and pronunciations. In these activities, students experienced AI technologies and enhanced their understanding of how to use these tools creatively and effectively to promote their products. Students utilized crowdfunding techniques to promote their products using promotional videos and studied authentic language use in business contexts. AI tools assisted students in identifying successful communication patterns and improving their entrepreneurial and linguistic competencies. The participants collaborated in teams to develop a product idea, create a business pitch, and produce a video to convince potential investors to fund their products. To prepare their oral presentations, students watched the TV show Shark Tank to attract potential investors’ interests.

The participants learned how to think creatively and promote their ideas in this process. They were encouraged to think like startup company CEOs by learning their persuasion techniques, marketing strategies, and innovative approaches to create their unique product videos. Throughout the curriculum, they sharpened entrepreneurial skills, such as problem-solving, effective communication, and teamwork, to conceptualize, design, and market their products.

4. Results and Analysis

Pre- and post-tests were collected and analyzed to assess the impact of the AI-assisted curriculum on students’ listening and reading comprehension in English. These tests were designed with business-related content, such as product pitches, market analyses, and investor presentations. The pre-test was performed at the beginning of the curriculum to determine the students’ baseline proficiency in understanding English-language business materials. After completing the curriculum, students took a listening and reading post-test. After engaging with the AI-assisted learning tools, improvements in their English comprehension abilities were assessed. The assessment results revealed significant improvements in listening and reading skills. The mean score for listening increased from 29.28 (standard deviation (SD) = 8.103) in the pre-test to 34.78 (SD = 8.015) in the post-test, with a mean difference of −5.500 (t = −5.203, p = 0.000). Similarly, the mean reading score improved from 28.28 (SD = 8.189) to 35.35 (SD = 7.075), with a mean difference of −7.067 (t = −8.383, p = 0.000). Both improvements were statistically significant (p < 0.05), indicating that the intervention effectively enhanced participants’ language proficiency. The correlation coefficient between pre-and post-test scores was 0.484 for listening and 0.643 for reading, showing a moderate to strong relationship, suggesting that the course positively impacted the participants on their English ability enhancement. The reduced standard error in post-test scores indicated the shared improvement of the language ability of the participants (

Table 2. Descriptive statistics.

Paired-Samples Statistics
		Mean	N	SD	Std. Error Mean
Pair 1	Pre_Listening	29.28	60	8.103	1.046
	Post_Listening	34.78	60	8.015	1.035
Pair 2	Pre_Reading	28.28	60	8.189	1.057
	Post_Reading	35.35	60	7.075	0.913

and

Table 3. Paired sample t-test results.

Paired Samples Test
Paired Differences
		Mean	SD	Std. Error Mean	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference		t	df	Sig. (2-)Tailed
					Lower	Upper
Pair 1	Pre_Lisening-Post_Listening	−5.500	8.187	1.057	−7.615	−3.385	−5.028	59	0.000
Pair 2	Pre_Reading-Post_Reading	−7.067	6.530	0.843	−8.754	−5.380	−8.383	59	0.000

).

5. Discussion and Conclusions

This study’s results highlighted AI’s potential to simultaneously enhance language proficiency and entrepreneurial skills, particularly for EFL students. The significant improvements in listening and reading comprehension demonstrated that AI supported EFL students in learning business language and fostering practical entrepreneurial competencies. The results of this study align with the results of a previous study that demonstrated that AI’s supportive tool should not be used as a replacement for human teachers [4].

By using an AI-assisted curriculum, students were guided through the product development process from ideation to execution and practiced pitching their ideas persuasively to potential investors or customers. This experience allowed the students to simulate business scenarios to enhance their critical thinking and adaptability. The experience also fostered language learning by immersing students in business contexts, helping them develop linguistic competence and soft skills essential for the modern workplace. In the final phase, students created their product videos, demonstrating their English language progress and ability to innovate and apply entrepreneurial strategies effectively.

Students received real-time feedback on both their language use and business communication techniques from AI tools in the curriculum. Such an approach with language and entrepreneurship practices is crucial for EFL students who need to address the challenges of learning a second language while engaging with complex business concepts. The study results showed that practical and useful skills were enhanced by using AI tools for strategic thinking for marketing [10].

The study results also align with previous research results on AI’s role in education, suggesting that AI-driven feedback and simulations enhanced linguistic and cognitive engagement in EFL students [15]. The results underscored the value of using AI to personalize learning experiences, particularly for students to develop technical and language skills. Hence, the AI-assisted curriculum significantly improved TOEIC-style English listening and reading comprehension, suggesting that AI is a beneficial tool for enhancing language acquisition in EFL education or English for specific purposes. Future research is necessary to explore the cumulative effects of AI-assisted learning on EFL students’ entrepreneurial success and their ability to communicate effectively in global business environments. Additionally, other language proficiency levels or different cultural contexts need to be considered to examine the scalability and adaptability of AI-driven entrepreneurship instruction.