Over the last couple of years, AI has made significant progress and is being adopted as a versatile tool by many people.  However, just like any tool, it can be used in a good way or a bad way.  When it comes to language learning, it can be of great help to learners when used properly, but it can also stall your progress if you rely on it too much.  Having done the bulk of my language learning the traditional way, I’m far from being an expert on the optimal uses of AI; however, since a few students have been asking how I integrate it into my studies, I thought I would share my answer with all of you today.

Study Plan

If you have a general idea of your level, but are not sure where to start, it can sometimes be hard to create a personalized study plan.  You can always buy a textbook, but chances are it will cover things you already know, which can make you feel like you wasted your money.  Moreover, textbooks might cover content not aligned with your objectives, which can be frustrating. (Why do I have to learn about renting a university dorm room when all I want is to go to London and eat scones near Big Ben???)

With AI models like ChatGPT or Gemini, it’s now easy to input your goals and current level (and if you don’t know it, you can ask the AI to figure it out for you!) and to have it produce a general study plan.  Of course, it might need tweaking, but I find it’s much easier to begin working on something when I have a general sense of direction.

Answering Grammar Questions

Sometimes when I study, I come across grammar that I just can’t quite figure out.  I can feel it’s right there, but just slightly out of reach.  When that happens, I like to go on ChatGPT and ask for clarification.  It’s faster than asking your friends or teacher (who you might not see for a while), and if you’re like me and hate bothering people, it's a great way to avoid feeling like you’re a burden.

Keep in mind, however, that how you ask for clarification will determine whether you retain the information.  If you only ask, “What does X mean?” it will be no different from looking at a textbook.  When I ask the question, I like to start with what I know or what I think I know.  For example, I might say, “I need clarification on X.  The way I understand it, it means Z.  However, in this context, it seems different; can you tell me if I’m right?”  This might seem a little bit long for no reason; however, by proceeding this way, you ensure that the AI model won’t give you all possible meanings and usage for what you’re asking about.  Moreover, by starting from your own understanding, you’re creating a connection between old and new information, which usually helps you remember better.  Lastly, if your understanding was completely wrong, you’re more likely to learn the correct meaning of usage because our brains learn from mistakes. (See my previous post about making mistakes if you’d like to read more on that subject.)

Making sentence

One of my Korean conversation class tutors gives me weekly homework on the grammar or expressions I tried to use during our lesson, but didn’t quite get right.  Like most people, I’m busy, so it would be really easy for me to input a grammar or expression into ChatGPT and ask it for a few sentences.  I could then just send those to my teacher and move on to other tasks.  Of course, I’m sure many of you will think having AI do my homework would not benefit me in the long run, and you'd be right.

So, how can we use AI to help us in this case?  When I want to do homework, write a text message, or comment on social media without making mistakes, I always start by writing the sentence in the target language myself.  By doing so, not only does it allow me to put into practice what I have learnt, but it also allows me to test my understanding, since once I finally copy-paste the sentence into ChatGPT, it will tell me exactly what I got right and what I got wrong, as well as offer corrections. If I don’t know a word, I either look it up in the dictionary or I plug it into English in the middle of the sentence.  Either way, I don’t let the AI do all the work.

Another great feature I like to use when studying Spanish is asking the AI to correct my sentence to make it sound more natural for the regional version of the language (Spain, in my case).  This can be useful for English as countries like the US and the UK have different slang and expressions.

Quizzes and Graded Readers

AI models can be an excellent resource for creating vocabulary quizzes.  All you have to do is input a list of words you want to practice and ask for a quiz.  You can determine the length, type and difficulty.  I personally like to ask ChatGPT for a series of words (usually verbs) and a grammar point, then practice making sentences, but I also make simple flashcard-type quizzes.

Building on those quizzes, you can also ask the AI to create your very own graded reader using the vocabulary you’re trying to learn.  This allows you to see the word in different contexts by asking for various texts to be generated.

Provide context

It used to be that when coming across an expression in your target language, there wasn’t much you could do to understand it.  To begin with, you had to know it was an expression; otherwise, looking up each word individually just returned nonsensical gibberish. A good example is “Learn the ropes,” which means “learn how to do a job or activity”; the words on their own make no sense to a learner.  The beauty of AI is that you can input an entire sentence or, at the very least, a fragment and understand it in its context.  I’m currently reading a Japanese novel set in the Edo period, and without ChatGPT, I would probably be completely lost because many of the old-timey expressions are entirely new to me.  In this case, AI acts like an extended dictionary.

As you can see, AI can be a great tool for learners; however, you need to remember that when using AI, you should always try to use the language by yourself before reaching for help.  ChatGPT or Gemini have nothing to gain from making mistakes (which they sometimes do), but you do, so make as many as you can and learn!