Higher Education Language Teachers' Attitudes and Approaches to AI Integration into their Work

Abstract

This study investigates how language teachers at a Finnish higher education institution perceive and integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into their work. As AI technologies rapidly transform education, understanding language teachers' experiences provides crucial insights into the challenges and opportunities of AI adoption in language learning contexts. The data were collected through an online questionnaire with response rate of 81.82%. The questionnaire comprises multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions exploring AI usage and perceptions. The key findings are that teachers perceive AI as potentially beneficial for supporting learners with a good proficiency level, analysing text, and for grammar correction as well as individualised learning. However, teachers are concerned about AI making students too reliant on technology which reduces motivation to learn independently which in turn leads to superficial learning causing students to overestimate their proficiency level. Three categories of teacher type emerged in terms of teachers’ attitudes and frequency of AI use in their work: novice (33%), intermediate (40%), and advanced (27%) AI users with varying levels of integration and attitudes toward AI applications. This study suggests that teachers regard AI as having the potential to be a valuable tool in language learning, but teacher training and support are crucial for its effective implementation.