Student perspectives on AI use in language learning

The release of ChatGPT has placed AI firmly back in the CALL spotlight, with researchers and educators considering how the newest iterations of AI chatbots can best facilitate language learning. Many are also concerned about the ethical and pedagogical implications of these emergent technologies. One often-overlooked aspect in the CALL literature on AI is the perspectives of learners themselves. How and to what extent are they already using AI tools? What AI-based practices do they consider academically honest? How do they view the effects of using AI tools on their own language acquisition? This study investigates these questions by analysing the survey responses of 115 learners of English at a Japanese university. Results indicate that most learners had already used AI tools in their academic writing, with tools that provide automated feedback on grammar being the most frequently used. The learners report using AI tools primarily to improve the form of their L2 output, rather than to generate or structure ideas themselves. Moreover, most of the learners feel that the former approach is ethically acceptable, while the latter approach is dishonest. Overall, the learners expressed positive beliefs about the potential of AI tools to improve not only their academic output, but also to develop their L2 writing proficiency more broadly.