Abstract and Figures
The wave of educational AI-assisted English learning is taking English learners by storm, and researchers have mostly studied using artificial intelligence in education; however, studies related to the specifics of acceptance and application of AI learning software by English specialist learners are still relatively lacking. In the present study, a quantitative study was done to examine the current situation of acceptance and use of educational AI in English acquisition and learning by English professional learners. Based on the 23 questions answered by 100 participants, data collection using the Questionnaire Star online platform, and descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and analysis of variance, etc. According to the results of the study, students were willing to employ AI to aid them in all aspects of English learning, and that the dimensions of the scale show significant correlation with the willingness to use it. Moreover, there is no significant difference in willingness to use different AI software.
Artificial Intelligence Platforms Used by EFL Students in their Learning.
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Correlation analysis of dimensions.
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Differential analysis of students’ use of types of English AI software and each dimension.
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Figures – available via license: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Content may be subject to copyright.
A Study on the Acceptance and Use of AI-assisted English
Learning among English Majors
Linao Wang1,a,*
1School of Foreign Languages, Tangshan Normal University, 063000, China
a. tukisw@ldy.edu.rs
*corresponding author
Abstract: The wave of educational AI-assisted English learning is taking English learners by
storm, and researchers have mostly studied using artificial intelligence in education; however,
studies related to the specifics of acceptance and application of AI learning software by
English specialist learners are still relatively lacking. In the present study, a quantitative study
was done to examine the current situation of acceptance and use of educational AI in English
acquisition and learning by English professional learners. Based on the 23 questions answered
by 100 participants, data collection using the Questionnaire Star online platform, and
descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and analysis of variance, etc. According to the
results of the study, students were willing to employ AI to aid them in all aspects of English
learning, and that the dimensions of the scale show significant correlation with the willingness
to use it. Moreover, there is no significant difference in willingness to use different AI
software.
Keywords: ChatGPT, artificial intelligence, language acquisition, foreign language education.
1. Introduction
In the context of the current new era, artificial intelligence in various countries is developing at an
extremely fast pace, and all kinds of ai software and all kinds of educational artificial intelligence
platforms have sprung up in China, which are similar to a huge corpus and act as a large-scale
language model for a wide range of scenarios and purposes, and are particularly useful for educational
tutoring. Numerous scholars have conducted an in-depth study research on the combination of
artificial intelligence and the field of education, and have come to the conclusion that the trend of the
deep integration of the new technological wave with the field of teaching is inevitable. Only by
keeping an open attitude, actively catering to the development of the times, and rationally utilizing
AI resources can individuals improve learning efficiency and make more achievements. Most of the
existing literature is delving into the relationship between AI and educators, but there are fewer
studies with learners, especially English language learners. AI has a significant effect on the learning
of English majors college students. Digital technologies such as Chatgpt bring new advantages to
English learning, but there are cases of students abusing AI. Teachers are unable to do effective
guidance and supervision, thus having a negative effect on educational learning. What is the current
situation of applying educational AI for English majors? What are the learning advantages and
limitations of AI software for students? These questions urgently need to be answered.
Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/52/2024.19687
© 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Therefore, to investigate the present status of AI application among English majors,the author
makes this study, which in turn will provide a reference for English majors to improve the efficiency
of English learning by using AI. Based on Venkatesh et al.’s study [1], this study investigates and
analyzes the current situation of English majors’ acceptance and application of educational AI to the
study and acquiring of English.
The independent variables include performance expectation, effort expectation, social influence,
and facilitation. The four variables were examined to examine their effects on students’ intention to
use as the dependent variable.
2. Literature Review
Since the 1980s, the amalgamation of artificial intelligence and education has been an academic
research field with some research ability [2]. After entering the 21st century, with the rapid
development of AI technology, ai and education continue to deepen the integration. language
modeling AI, such as ChatGPT, can recognize and understand the language and symbols input by
people, and deeply analyze the questions asked by the user, and through multiple rounds of
conversational exchanges, it can recover the connection between speech and form, disambiguate
syntactic ambiguities, and explain irrational sentences with noise corruption (noise). corruption to
explain irrational sentences, determine implied causality, reasoning, lexical meaning access and
lexical extraction, etc. [3]. This feature of ChatGPT can facilitate the revolutionary shift from machine
language to natural language interaction in online second language acquisition and foreign language
learning [4].
In English language teaching and learning, many scholars believe that AI is applied in several
English language learning domains to promote English language knowledge learning and English
skills improvement. Chinese scholars, such as Hua Lulu, believe that AI promotes English learning,
and a comprehensive integration of AI and English education and teaching plays an important role in
language skills training, such as improving the vividness of English listening resources, creating a
“native” English communication atmosphere, increasing the degree of entertainment in English
reading, and improving the motivation of English writing [5]. In recent years, Jiao Jianli further
proposed that ChatGPT enables individuals to have their own AI assistant and personal learning
consultant, especially to encourage personalized feedback from students and foster collaborative
learningsuch as QuillBot, Ginger, InstaText, Grammarly and so on. That personalized guidance and
timely feedback encourage self-directed learning, self-reflection and self-regulation by this provide
learners with customized feedback for their written assignments, as well as Codecademy for coding
tasks [6]. This personalized guidance and timely feedback encourage self-reflection, self-directed
learning, and self-regulation by enabling students to acquire knowledge from their mistakes [7]. Han
Tong also studied the application of AI in English writing learning in depth. She surveyed 498 English
students in the first year of high school, and found out that the students’ demand for educational AI is
more for reading excellent model essays, automatically recommending exercises, and real-time
monitoring of the learning status, etc. However, the scope of the study is limited, and it is only
dedicated to the application of educational AI in reading and does not include any other English
learning segments or parts [8].
On the other hand, the application of AI has also brought some negative impacts on students’
English learning and has attracted the attention of scholars. Students’ wrong use of AI software leads
to AI abuse and academic deception. When using ChatGPT, students use ai generated text but do not
distinguish the literature cited in the content, which raises the possibility of plagiarism [9]. In the
same year, Cecilia Ka Yuk Chan investigated that a sample size of 1,000 showed that approximately
one-third of college students in the U.S. used AI bots such as ChatGPT to finish their written
assignments, and 60% of students used the program to complete more than half of their assignments,
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with some students using it to cheat [10]. English has become the most frequent subject in which
college students use ChatGPT [4]. A more serious situation is that, over-relying on AI can result in
students losing their initiative when learning English and do not think about the knowledge and use
of language in AI-generated texts [11]. To summarize, both teachers and students are unable to keep
abreast of the students’ application of AI in English learning, which leads to teachers’ inability to
effectively supervise and guide students, and triggers the negative effects of AI-assisted English
learning.
What sets this study apart from previous ones is that many scholars have studied the AI’s use in
English language instruction in various aspects, and AI-assisted English learning has brought new
advantages and some potential risks. However, the specific application of AI for English as a foreign
language (EFL) students to accept the use of AI in English learning situations has not yet been fully
investigated. Therefore, this study summarizes the impact and the degree of impact of AI English
software on EFL students’ English acquisition according to the content and characteristics of the
application. It is believed that this study can better present the application of AI to English specialist
students, help students to correctly understand the value of AI application and English acquisition,
and better understand the current situation of their use of English AI. Consequently, in order to
investigate the students’ particular acceptance and use of AI support for English language learning,
as well as to offer references for English majors’ English language learning, the author studies the
following two questions:
1. What is the present situation. of students’ acceptance and use of AI software in AI-assisted
English specialized students’ learning?
2. What factors influence students’ use of AI for learning English?
3. Methodology
3.1. Theme
This study discusses the current status of acceptance and application of educational AI-assisted
English learning among EFL students. 105 questionnaires were recovered, and 5 questionnaires with
inconsistent answers and too short a time were excluded, and the retrieval of 100 valid questionnaires
resulted in an effective recovery rate of 95%, which meets the requirements of the statistical analysis
of this study.
3.2. Measurement Methods
The questionnaire of this study’s dimensional structure is based on Venkatesh et al.’s[1]. Integration
Theory of Technology Acceptance and Use. On this basis, it also refers to Harbin Normal University’s
Han Tong’s whose adapted scale retains five measurement dimensions including performance
expectation, effort expectation, social influence, convenience, and usage intention, with four items
for each dimension and a total of 20 items in all. The questionnaire was divided into three parts, the
first part investigated the age information of the students, the second part investigated the use of
educational AI by the students, such as the commonly used platforms and software, the need for use
and other information. The third part measures the acceptance and application of educational AI-
assisted English learning among EFL students, with five dimensions (20 question items)[8]. In
addition to the first part of the identity information survey and the multiple choice in the second part,
the third part of the questionnaire items were developed based on a five-point Likert scale, with the
options categorized as 1=not at all, 2=basically not, 3=fairly, 4=basically, and 5=completely. In
addition, the “Q1,Q2,Q3” means the first, second, third questions of the qustionnaire.
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3.3. Methods of Analysis
The analysis methods employed in this study included reliability analysis, descriptive analysis,
correlation analysis, and analysis of variance. The sample data collected consisted of 100 observations
that were analyzed using SPASS.
4. Results
4.1. Descriptive Statistical Analysis
The research object is junior college students majoring in English in a teacher training college within
Hebei Province, and the valid questionnaires are 100, in which the first and second parts of the
questionnaires investigate the basic information of the students, the commonly used AI tools as well
as their sources, and the demand for and evaluation of the AI.
The first part of the information part has a total of one multiple-choice question, which investigates
the gender information. The results are as follows:
In terms of gender, there were 11 (11%) male students and 89 (89%) female students, with the
number of female students significantly higher than the number of male students.
Table 1: Artificial Intelligence Platforms Used by EFL Students in their Learning.
English Artificial Intelligence
Platform
frequency
percentage
ChatGPT
62
62%
Tiangong AI, Wisdom
Spectrum Clear Words, etc.
39
39%
Grammerly Writing Assistant
15
15%
Utalk Intelligent
Pronunciation Software
61
61%
iwrite writing platform
73
73%
language class
36
36%
Homework help and other
question search software
45
45%
(sth. or sb) else
5
5%
The results of the Q2 survey show that the 100 English majors surveyed used the following
educational AI platforms in the process of English learning: among them, the most frequently used
by students is the iwrite writing platform at 73 (73%), followed by the Utalk Intelligent Phonetic
Correction Platform and ChatGPT at 61 (61%) and 62 (62%), respectively, and in addition, the
number of Chinese AI software such as Tiangong AI software, Chinese AI such as Tiangong,
language classroom, homework help and other question search software are also higher in number, at
39 (39%), 36 (36%), 45 (45%), respectively, and the number of individuals who utilize Grammarly
writing assistant is less at 15 (15%) (See Table 1).
Q3 surveyed the students’ needs for using how AI is used in acquiring English, and the findings
demonstrated that the most important needs were writing instruction, 65 (65%) and grammar
checking needed in writing instruction 68 (68%). Pronunciation correction came next at 57 (57%),
vocabulary expansion and assisted reading comprehension were both 56 (56%), and the need for
listening improvement was the least at 35. The needs corresponded to the use of the platform one-to-
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one, and the students were willing to use the writing platform for writing instruction, grammar
correction, and the pronunciation correction platform for speaking training.
4.2. Correlation Analysis
Table 2: Correlation analysis of dimensions.
Pearson Related
facilitation
social impact
strive for
Performance
expectations
Intent to use
correlation
coefficient
0.802**
0.619**
0.683**
0.590**
p-value
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
sample size
100
100
100
100
* p<0.05 ** p<0.01
According to the Pearson correlation coefficient data provided, all four factors – facilitation, social
influence, effort expectation, and performance expectation – significantly influenced intention to use,
with correlation coefficients of 0.802, 0.619, 0.683, and 0.590, demonstrating that there is a
considerable correlation between the intention to use and performance expectations, effort
expectations, social influence, and facilitation (See Table 2).
Table 3: Differential analysis of students’ use of types of English AI software and each dimension.
ANOVA results
Types of English AI software used (mean ±
standard deviation)
F
p
Both
categories
used (n=43)
Use of
ChatGPT-
type software
(n=17)
Use of
linguistic AI
software
(n=23)
social impact
2.95±0.62
3.00±0.76
2.96±0.78
0.029
0.971
strive for
3.10±0.61
3.00±0.85
3.01±0.70
0.215
0.807
Performance
expectations
3.45±0.59
3.38±0.79
3.48±0.66
0.108
0.898
facilitation
3.55±0.64
3.22±0.82
3.55±0.85
1.324
0.272
* p<0.05 ** p<0.01
English AI software used by students is divided into two categories, one is ChatGPT and other big
data question answering software, there are Chatgpt, Tiangong AI, Wisdom Spectrum Clear Speech,
etc., homework help and other question search software. The second category is language AI software,
Grammerly Writing Assistant, Utalk Intelligent Pronunciation Correction Software, Iwrite writing
platform, language classroom. There are three types of usage for students in English learning, using
Chatgpt class software or language AI software alone, or using both at the same time.
As can be seen from the above table, using ANOVA to study the differences in the use of English
AI software types for social influence, effort expectations, performance expectations, convenience
conditions for a total of four items, it can be seen from the above table: different samples of the use
of English AI software types for social influence, effort expectations, performance expectations,
convenience conditions for all of them do not show significance (p>0.05), which means that the
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samples of different kinds of English AI software use for social influence, effort expectation,
performance expectation, and convenience condition all show consistency and there is no difference
(See Table 3).
5. Conclusion
Through the study, it was found that the basic situation of the application of educational AI in English
learning for English specialization students is that students have a high willingness to use AI to assist
their English learning. Software that is most frequently used is designed to meet students’ learning
needs, specifically writing platforms, speaking training platforms, and grammar checking platforms.
These platforms serve to offer writing guidance, vocabulary expansion, and grammatical and
phonological corrections. The differences in the types of AI tools, the use of ChatGPT-type software,
language-based AI software and using both types of software did not have significant differences on
the dimensions. Significant correlations were found between intention to use and performance
expectations, effort expectations, social influence, and facilitation, with facilitation having the highest
correlation with intention to use. Schools that want to enhance the intentions of students to use
intelligent systems for learning English should focus on improving the convenience and simplifying
the operation of the application to increase students’ intention to use the software so that they can be
more efficient in their English learning. This study presents the acceptance and use of AI by EFL
students, which helps students to correctly understand the basic situation and value of applying AI to
English acquisition, and helps teachers to grasp the students’ learning situation and provide correct
guidance and supervision. There are restrictions that exist in this study, the sample size is small and
limited to institutions in one province, which has a certain impact on the results of the study. In view
of the shortcomings, the author proposes the prospect that the number of research subjects should be
expanded in the future, and the scope of the study area should be expanded to make the research
subjects more generalized and to improve the generalization of the research results.
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