AI in Elt Materials Design a Needs Analysis of Turkish University Instructors

This study examines in-service English language instructors’ materials design practices, their evaluations of AI tools, and their professional development needs related to AI integration in higher education. Adopting a qualitative needs analysis design and informed by the Intelligent TPACK (I-TPACK) framework, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 14 university-level English instructors at state and foundation universities in Türkiye. Thematic analysis revealed that instructors engage with AI primarily as a pragmatic response to structural pressures—such as heavy workloads, learner diversity, and limited resources—rather than as part of a pedagogically grounded framework. While participants valued AI for its capacity to save time and overcome creative blocks, they also expressed concerns regarding reliability, ethical implications, and access barriers, which they navigated largely without institutional support. Regarding professional development, instructors rejected one-off seminars in favor of sustained, hands-on, and collaboratively structured support. The findings suggest that meaningful AI integration in university language programs requires not only the development of individual competencies but also institutional investment in infrastructure, ethical guidelines, and professional communities of practice.