Enhancing pre-service EFL teachers’ TPACK through chatbot-integrated lesson planning projects

The growing interest in AI chatbots for language learning has highlighted their potential value in educational technology, particularly in teacher training for professional development (PD). This exploratory study extended this discussion by exploring how chatbot-integrated lesson planning modules supported pre-service teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). Two types of qualitative data, including teaching artifacts (e.g., lesson plans and chatbot tasks) and self-reports (e.g., interviews and reflection papers), were collected from twenty-one pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers who participated in five TPACK training modules over sixteen weeks: (a) TPACK comprehension, (b) chatbot-design training, (c) lesson planning, (d) micro-teaching, and (e) TPACK reflection. Data analysis involved two TPACK assessment methods: (a) TPACK levels demonstrated in lesson plans and the associations of chatbot-integrated lesson plans with TPACK levels; (b) thematic analysis of self-reports for the perceived affordances of the TPACK training. The findings indicate that chatbot-integrated lesson plans demonstrated the participants’ TPACK resulting from the training activities. They reported that the training modules had afforded their TPACK in diverse aspects of using chatbots in lesson development despite some constraints. This study provided insights into how to utilize chatbot-integrated lesson study for pre-service language teachers’ TPACK.