Contract Open

Personalized and Context-relevant English lessons with AI (Pace AI) to Advance Adult Learners in Integrated Education and Training (IET) Workforce Opportunities

NCSER

Program: Small Business Innovation Research

Award amount: $1,000,000

Project director: Victoria Pu

Awardee:

Linguistic Inc

Year: 2025

Award period: 2 years (09/12/2025 - 09/11/2027)

Project type:

Phase II Development

Contract number: 91990025C0102

Purpose

Immigrants are vital to the economic and cultural prosperity of the U.S. They are at the heart of our communities and power our diverse workforce—contributing rich cultural perspectives, driving innovation, and filling labor shortages and skills gaps in growing industries. Today, 60% of immigrant adults without postsecondary credentials are English Language Learners (ELLs); however, research reveals a persistent and significant gap between the language acquired through ELL classroom instruction and the language needed for higher education and employment in jobs that pay living wages. Pace AI addresses this gap by augmenting traditional IET courses with AI-powered Tutors, scaffolds, and personalized learning that makes workforce training more accessible to ELLs and low-literacy learners.

Project Activities

During Phase I, we leveraged advanced AI methods to create two components designed to accelerate workforce language acquisition for adult English learners. The first is a context-aware AI Tutor that provides scaffolded, multilingual support to help students connect new language to real-world situations. The second is an AI-powered Personalized Learning Engine (PLE) that adapts lesson content to each learner’s level by transforming advanced texts into more accessible versions and delivering targeted practice with real-time feedback. At the end of Phase I, we ran a research study focused on students who completed at least one pre- and post-test. Across all learners, average vocabulary and comprehension scores increased by 6%, with highly engaged learners demonstrating even greater gains (+6.94%) than lower-engagement learners (+5.81%). 73% of students reported that Pace AI was effective or very effective for improving their English skills.

In Phase II, we will develop and enhance a fully personalized AI learning system that helps working adult ELLs excel in IET career pathways, by helping them integrate language acquisition into workplace training. Our product will consist of contextualized AI tutors trained on specific standards-aligned IET materials, as well as an enhanced personalized learning engine that supports independent learning modalities. We will run a usability and feasibility study as well as an RCT study with cohorts of ELLs.