Developing AI literacies and negotiating professional identities: a study of pre-service English teachers in a ChatGPT-facilitated pedagogy

Abstract As generative AI models such as ChatGPT reshape language education, understanding how teachers engage with AI-mediated practices and negotiate professional identities becomes essential. This longitudinal multiple-case qualitative study investigates how non-native pre-service English teachers at a university in the Hong Kong SAR, China, developed AI literacies and negotiated their professional identities during a 13-week M.Ed. course integrating ChatGPT-facilitated pedagogy. Notably, the study draws on Darvin and Norton’s investment model, reconceptualizing AI literacies as situated social practices that mediate the negotiation of identity, capital, and ideology. Data were collected through end-of-course interviews, learner artifacts, and teaching materials. Findings reveal that PSTs’ development of AI literacies is a multidimensional process involving (1) recognizing AI’s (linguistic) strengths, (2) refining prompt engineering competencies, and (3) cultivating critical awareness of AI’s limitations and strategic use. While participants leveraged AI-mediated linguistic, cultural, and technical capital to enhance perceived professionality and assert more legitimate language teacher identities, their tendency to adopt AI-generated “native-like” outputs without sufficient critical evaluation may risk reinforcing existing linguistic hegemony. The study offers practical implications for integrating AI literacies development into teacher education, balancing technological affordances with emancipatory pedagogy.