Abstract:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds great potential across various domains, offering unprecedented opportunities for innovation and efficiency. In education, AI has the potential to revolutionise learning experiences through personalised content delivery and assessment or real-time feedback. It can enhance accessibility, making education more inclusive and tailored to individual needs.

However, the widespread adoption of AI in education also raises concerns. Threats include issues related to authorship, plagiarism, privacy or even biases. Striking a balance between harnessing the benefits of AI for educational advancement and addressing these potential threats is crucial for creating a positive and equitable future for learning.

Thus, with the increasing integration of AI in education, there is a growing need to critically assess the opportunities and threats posed by these technological developments. Teachers need to think carefully about how AI impacts classroom and assessment activities and share this responsibility with their students.

The present study is set within the scope of English for Specific Purposes (learning and teaching) and aims at raising students´ awareness about the opportunities and threats of using AI in (foreign) language learning. Participants (first and second-year students in higher education) were invited to reflect on the role of AI in education and were exposed to a diverse variety of AI tools designed for learning languages, ranging from intelligent tutoring systems to language learning applications. Through hands-on experiences and collaborative activities, the study encourages participants to critically reflect on the implications of AI in language education.

Data were collected during the semester, through class observation, students’ learning portfolios and final interviews. Within the framework of a qualitative approach, this case study adopted an interpretative and interactive content analysis.

The analysis of the data collected shows that at first students were reluctant to admit their use of AI in the learning process. With the activities performed in class, and after being invited to reflect on the use of AI tools and explore different AI tools, students seem to be more able to make informed decisions about integrating AI into their language learning process.

Keywords:

Artificial Intelligence, Language Learning, Teaching English for Specific Purposes.