DOI:
CC BY-NC 4.0 —Licencia Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional
© 2023 Universidad Central del Ecuador
pISSN 12631-2840
eISSN 2631-2859
kronos.idiomas@uce.edu.ec
REVISTA KRONOS
INSITUTO ACADÉMICO DE IDIOMAS REVISTA KRONOS
UNIVERSIDAD CENTRAL DEL ECUADOR 4(2), agosto 2023-enero 2024, pp. 95-102
Jorge Quijano De la Rosa | Universidad Central del Ecuador (Ecuador)
Preparing for AI involves ensuring that all citizens are prepared for the possible impacts of AI on their lives, helping them to go beyond the hype
in order to understand issues such as AI ethics, data biases, surveillance, and the potential impact on jobs.
Holmes et al. (2022).
abstract This paper discusses the rise of AI in language teaching and its impact on the teaching of English as a foreign
language in Ecuador. The author shares his experience as an EFL teacher in an international graduate program and
highlights the importance of critical thinking and higher order thinking in language learning. The use of AI, particularly
ChatGPT, in the classroom is explored, as well as potential benefits and limitations. It also creates an insightful explora-
tion through technical concepts that entail the meaning of a generative AI and its ramifications until today. The author
emphasizes the need for well-trained teachers who can adapt and innovate with technology to provide meaningful learn-
ing experiences for students. The author explores in depth how teaching English in Ecuador has presented constraints
to overcome in order to accomplish a well understanding of how it is actually learnt by the citizens and how AI could
aid that task. The paper raises questions about the future of education and the role of teachers in an AI-driven world. It
concludes by highlighting the potential of AI to dramatically enhance teaching and learning experiences, but also high-
lights the importance of using AI tools effectively and ensuring that they align with student needs and course objectives.
The paper highlights that AI can make teaching more efficient and effective, but Teachers are not interchangeable. The
use of AI in language education is still in its infancy in Ecuador, but promising initiatives are being developed, with the
potential to equalize all students and improve the quality of education.
Key words AI in language education, English as a foreign language, Ecuador, ChatGPT, teaching English, Critical thinking
skills, higher-order thinking skills, EFL teacher.
fecha de recepción 08/06/2023 fecha de aprobación 22/08/2023
El auge de la IA en la educación de idiomas: un punto de inflexión para la enseñanza de
inglés como lengua extranjera en Ecuador
resumen Este artículo analiza el auge de la IA en la enseñanza de idiomas y su impacto en la enseñanza del inglés como
lengua extranjera en Ecuador. El autor comparte su experiencia como profesor de inglés como lengua extranjera (EFL)
en un programa de bachillerato internacional y destaca la importancia del pensamiento crítico y el pensamiento de or-
den superior en el aprendizaje de idiomas. Se explora el uso de la IA, en particular ChatGPT, en el aula, así como sus
posibles beneficios y limitaciones. También se realiza una exploración perspicaz a través de conceptos técnicos que im-
plican el significado de la IA generativa y sus ramificaciones hasta hoy. El autor enfatiza la necesidad de profesores bien
formados que puedan adaptarse e innovar con la tecnología para brindar experiencias de aprendizaje significativas a los
estudiantes. El autor explora en profundidad cómo la enseñanza del inglés en Ecuador ha presentado restricciones que
superar para lograr una buena comprensión de cómo lo aprenden realmente los ciudadanos y cómo la IA podría ayu-
dar en esa tarea. El artículo plantea preguntas sobre el futuro de la educación y el papel de los profesores en un mundo
impulsado por la IA. Concluye destacando el potencial de la IA para mejorar drásticamente las experiencias de enseñan-
za y aprendizaje, pero también destaca la importancia de utilizar las herramientas de IA de manera eficaz y garantizar
que se alineen con las necesidades de los estudiantes y los objetivos del curso. El artículo destaca que la IA puede hac-
er que la enseñanza sea más eficiente y efectiva, pero los profesores no son intercambiables. El uso de la IA en la edu-
cación lingüística aún se encuentra en sus inicios en Ecuador, pero se están desarrollando iniciativas prometedoras, con
el potencial de igualar a todos los estudiantes y mejorar la calidad de la educación.
palabras clave ia en la educación de idiomas, inglés como lengua extranjera, Ecuador, Chatgpt, enseñanza del inglés,
pensamiento crítico, habilidades superiores de pensamiento, docentes efl
The rise of AI in language education: a game changer for teach-
ing English as a foreign language in Ecuador
96 REVISTA KRONOS 4(2), agosto 2023-enero 2024 | pISSN 12631-2840 | eISSN 2631-2859
The rise of AI in language education: a game changer for teaching English as a foreign language in Ecuador
INTRODUCTION
As educators, we certainly knew almost nothing on ai and its uses for our field, neverthe-
less, its blowing appearance in our daily contexts has undoubtably modified our percep-
tion of this now-living scenario. Now, our task seems to be addressed to explore and get as
much information as possible about it, but it is not an easy business; there are constraints
that we must take into account like inclusiveness, personalization, flexibility, and engage-
ment (Schmidt & Strassner, 2022). As many others related to our local situations and how
efl is studied and taught. Let me show you then, my perception and experience, as my find-
ings using these newbie functions for teaching English as a foreign language in Ecuador.
TEACHING efl/esl AS A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER IN ECUADOR
First, it is paramount to delineate my professional experience as a high school English
teacher and lately discuss how that experience is contrasted with Ecuador’s reality in the
educational field, specifically for esl and efl teaching.
My career as an efl/esl teacher was focused on teaching English for the international
baccalaureate program. The subject was English b Higher Level. This subject entails more
than a traditional transmission of knowledge about grammar, and the famous four skills
that every language learner must acquire in order to be a competent user of it (The Euro-
pean Council, 2023). In consequence, it works with those skills to transform the content
delivery into a context where each individual produces the language to a major extent in-
teracting with its peers and showing critical thinking, reflecting, and higher-order thinking
capacities in the l2 (Dp-Language-B-Guide, 2020).
Let me set you into a deeper understanding of how this subject works and lately
share the importance it had for my profession to know the huge incoming impact that the
appearance of ai’s had in the early stages of 2023.
First of all, it is needed to establish that according to (Dp-Language-B-Guide, 2020),
«The Diploma Programme is a rigorous pre-university course of study designed for stu-
dents in the 16 to 19 age range. It is a broad-based two-year course that aims to encourage
students to be knowledgeable and inquiring, but also caring and compassionate». It means
that the nature of the course is broadly based on a different basis if it is compared to the
traditional language acquisition set ups where aspects like grammar, and vocabulary are the
cores of teaching and thus, the objective for obtaining an international certification from
Cambridge, The British Council, and so on. In consequence, it is also stated that «Language
ab initio and language B are language acquisition courses designed to provide students
with the necessary skills and intercultural understanding to enable them to communicate
successfully in an environment where the language studied is spoken» (Dp-Language-B-
Guide, 2020, p. 16).
After the previous introduction to the subject as the matter of experience for this
article, it is highly important to state that this component of the ib curriculum, also has
a collection of approaches to teaching and learning that are the basis of the course itself.
Among them, and as (Dp-Language-B-Guide, 2020), states, we may find the upcoming list:
1. Empower teachers as teachers of learners as well as teachers of content.
2. Empower teachers to create clearer strategies for facilitating learning experiences in
which students are more meaningfully engaged in structured inquiry and greater
critical and creative thinking.
3. Promote both the aims of individual subjects (making them more than course aspira-
tions) and linking previously isolated knowledge (concurrency of learning)
97REVISTA KRONOS 4(2), agosto 2023-enero 2024 | pISSN 12631-2840 | eISSN 2631-2859
Jorge Quijano
4. Encourage students to develop an explicit variety of skills that will equip them to con-
tinue to be actively engaged in learning after they leave school, and to help them not
only obtain university admission through better grades but also prepare for success
during tertiary education and beyond.
5. Enhance further the coherence and relevance of the students’ Diploma Programme
experience.
6. Allow schools to identify the distinctive nature of an ib Diploma Programme education,
with its blend of idealism and practicality (p. 14).
These approaches are meant to highlight the learner as the center of the teaching-learn-
ing process and as a former instructor for this subject, I consider that it is paramount to
be clear that not all the routines and repetitive actions that come from the traditional way
an English teacher uses for its classes, actually, work. We have to imagine this class a mo-
ment for reflection over the content that is delivered and ask the learners to produce their
thoughts using the l2. They may dive into interesting themes like identities, social orga-
nization, human ingenuity, sharing the planet, and experiences (Philpot, 2018) and also
complementing them with even more sources of information like the ones found in Mc-
Gowan, M., Owen Jung, H., & Deupree, A. (2019), Janning, P., & Mertin, P. (2019), Saa’d
Aldin, K. & Morley, K. (2018). Furthermore, add these themes with different text-types
as they learn how to write extensively. This may include how to prepare and write essays,
news reports, letters (informal and formal), brochures, proposals, reviews, blogs, social
media posts, and almost everything they may find nowadays (Owen, 2020).
On the other hand, keeping up with a content-driven class might become difficult to
grasp and imagine, the challenge was to think out of the box and face different procedures
to convey a communicative content which function could delineate a better outcome in
the students’ language performance. In this section, I must agree that as an efl or esl
teacher, your cognitive knowledge, must be rich and understand a variety of voluble
situations in the classroom that require your resourceful approach to solve them instead
of repeating routines, actions, and moreover, traditional views on teaching and learning
(Al-Seghayer, 2017).
These kinds of classes work with a dynamic that is mostly understood as conver-
sational and seek different ways of thinking from the learners’ perspectives. Not all of
them are developed using a proper and adequate level of English. According to the (Dp-
Language-B-Guide, 2020), the optimal management of the language considering the cefr
for languages is b1 or b2, therefore, it is also another aspect to take into account when all
the content comes to the moment of being studied and comprehended. According to De
Angelis (2022), this aspect is an important paradigm that as English teachers we must
know because in Ecuador, it is nationally spread the idea that most of the population has
a low level of English (El Universo, 2019). And recalling my experience teaching this
demanding subject, I agree on that claim. Nevertheless, it is also remarkable to position in
our minds, that Ecuador has had a constant evolving process in this field and contrary to
ef education first (2021a), the company that publishes these studies yearly; our country
responds to a better qualification, however, the core of the methodological process which
is used to measure this data, seems to be biased as De Angelis (2022) assures promoting
that ef education first (2021a), is not taking into account many other factors that are
more linked to our reality. De Angelis (2022) mentions «…the ef epi does not distinguish
between a total lack of language skill in English, the ability to use some basic expressions
in the language, and the ability to adequately communicate about concrete topics in En-
glish, since all of these would appear as ‘very low proficiency’. It is worth noting that the
distinctions between pre-a1, a1, and a2 can be very significant in contexts like Ecuador».
In the end, my position as an educator on this field, takes these last claims as truth, but
conditioned for another reality that in the classrooms all over the country happens, and
98 REVISTA KRONOS 4(2), agosto 2023-enero 2024 | pISSN 12631-2840 | eISSN 2631-2859
The rise of AI in language education: a game changer for teaching English as a foreign language in Ecuador
that is that our students scarcely handle the language to a significant extent, and it brings
the need to make a huge difference in the instructional methods we use as efl/esl teachers.
Around this aspect, the ai created the first step for this change.
CHATgpt AND THE APPEARANCE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE
EDUCATIONAL FIELD
This concept of ai appeared through a now well-known name, chatgpt. This name sound-
ed harder when we started to know that it could handle different tasks using responsive
human language based on prompts that the user could write easily asking for a text, chart,
table, information, or a simple conversation and lately obtain an answer that was mostly
well-driven and logically created. Students noticed it too and their work production up-
graded in terms of readability, coherence, logical constructions, etc. This was something
to be worried about, but mostly a shocking reality that none was prepared to face or even
understand.
On the course of actions, it was necessary to comprehend first that ai was much more
than chatgpt, it was a complex language structure that engineered constructions like learn-
er-facing AI tools, teacher-facing systems, and system-facing ai tools (Schmidt & Strassner,
2022). Nonetheless, keeping up with the mentioned concepts is yet a constraint to depict
and beat in the long term, thus it creates the need to contrast what we perceive as plausible
using ai in the educational context and what could not be done.
One of the main understandings about ai in the educational practice, is its urgency
for the users (students, teachers, and stakeholders). According to (Cardona et al., n. d.),
teachers are suggested to use ai for many different situations which aim to save time,
reduce workload, help students, and furtherly, provide feedback for those in need. This
situation is agreed by (Schmidt & Strassner, 2022), whose concept of ai implementation
relies on three relevant pillars, adaptivity, assistance, and dynamism. Consequently, if we
take into account that this new technology is shaping notably the way in which we attend
to classes, it is not a surprise that our path as educators is now changing, and we must
strive for creating new ways to implement ai in the near future and lastly innovate our
lessons, test, materials, and authentic production for learners of efl.
Besides all the knowledge you consider you have learned about ai and its function-
alities; it is riveting to depict and review what is it and how we may use it properly as a
result of our previous educational knowledge. Therefore, glance the map below about AI
and its definitions as (Regona et al., 2022) share (see Figure 1).
Grasping from the map presented, Artificial Intelligence appears to be more than
what we appreciate at the first sight. It shows a wide range of possibilities for educators
and students. One of those relies in the framework of automated planning and scheduling
saving many hours a day, mainly by adjusting a content given instead of creating it from
scratch. Online tools like chatgpt and Bard ai are magnificent on this task, however, they
require from you a correct language presentation as they understand input delivered using
texts or what we actually call, prompts. The very prompts that may enlighten you with
more knowledge or lead you to confusion. It all depends on how you as the user may write
properly and clearly. As an example, you may ask to a generative ai like chatgpt or Bard ai
to write a lesson plan. If your prompt is just ‘write a lesson plan’, then your outcome giv-
en will be any lesson plan that the ai may grasp from its database, otherwise, if you write
something more detailed like ‘write a lesson plan for teaching comparatives to a group of
twenty students whose age goes from 10 to 12 years old and their language skills stand
for an a2 level according to the cefr’, you will for sure obtain a meaningful result. These
essays are based on natural language processing and machine learning.
99REVISTA KRONOS 4(2), agosto 2023-enero 2024 | pISSN 12631-2840 | eISSN 2631-2859
Jorge Quijano
On this basis, teaching efl is also a matter of understanding that generative ais are not the
solution for everything we are meant to do in our job as educators. Those might provide
us with different and varied results, texts, charts, plans, evaluations, etc. Nevertheless, it is
our duty to decode what is correct and what is not. Cardona et al. (n. d.) states that these
software solutions do not have the needed ‘common sense’ and neither the same judge-
ment that as humans we possess. Consequently, relying on them blindly is undoubtedly an
error that will also prevent us from academic creation which will meaningfully help stu-
dents to climb the ladder.
Following the aforementioned words, ‘common sense’ is the key besides judgment
that clearly enhances the language production our learners might demonstrate lately
with their teachers’ instructions. In our solely Ecuadorian context, portraying this aspect
is quite complicated and such a challenge due to our cosmovision and inherited way of
thinking about life, discipline, and love for knowledge and learning. Apart from these
constraints, teaching in a country like this, is also a source of challenging situations where
you as an educator will learn and adapt yourself. Consequently, for me, after eight years
of teaching, it is paramount to keep learning and discovering ways and methods to under-
stand how our students learn and especially, how to reach their minds with meaningful
experiences based on reasoning and not just on pursuing a certificate from Cambridge or
any other company. On the other hand, it differs from other students around the globe,
I mean, we could not expect to have ideal classroom settings as we perceive in most of
the teaching books we learn along our professional formation. Our contexts, settings,
experiences, political and cultural issues, make our labor even more complex and intri-
cated, therefore, keeping up with AI tools will unequivocally support our work efforts
substantially (Al-Seghayer, 2017).
In all of these aspects mentioned previously, there is a question that immediately pops
up to our minds, of course, if you dedicate your life to elaborate on educational purposes.
This interrogation stands for the usefulness teachers have in the future of education. Will
our continuity be affected by ai development? Or are we going to be replaced by robots,
Figure 3. Flash cards
100 REVISTA KRONOS 4(2), agosto 2023-enero 2024 | pISSN 12631-2840 | eISSN 2631-2859
The rise of AI in language education: a game changer for teaching English as a foreign language in Ecuador
androids or even different generative tools that could help students to learn faster and
better without our onsite assistance?
For better answering this question, let me recall some information mentioned by
(Schmidt & Strassner, 2022), whose statements acknowledge the need of teachers in a
utopia they set in the year 2040 where most of the materials used by our learners will be
interactive, multimedia settled, able to be connected to internet everywhere they go and
decide to work on, adapted to the needs they could face, like onsite or online classes. This
need comes from reflecting over the concept of well-trained teachers. Instructors which
main purpose would be to know, evolve, innovate, adapt, use technology and moreover,
set scenarios where individuals might learn significantly from the critical thinking skill
their teachers show.
In addition, we do not only possess information about ai and its full range of advan-
tages and disadvantages spread all over the web. As educators, it is our responsibility to
answer some important questions and reflections over the application of them in our spe-
cific contexts of teaching and learning. Let’s bullet point them for a better understanding
of their implications:
- Is our learning system able to use ai and learn about it?
- After deciding on using ai, is the tool(s) chosen aligned to students that have specific
educational needs?
- How our students are able to interact with others if any ai is included in their curricu-
lum? (Cardona et al., n. d.).
- Is all the information shared on the web through ai’s save and secure? And moreover,
how our students are protected? (Cardona et al., n. d.).
- How could teachers interact with ai’s so that they could feel it as an advantage and not
as their replacement?
- How willing are our teachers for learning and adapting themselves to the new loops of
teaching and learning that AIs bring within them?
- Is our context ready for this transition?
As complex as it seems to be, it also brings opportunities for enhancement and improve-
ment. We might then infer that our educational system has to evolve as new tools do ev-
ery day and consequently offer teachers a new perspective for sharing knowledge, content,
experiences, methods, approaches, practices, and even more; to center their efforts on stu-
dents as always. This new comprehension of ai should break the wall and bring calm to
those who consider that their jobs are running in danger, because it is far from the cur-
rent reality. Instead, we perhaps change people’s mindset and show them how resilient we
might become and teach them too that we could design, create, and evaluate, prepare and
reflect on our teaching, and actually do our teaching (Cardona et al., n. d.).
HOW ai CHANGED MY OVERVIEW OF TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN
LANGUAGE
In the last months using different tools related to artificial intelligence and its plugins; it
has been really impressive how the time management now goes around the concept of ‘sav-
ing’ instead of ‘consuming’. What I mean is that before knowing the existence of different
AI’s capable of solving routinary activities, like planning, creating exercises, or merely a
PowerPoint presentation, the teachers’ duties were complicated and time ‘consuming’ due
to the long hours needed to think, process, and later produce the content needed for each
class session. Consequently, having a great base of information and a program to solve it
based on a generative algorithm, is actually a game changer and precisely talking, it moved
101REVISTA KRONOS 4(2), agosto 2023-enero 2024 | pISSN 12631-2840 | eISSN 2631-2859
Jorge Quijano
from using Chatgpt to alternatives that based on this language, they sort the information
to set a really useful outcome. In this list of alternatives, I have found apps like Gamma ai,
that works creating documents, presentations, and even landing web pages based on the
same concept of writing a prompt that fits the needs of the user. Another of the endless
apps there found on the web, we have Diffit for teachers ai, and what makes special the
use and application of this website, is the capacity it has to make a differentiation and ad-
aptation of the content and texts you input in order to lower the vocabulary complexity it
has and moreover the tone, style, aim, and even the text-type. In addition, here my favor-
ite by far, Twee ai, this artificial intelligence is basically something different, but keeping
the same fundamentals as the core. Using this ai, any efl or esl teacher may create using
generative text and a predefined bot, to create activities like fill in the gap, word forma-
tion, YouTube video exercises, summaries, and many others that are found in the stan-
dardized tests of English.
In the overall, using these tools, makes the administrative and lesson planning hours,
more adequate to fulfill them with more analysis, reflection, and critical thinking exercises.
It has, in my opinion, all the assets that I need to make the teaching-learning process easier
and more complete, meaningful, and fostering the feedback time for more students. In the
end, it even helps each one of my students to be assessed faster and with more information
embedded in the process.
CONCLUSION
The rise of ai in language education has the potential to be a game-changer for teaching
English as a foreign language in Ecuador. ai-powered tools can help to personalize learn-
ing, provide students with immediate feedback, and automate tasks such as grading and
lesson planning. This can free up teachers to focus on more strategic aspects of teaching,
such as providing support to students who need it most.
However, it is important to note that ai is not a silver bullet. It is important to use
ai tools in a thoughtful and intentional way, and to ensure that they are aligned with the
specific needs of students and the learning objectives of the curriculum. Additionally, it
is important to be aware of the potential biases that can be embedded in ai tools, and to
take steps to mitigate them.
In Ecuador, the use of ai in language education is still in its early stages. However,
there are a number of promising initiatives underway around the world that promise to
make this educational change a reality that will start on teachers later in the upcoming
years to a huge amount of students.
As a professional educator with experience teaching English as a foreign language in
Ecuador, I am excited about the potential of ai to improve the quality of education for all
students. I believe that ai has the potential to level the playing field and give all students
the opportunity to succeed in learning English.
Here are some specific ways that ai can be used to improve language education in Ecuador:
- Personalized learning: ai can be used to create personalized learning plans for each stu-
dent. This can be done by tracking student progress and identifying areas where they
need additional support. ai can then provide students with targeted instruction and
practice activities to help them improve their skills.
- Immediate feedback: ai can provide students with immediate feedback on their work.
This can be especially helpful for students who are struggling, as it can help them to
identify their errors and make corrections quickly.
- Automated tasks: AI can automate tasks such as grading and lesson planning. This can
102 REVISTA KRONOS 4(2), agosto 2023-enero 2024 | pISSN 12631-2840 | eISSN 2631-2859
The rise of AI in language education: a game changer for teaching English as a foreign language in Ecuador
free up teachers to focus on more strategic aspects of teaching, such as providing
support to students who need it most.
- Adaptive learning: ai can be used to create adaptive learning materials that adjust to the
student’s individual needs and learning style. This can help to ensure that all students
are challenged and engaged in their learning.
I believe that ai has the potential to make a significant positive impact on language educa-
tion in Ecuador. By using ai tools in a thoughtful and intentional way, teachers can create
more personalized and effective learning experiences for their students.
REFERENCES
Al-Seghayer, K. (2017). The Central Characteristics of Successful esl/efl Teachers. Journal
of Language Teaching and Research, 8, 881. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0805.06
Cardona, M. A., Rodríguez, R. J., & Ishmael, K. (n. d.). Artificial Intelligence and the Future
of Teaching and Learning.
De Angelis, A. (2022). ef English Proficiency Index and English in Ecuador: Uncertain
assumptions of the international ranking. Revista Andina de Educación, 5(2) (2022)
005211. https://doi.org/10.32719/26312816.2022.5.2.11
Dp-language-b-guide (2020). International Baccalaureate Organization. Language b guide
of studies for the first call 2020.
El Universo. (2019, December 30). Ecuador, peor país de Latinoamérica en dominio de
inglés, según informe. El Universo.
ef Education First. (2021a). Company Fact Sheet 2021.
Holmes, W., Persson, J., Chounta, i.a., Wasson, B., & Dimitrova, V. (2022). Artificial intel-
ligence and education: A critical view through the lens of human rights, democracy, and the
rule of law. Council of Europe.
Janning, P., & Mertin, P. (2019). English b for the diploma. Coursebook. Pearson. Second
edition. isbn: 9781292270814.
McGowan, M., Owen Jung, H., & Deupree, A. (2019). English b for the ib diploma. Course-
book. Hodder education. isbn: 9781510446571.
Owen Jung, H. (2020). English b for the ib diploma. Grammar and skills workbook. Hodder
education. isbn: 9781510447639.
Philpot, B. (2018). English b for the diploma programme. Cambridge University Press
Coursebook. Second edition.
Regona et al. (2022). Components, types, and subfields of ai based on Regona et al. (2022).
Saa’d Aldin, K. & Morley, K. (2018). English b for the ib diploma. Second edition. Oxford
University Press. isbn: 9780198422365.
Schmidt, T., & Strassner, T. (2022). Artificial Intelligence in Foreign Language Learning
and Teaching. Anglistik, 33(1), 165-184. https://doi.org/10.3375/ANGL/2022/1/14
The European Council, C. (2023). The cefr Levels. The cefr Levels-Framework. https://www.
coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/level-descriptions