Artificial intelligence as a tool for learning English: applications and the success story of a school in Peru

“We did some small tests and that created expectations for us about what it could be,” says Muñoz, who developed a software that, after about a year of being launched, has managed to quintuple the number of students with a certification. international English at said institution.

The software, which is called GoTalks and which is currently for the exclusive use of its students, creates virtual scenarios in which students can practice conversations on topics defined by teachers based on vocabulary, verb tenses and other syllable needs. course, but also where schoolchildren can talk freely about any topic with AI, receiving ‘feedback’ that allows them to steadily improve in what is usually one of the most desired achievements by students of a foreign language, but also one of the most difficult to achieve: fluency when speaking.

And thanks to large language models, also known as LLM – which are the technology behind ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, among others – machines can understand and generate texts like a human and also translate them into multiple languages, which has facilitated interactions on such a real level that they have become very practical for educational purposes.

Autonomous learning

The Peruvian ‘youtuber’ Eduardo Nuñez, who shares on his channel @edubicuo techniques to learn English independently, among other utilitarian content, has recorded in several videos his experience improving his speaking fluency using tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Elsa Speak.

For him, who like the vast majority of people learned the basics of English in a language institute, finding spaces to put his knowledge into practice was a challenge for many years, not only because of the difficulty of finding places to share with native speakers. , but because of a cost and customization issue, something that is easily resolved in the digital world, even more so with AI.

“Alternatives such as hiring a conversation tutor on platforms such as iTalki, Lingoda or Preply are expensive. In places like this it can cost you $18 for just a one-hour session. On the other hand, the paid version of ChatGPT It costs $20 and allows you a whole month of conversations (…) These tools can very well impersonate a native language partner. Many are free and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” highlights Nuñez.

Tailor-made lessons

The IA It also facilitates interactions according to the needs of different types of users, from those who want to improve their skills in business or work topics, to young students and adolescents looking to have more informal and diverse conversations.

“When you talk about what you like or what truly interests you, it is much easier to get along,” says Paolo Muñoz from Colegio Talentos, whose tool can be used by students both during class time and at home. .

“One of the most rewarding events I had with this technology occurred last year when a student told me that if she felt at night that she wanted to talk to someone, she would open the application and talk to the application, because the application will never tell you. speak badly or be in a bad mood or be grumpy, she will always be receptive,” says the engineer, who maintains that this “student’s predisposition to learn” is the best metric they have been able to have regarding the use of this new technology. at school.

The fear of speaking

Alexander Morales Panitz, co-founder of Syntax, a Peruvian app that was born in 2022 and that differentiated itself in the market by offering English lessons using artificial intelligence, highlights that part of the success of these technologies lies in the elimination of the fear or shame factor, so present in traditional learning.

“People feel much safer when talking to an AI than to a teacher because there is the factor of the other person judging you by the way you speak. In that sense, an AI becomes more reliable, there are no prejudices in the interaction and I think it helps a lot on that side, but I feel that there are challenges in the educational experience part,” says the developer.

Syntax, which had a subscription cost of $10 per month and a free 30-minute trial, had 30,000 users per month, but just as they noticed that there were very positive aspects to it, they also found points to improve.

“We had a validation process with people using the app to see how much time they spent talking to the AI, and we found that they spent 6 to 8 minutes, something that was not seen at that time, because this was before ChatGPT. For us, maintaining retention was the company’s goal, but we were all programmers, we had no experience in education,” says Morales Panitz about the program that was developed based on heuristics and not a methodology, as academies or schools usually use. .

Educational needs

Gina Pipoli, director of the Language Center at the Universidad del Pacífico (CIDUP), agrees that AI offers many advantages to students such as its interactivity, personalization, 24/7 availability and immersion in the language, but emphasizes the importance of have a solid and well-structured methodology “to ensure a systematic and coherent approach to the educational process.”

“The methodology helps avoid fragmented learning and ensures that students are exposed to all the essential skills of the language (reading, writing, listening and speaking), complementing it with grammar and vocabulary,” says the teacher.

“In addition, an appropriate methodology allows for the continuous evaluation of progress and the adaptation of teaching strategies according to the particular needs of the students, thus promoting progress and evaluation of learning, to achieve great efficiency in the process,” he explains. the expert who confirms the importance of the teacher as the protagonist of the learning process.

“Teachers not only impart knowledge, but are concerned with adapting lessons to the emotional and contextual needs of students, identifying their strengths and weaknesses to help their students achieve their personal learning goals. That is why, if Although technology and AI constitute very valuable tools for learning, the role of the teacher remains essential.

Gina Pipoli | Director of CIDUP

The perfect balance

Although tools like ChatGPT were initially seen as shortcuts that students took to copy in the classroom, there is more and more talk about the positive aspects of AI in education. And the key seems to be balance.

“I don’t think that by using an AI you are going to learn a language, that’s not the case. I have learned using various resources. AI is only a complementary tool, one more among the many that you have to use,” summarizes the ‘youtuber’ Eduardo Nuñez about his experience. “AI cannot be the protagonist of your learning, but neither can just a traditional class. “I believe in the multiplicity of experiences and resources and they all have their importance and place,” he says.

“I think this is a very great opportunity for the student, because AI makes them much more productive and efficient, they no longer focus so much on memorization, but more on ‘I have this data, what can I create or do with it’. On that side, I feel that it is a great opportunity and that we should take advantage of it,” adds Morales Panitz.

Without a doubt, Artificial Intelligence is going to have a great impact on many aspects of human life and education will not be the exception.

Tools