Vietnamese EFL Teachers’ Perspectives on ChatGPT: A Conceptual Metaphor Analysis

This study investigates Vietnamese university teachers’ perceptions and experiences of integrating ChatGPT, a prominent AI language model, into EFL instruction. The study aims to understand the practical challenges teachers face in their teaching settings, which will subsequently guide decisions related to their professional development and overall well-being. Four EFL teachers who used ChatGPT as part of their teaching process were invited to participate in the study. Adopting the interpretative qualitative research design and utilizing Conceptual Metaphor Theory, the study obtained teachers’ narratives that reflect their individual points of view and experiences with ChatGPT through recorded semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated both convergences and divergences in their perspectives. While the four participants acknowledged ChatGPT’s efficiency in streamlining tasks and providing quick access to information, their metaphorical representations highlighted nuanced differences in their approaches and concerns. These findings contribute to the growing body of research on AI in language education and offer implications for pedagogical strategies, curriculum development, and educational policies aimed at fostering the effective and ethical integration of AI tools in EFL classrooms.