“My robot is an idiot!” – Students’ perceptions of AI in the L2 classroom

Abstract

Japanese university students (N=253) conversed with human and Artificially intelligent (AI) chatbot partners then recorded their perceptions of these interactions via open-ended written feedback. This data was qualitatively analyzed to gain a better understanding of the merits and demerits of using chatbots for English study from the students’ perspective. Results suggest that, in its current state, students perceive the chatbot used in this study as a novelty rather than a legitimate language-learning tool and that it lacks the richness of interaction they could achieve with their peers. Ultimately, it is argued that educators should be more critical of incorporating AI technology in the second/foreign language (L2) classroom before it is ready for use.