Use of Artificial Intelligence in Foreign Language Teaching

The evolvement and implementation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) models in education calls for clearer outlining of AI benefits and limitations. This original research carried out in summer 2024 at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, aimed at testing the extent to which AI-generated texts can be used as a pedagogical tool in language instruction. A novel instrument was devised to measure how well students engage with and distinguish between AI-generated and human texts across two literary genres. Altogether, 134 university students from several majors in the field of education took part in the study. Findings revealed that participants overestimated their knowledge of generative AI models as less than half of them managed to identify AI-generated texts correctly. As hypothesized, certain subject variables were meaningfully related to the students’ discernment of AI texts. The study also investigated the effectiveness of AI output for students’ language skills development.