Despite Generative AI (GenAI) offering opportunities to teachers and teacher educators, critical examination of the ethical challenges stakeholders face in GenAI integration remains limited, especially regarding non-university-based teacher educators (NUBTEs). Considering their critical role in guiding teachers’ ethical use of GenAI, this study investigates the ethical challenges of GenAI encountered by non-university-based English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher educators, and their navigation of such challenges. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, non-participatory field observations, and relevant artefacts. Findings reveal three major concerns: the dehumanisation of education as technology replaces essential human interaction at the core of language pedagogy; the rise of digital hegemony that diminishes learner and teacher autonomy; and the exacerbation of educational inequity due to geographic disparities in GenAI benefits. To attempt to navigate these challenges, the NUBTEs reaffirmed the student-centred and human-oriented educational principles to frontline teachers, participated in AI-related projects to develop language learning platforms that enhance student autonomy, and designed professional development programmes to support equity in GenAI integration. This study further offers targeted implications for both language education practice and non-university-based EFL teacher educator training to navigate GenAI-related ethical challenges.
Li et al. (Sun,) studied this question.