Training of staff for the use of artificial intelligence in foreign language teaching

Abstract

The article addresses the issue of developing foreign language teachers in the field of artificial intelligence integration. Artificial intelligence is part of the IT tradition and has significant potential to change the educational process, for example doing routine activities or giving feedback to students. Artificial intelligence technologies such as speech and text generation, machine translation, linguistic corpora, etc. are used in foreign language teaching. However, some studies show that only a small part of teachers are ready and willing to use artificial intelligence in their teaching practices. 

To raise awareness about the didactic potential of artificial intelligence, a special teacher training course was developed at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies of Moscow State University in 2023. The main goal of the course “Pre-trained generative neural networks in foreign language teaching” is to develop professional methodological competence and practical skills for working with intelligent learning systems. During the course, currently used artificial intelligence technologies are analyzed. 

151 teachers from different regions of Russia took part in the course, after which some of them took a survey about their attitude towards educational material. Respondents appreciated the theoretical foundation and practical skills for giving presentations, evaluating student work, and more.

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