Generative AI in the English classroom : An interview study with focus on upper secondary school English teachers’ attitudes

The aim of this thesis is to find out how generative AI can be used as a tool as a tool in the English classroom to promote learner autonomy, as well as investigating English teachers’ attitudes to the use of GenAI and its opportunities and challenges. This thesis also aims to investigate what measures English teachers take to ensure that students do not use generative AI in an attempt to pass generated work off as their own. Learner autonomy and affordances are a part of the theoretical framework that was used to analyse the results. This was examined through six qualitative semi-structured interviews with English teachers from two different schools. Thematic analysis wasused to analyse the interview data and find relevant themes. It was found that the majority of the teachers were positive to the use of GenAI in English class, but many risks were also discussed. There seem to be instances where generative AI can help theemergence of five identified affordances, but there are also a lot of risks with GenAI-usage that could hinder their emergence.