Tag: Instructor Attitude

Teachers’ use of generative AI: a ‘dirty little secret’?

Barnes, Melissa, and Ekaterina Tour. 2025. “Teachers’ Use of Generative AI: A ‘Dirty Little Secret’?” Language and Education, April, 1–16.

This article reports on a study of how a group of English as an Additional Language (EAL) teachers in Australia perceive and use generative AI in their teaching. The article draws on data from a larger study that examined Generative AI in the Australian education system.

The teachers were asked to respond to the following questions:

From your perspective, what are generative AI technologies?

Have you used generative AI in your teaching practices? If so, why and in what con- text? Provide examples.

From your perspective, what are the benefits of generative AI for adult EAL students? (p.6)

The analysis of responses to these questions demonstrated that teachers recognize the potential of generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot) to enhance language learning and teaching. However, they also express concerns about when, where, and how it should be used, particularly regarding authenticity, integrity, and ethical implications.

The article discusses these findings through the lens of a framework of entangled pedagogy and teacher agency, Fawns (2022) in which technology, pedagogy, teacher agency and context mutually shape one another and that the relationship of pedagogy and technology is better understood by recognising the complexities of relational and contextual factors.

The authors argue that teacher agency is a “key concept in understanding how teachers and students interact with generative AI within learning and teaching contexts, particularly in how their individual capacities or capabilities (e.g. knowledge of generative AI), and relational and contextual factors (e.g. relationships teachers and students and/or access to generative AI) might influence their engagement with generative AI.” (p.5)

Although teachers acknowledged their agency to use AI responsibly, and their intentionality in using generative AI to create resources and to support learning, many chose to conceal their use of it due to relational and contextual pressures. The findings highlight the tension between AI’s promise to empower teachers and the challenges it poses to professional identity, pedagogical integrity, and trust in language education.

Retrievable from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09500782.2025.2485935#abstract

The future of language education: Teachers’ perceptions about the surge of AI writing tools

Zimotti, G., Frances, C., & Whitaker, L. (2024). The future of language education: Teachers’ perceptions about the surge of AI writing tools. Technology in Language Teaching & Learning, 6(2), 1–24.

This article reports on the results of a survey of language educators to explore their perceptions of the use and the potential effect of large language models such as ChatGPT in language teaching and learning. The researchers set out to address two questions:

RQ1: What current attitudes and perceptions do L2 instructors have regarding ChatGPT?

RQ2: What are innovative approaches for employing ChatGPT within language classrooms, their perceived ability to notice students’ use, and their current policies regarding this technology (p.3)?

In general, the survey revealed that language educators are open to the use of ChatGPT, recognise that their students will use it and that 36% of respondents have already used ChatGPT in their classrooms. Potential uses identified by respondents include creating lesson content, providing feedback, generating ideas and explaining complex grammar topics. Respondents also expressed concerns about the potential misuse of ChatGPT by students and how educators can identify and respond to misuse.

The findings align with the theory of normalization as described by Bax, in that educators who have used ChatGPT are enthusiastic about its potential, while those who have had less experience remain somewhat skeptical and apprehensive about its uses.

The authors argue that the inevitability of  the use of tools such as ChatGPT by language learners means that language educators need to critically examine such tools, focusing on the potential to enhance learning rather than on the technology itself, consider how these tools can be used for effective  student assessment and support students to think critically about these tools while enabling their responsible use to support the development of digital literacy skills. The article concludes with a quotation from a survey respondent, “We can’t change the fact that ChatGPT is going to change language teaching… all we can do is adjust our sails.” (p.20).

Retrievable from: https://www.castledown.com/journals/tltl/article/view/1136

Becoming Blended: A case study in teacher identity

Renteria Navarro, Victoria. Becoming Blended: A case study in teacher identity. Plymouth St Mark and St John University. British Council ELT Master’s Dissertation Awards: Commendation. (2015-16).

This case study is set in an English Blended Program in Mexico. The author’s aim was to discover how a teacher’s educational and cultural background as well as their experience and knowledge play a role to promote or hinder agency, their capacity to critically shape their responses to problematic situations, such as those they would encounter teaching in a blended language learning program.

The study takes as a given that the internet and web applications have provided options and responsibilities that have seriously influenced teachers’ outlooks, encouraging them to change their practice. This will impact the institutions that provide professional development for teachers. One of the elements the author suggests will help to guide them is teacher identity.

The author provides evidence that experiences in one’s own educational past will have an impact on one’s approach to teaching, e.g., how to be successful teaching in a new blended language learning program with little technological support, how to cope with constantly changing technology, how to work with dependent students, whether to take on a formal or informal guise in the online component, etc.  The author also describes the teachers’ professional development and examines how it has helped each of them to evolve or change their preferred practices in the blended environment. The examples of each teacher’s Moodle pages provide further insight about this dynamic relationship.

Retrievable from: http://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/attachments/dissertation_for_publication_2016_st_mark_and_st_john_plymouth.pdf