English language teachers' opinions on utilizing artificial intelligence in language learning
Kåhlman, Ronja (2025-05-20)
R. Kåhlman
20.05.2025
© 2025 Ronja Kåhlman. Ellei toisin mainita, uudelleenkäyttö on sallittu Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) -lisenssillä (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Uudelleenkäyttö on sallittua edellyttäen, että lähde mainitaan asianmukaisesti ja mahdolliset muutokset merkitään. Sellaisten osien käyttö tai jäljentäminen, jotka eivät ole tekijän tai tekijöiden omaisuutta, saattaa edellyttää lupaa suoraan asianomaisilta oikeudenhaltijoilta.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202505203730
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202505203730
Tiivistelmä
In this master’s thesis, the focus will be on English language teachers’ opinions on utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in language learning. As artificial intelligence is continually and rapidly evolving, the research around it increases too. However, there is a lack of qualitative research on using AI in English as a foreign language teaching, especially regarding teachers’ attitudes towards using AI-powered tools. The aim of this study is to get an understanding and overview of English language teachers’ opinions on AI.
The data of this study was collected by interviewing five English language teachers. The teachers were working in either Finnish upper secondary school or comprehensive school. The qualitative and phenomenological interviews included questions that mapped out the teachers’ experiences, perceptions, and opinions on utilizing AI in their work. The interview was semi-structured and included open questions. The interview was conversational in nature, which allowed the interviewees to speak more freely about their experiences with little input or comment from the interviewer. The interview data was first transcribed from the original interviews in Finnish and then translated to English. The data were analysed by using the thematic approach. The interviews were gone through by coding the data, and selecting the most important and recurring themes, which were then described in the analysis. The main themes in the analysis were categorized under teachers’ experiences (section 4.1.), affordances (section 4.2.), disadvantages (4.3.), and the future of AI in language learning (section 4.4.).
The findings revealed that the teachers did not have a lot of experience on utilizing AI in English as a foreign language teaching. The analysis focused on AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Copilot, since they were mainly discussed in the data. The teachers’ own ICT skills restricted the utilization of AI in the classroom. Also, teachers’ lack of time and motivation, personal values, and pedagogical views caused reluctance to utilize AI. However, the teachers saw a lot of possibilities in AI and described it as a useful tool for language learning. Especially the ways in which AI could enhance students’ independent learning was discussed a lot. In addition, the teachers saw AI becoming a normal part of language learning in the future, and therefore, they wished to be more educated on AI, and they emphasised the need for AI guidelines.
The data of this study was collected by interviewing five English language teachers. The teachers were working in either Finnish upper secondary school or comprehensive school. The qualitative and phenomenological interviews included questions that mapped out the teachers’ experiences, perceptions, and opinions on utilizing AI in their work. The interview was semi-structured and included open questions. The interview was conversational in nature, which allowed the interviewees to speak more freely about their experiences with little input or comment from the interviewer. The interview data was first transcribed from the original interviews in Finnish and then translated to English. The data were analysed by using the thematic approach. The interviews were gone through by coding the data, and selecting the most important and recurring themes, which were then described in the analysis. The main themes in the analysis were categorized under teachers’ experiences (section 4.1.), affordances (section 4.2.), disadvantages (4.3.), and the future of AI in language learning (section 4.4.).
The findings revealed that the teachers did not have a lot of experience on utilizing AI in English as a foreign language teaching. The analysis focused on AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Copilot, since they were mainly discussed in the data. The teachers’ own ICT skills restricted the utilization of AI in the classroom. Also, teachers’ lack of time and motivation, personal values, and pedagogical views caused reluctance to utilize AI. However, the teachers saw a lot of possibilities in AI and described it as a useful tool for language learning. Especially the ways in which AI could enhance students’ independent learning was discussed a lot. In addition, the teachers saw AI becoming a normal part of language learning in the future, and therefore, they wished to be more educated on AI, and they emphasised the need for AI guidelines.
Kokoelmat
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