Many of us are wondering how AI’s rapid advancement may impact our daily activities, jobs, and education. Being a language instructor myself, I pondered over how it might affect language teaching: will the change be positive, negative, or somewhere in between?

When I started researching the question from the title, my first intuitive response was "no." That also seems to be the case in most online forums, where many posters consider that humans are irreplaceable as teachers. Less numerous are those who, when thinking about AI teachers, conjure a dystopian image of robots teaching children and millions of teachers losing their jobs. I dare say the latter scenario is very unlikely though, at the same time, things probably won’t remain as they are now.

In this article, I’ll try to sketch a possible symbiosis between language teachers and AI.

Language Teaching and AI in 2022

If we look around, we see that language learners are already using information technology and AI in their studies. Let’s have a look at several popular apps. (Note: I am not affiliated with any of the mentioned apps.)

Pronunciation. ELSA is an app that helps learners improve their pronunciation. It gives examples of how the sentences should sound. After that, it analyzes the students’ speech and points out the parts that need improvement. It is fairly accurate now and will get even more so in the future.

Vocabulary. Flashcards apps such as Anki with spaced repetitions check student performance and determine how frequently to display each card in response. The inability to recall the card will lead to it appearing more often. Successful recognition will make the card pop out less.

Writing. There are already a myriad of apps (such as Grammarly, Hemingway App, and QuillBot) that can proofread, edit, paraphrase, and otherwise improve students’ writing. There are even some others where you can choose a few keywords and get essays written by AI. Although they are still not perfect, it’s only a matter of time.

Possibilities for successful AI integration in language classrooms in the future

So what are the possibilities for successful integration of artificial intelligence in the language learning scenario? Here are a few examples:

Placement tests at the beginning of the course

Placement tests are used to evaluate students’ knowledge before they start the course. They are usually standardized and give an approximate evaluation of students’ levels. Usually, they are in written form, and sometimes they are also done through an interview. Once the level is decided, all the students in one cohort attend the same lessons and do the same exercises. Yet, if AI is to test students, both through written tests and interviews, it could analyze and store all the relevant data and design activities specifically for each student’s areas of weakness.

Creation of personalized exercises and continuous evaluation during the course

AI could continuously assess the progress of the student and adjust the tailor-made exercises to address the points that the student is struggling with, be it vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, or writing. This way, each student would get optimal learning materials. Gifted students won’t get bored with tasks that are too easy for them, and slower learners won’t have to take on problems that are too demanding for them.

Acting as a conversation partner

One of the biggest problems with language learning is not having enough opportunities to practice speaking through natural conversation. AI is ideally suited for this. One advantage is that students may feel less anxious about being judged because they are aware they are not speaking to a real person. Additionally, they can be more willing to hold extended discussions and experiment with new linguistic constructions.

Essay correction and follow-up

Essay correction is already a reality, but in the future, AI might even hold follow-up conversations, prompting students to explain certain points or bringing up inconsistencies in their writing. It could further offer suggestions and examples of good writing in accordance with the language level of the student.

Administration and management

AI might handle a variety of administrative duties, including maintaining attendance records for classes and events, handling lesson fees, and communicating with students on behalf of the school or teachers. Even now, tools such as Zapier and IFTTT serve to automate a lot of repetitive tasks.

Making the most of these possibilities will not make teachers redundant, although it will dramatically decrease the workload. They will only free up time for educators to do more meaningful work and spend quality time with students. The quality of education can only improve as a result.

Areas where real language teachers will still be necessary

Learning goals and strategy

Teachers will be in charge of defining the learning objectives pertinent to the learners’ age. They will also devise the optimal path to reach these goals.

Lesson content planning

Even though AI might be capable of creating exercises, activities, etc., it will still be necessary to decide what content and topics will be studied as well as coordinate weekly lesson plans and structure.

Interdisciplinary reflection

Observing and pointing out connections and being able to creatively use knowledge in an original way is still something more inherent to humans than AI. Teachers will be there to guide and coach students rather than to perform routine evaluations and corrections.

Debating and critical thinking

With all probability, AI will not be programmed to have strong “personal” opinions. Debating with a real human, who has authentic views on different subjects, will probably stay out of the scope of AI, at least in the foreseeable future.

Motivation

Stimulating students to study, research, and discover things is something humans will be able to do better than AI. The fact that one is seen by another human being makes all the difference.

Empathy and humor

AI might imitate human interaction and (apparently) act emphatically. Yet, when interacting with it, humans will always be aware that they are not being seen and understood by another human being. The need for authentic human interaction is something that we carry in our DNA.

Supervising AI functioning and results achieved

AI is not infallible, and human presence will be required to control its functioning.

In another article here on Medium, I wrote about nine personal traits that a good language teacher is supposed to have. Among them, creativity, enthusiasm, and curiosity would be the ones that AI is most unlikely to have.

Blended learning: Language teachers collaborating with AI

Here are a few examples of how teachers and AI might work together toward a common goal.

-The use of AI in lesson preparation could help students improve their speaking, writing, listening, and pronunciation skills so that they can interact with teachers more meaningfully in the classroom.

-Students will have access to AI anytime, anywhere, and will never have to wait for a lesson to receive feedback. In the classroom, they will take part in group activities and get one-on-one instruction from the teacher.

-Receiving an instant evaluation while the learner still remembers the contents will improve learning. The teacher will do personal assessments at a higher level and provide coaching, making sure that the allotted time was used for valuable interactions rather than repetitive corrections.

Conclusion

It seems reasonable to think that, although not all language teachers will be replaced by AI, their numbers may decrease. After all, one instructor will be able to attend to many more students because AI will handle a sizable part of what teachers currently do. Teachers will have to learn how to coexist with AI and find a niche where they can’t be so easily replaced. AI will free up time for more meaningful interaction between teachers and students. This could include: developing educational objectives and tactics; monitoring student progress; providing individualized coaching; encouraging creative writing; and fostering general rather than specialized thinking and skill sets.

A certain degree of change seems inevitable but it also represents an opportunity to improve language teaching and create environments that truly match the needs of learners.