Language Learning with Chat GPT

By Laura Standel

Language learners, both independent and in a classroom, always strive for the same things when it comes to learning a new language: resources and practice. There have been many strategies, learning from books, watching movies, listening to music, and even in more recent decades — language learning apps.

But even apps are starting to be outdated idea when you have new ideas, such as using AI programs like Chat GPT. Recently, polyglots and new language learners alike are exploring how Chat GPT can help them advance their language studies. From something such as creating a themed vocabulary list in the target language (with translations) to explaining difficult grammar concepts, Chat GPT seems to have many ways to assist language learners.

It has an interactive function where you can set up practice vocabulary exercises and it will respond and correct you if necessary. These can range from all types of exercises including fill-in-the-blanks, or direct translation questions. The learner can ask general questions for their practice or they can ask the AI to create personalized exercises for extra and more specialized language practice.

For beginners, it can translate a phrase, but it can also find multiple ways to get the same idea across depending on the situation and the specifics of what culture or country you are hoping to target your language learning from. This even includes slang, idioms, and specific phrases from different dialects. It can also explain certain ideas and grammar points. You can type in a sentence and the AI will explain why the sentence is written the way it is. You can continue to ask it questions as you would with language teachers, but cannot always do with other language learning apps. Or you could ask it to explain the idea in a different way for a better understanding.

Once you’ve gotten the basics down, Chat GPT can act as a language partner, it will have a conversation following the parameters that you set. This can be using text to practice reading and writing, but it is not limited to this well-known function. This AI has a conversation mode that can help with speaking and listening. Another bonus of using this tool is that it can be very helpful as it is not necessarily a preset conversation, you never know what the AI is going to say just like you don’t know what a person is going to say. So you get that same spontaneity as you would in a real conversation. However, you can also ask it to go through a specific scenario with you, for example, a job interview in the target language. If you choose to just stick with reading and writing, it can offer pronunciation help by displaying the international phonetic alphabet. If you are serious about learning a language, whether with or without Chat GPT, you can still use the program to help create a curriculum. You just put in your language level and goals, which will help you develop a strategy of what to study and resources.

While all this points to Chat GPT as a useful tool to help individual language learning, it has the potential to be an aid in a classroom. There are many dangers to this as students can abuse it or use it as they use Google Translate, but it can also be a benefit and make learning easier for the students and teaching easier for the teachers. With a tool like AI at their fingertips, teachers no longer need to answer 25+ questions within an hour-long class period. While listening to questions and answers can be a good thing for students, it can also be confusing and the teaching of the teacher might not always match up well with a student’s learning style. Chat GPT would allow multiple ways to teach one idea so that the student might have a better chance of understanding the material.

While all this sounds like a dream to language learners, there are still some negative aspects to keep in mind. The lessons are quite random, it doesn’t have its own curriculum on which to base lessons, only what we supply. It does everything by request and has nothing behind it to help you move forward until you say so. Much like with other general language learning apps, Chat GPT is better with some languages than with others. The final negative element of the current version is that the automated voice is still pretty artificial and not as great for listening practice as are other strategies such as TV, music, or native speakers. So while it is better than nothing, Chat GPT should not be used as a sole resource for language learning, but rather as a helpful tool to keep going.

Interested in learning more? You can find more information here:

https://www.howtogeek.com/chatgpt-conversational-mode-to-practice-a-language/

https://www.scribbr.com/ai-tools/chatgpt-language-learning/