Needs Analysis of Pre-Service ELT Teachers in the Context of AI-Empowered English Teaching: A Qualitative Study in China

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, its application in English Language Teaching (ELT) has become increasingly widespread. As future English teachers, graduate students majoring in English Pedagogy are a critical force in promoting AI-empowered teaching; therefore, the most preliminary and basic part to address this aim is to comprehend their perception of AI-empowered teaching. This study employs a qualitative approach to explore the attitudes and specific needs of 9 graduate students regarding AI-empowered teaching in a Chinese institution. The findings unveil that pre-service teachers generally value the potential of AI applied in ELT for differentiated learning and streamline the creation of educational materials and other skills demanded in the 21st century, upon the thematic analysis of the data set. However, the lack of systematic training and practical opportunities may hinder their progress in AI-empowered teaching; thus, they expect to be provided with curriculum guidance, skill training, and resource support to enhance their AI teaching competencies. The study suggests that institutions need to cater to their needs by integrating AI-empowered teaching modules into curricula, strengthening practical components, and fostering pre-service teachers' AI-empowered teaching capabilities. The study concluded by providing the direction for further research as expanding the sample size and employing a mixed research method to boost the generalizability of the findings.