What is Generative AI’s place in a Native Language Classroom?

Generative artificial intelligence or GenAI is an explosive emerging technology that is receiving mixed reviews as more scholarly research is published.  With human prompts, GenAI adaptively and rapidly learns patterns from already existing data to create original creative content (Luan et al., 2025).  Positive benefits of GenAI include completing “tasks such as information search, filtering, evaluation, organization, processing, and presentation” (Meishar-Tal, 2024, p. 706). The power to access complex data and create new work with little sacrifice of time and effort is a temptation almost too alluring to resist for many students, leaving educators with the puzzle of how to utilize the benefits of GenAI while mitigating potential problems.

Potential Problems with GenAI Use

GenAI has been proven to be a bait-and-switch for students, especially those with low confidence in their academic abilities.  Students turn to GenAI for quick solutions, clarification of complex concepts, and personalized feedback, which results in lower stress and anxiety because the immediate problems have been solved (Jia et al., 2025). These short-term successes build feelings of self-efficacy, so students return to AI repeatedly (Haderlie et al., 2025). Unfortunately, the overuse of GenAI ultimately leads to lower critical thinking for students as they do not put in the work of comprehension, analysis, and problem-solving themselves. Their false confidence is ultimately shattered when they need to employ critical thinking skills or complete work without the aid of GenAI.

Ethical Concerns in English and other Language Learning Contexts

Ethical concerns of academic integrity with GenAI use are forefront in a native language learning environment. Indeed, native language instruction centers on reading and analyzing literature, research, written communication, and language development.  When students depend on GenAI to do the work of learning literacy skills, they undermine the opportunity to develop critical thinking and communication skills. Plagiarizing content created by GenAI hampers students’ writing development, and over time students become incapable of independent, original thought.

Furthermore, many GenAI models (i.e. ChatGPT) do not report their sources when retrieving and providing information unless specifically requested to do so (Meishar-Tal, 2024).  Consequently, students have no way to evaluate the validity and reliability of the original information.  Therefore, propagation of biased information goes unchecked further, inhibiting critical thinking development.

The Instructor’s Role in Learning with GenAI

Educators must integrate evidence-based GenAI learning activities and practices to ensure that students thrive scholastically and maintain academic integrity.  The recurring theme in current research regarding effective GenAI use is that instructors play a significant role in clarifying what constitutes principled practice and guiding effective collaboration with GenAI.  As instructors are mindful of these findings and apply them in educational contexts, their students can benefit from GenAI usage.

For example, participation in knowledge sharing communities. such as those found in online learning environments, has been negatively affected by widespread GenAI use.  Rather than asking one another questions, users ask GenAI instead.  Using AI requires less effort than posting in an online community and awaiting an answer.  However, research by Quinn and Gutt (2025) shows that when people do use an online community as a resource, the questions they pose are more nuanced.  Therefore, the discussions become more valuable because of the “higher quality content” contributed by committed community members (Quinn & Gutt, 2025, p. 392).  Online instructors can overcome this tendency for students to use GenAI by incentivizing participation in online discussion forums with graded responses.

Figure 1. 

Artificial Intelligence [Digital Image].

Note: Adapted from Noisy Frame, n.d., Presentación Diapositivas Inteligencia Artificial Profesional Moderno Azul y Blanco. [Canva presentation].

Secondly, a study by Luan et al. (2025) revealed that human and GenAI co-creation of knowledge can successfully occur, but students achieve the co-development of creative ideas by following a series of explicit instructions provided by a teacher.  Students cannot simply request ideas of GenAI and have the GenAI effectively create quality content.  Not only does this harm student cognition, but it constitutes plagiarism.  Research revealed that by providing a format for students which segments a larger project into many smaller tasks and then divides responsibility for those tasks between the student and GenAI, greater learning occurs (Luan et al., 2025).  Instructors can create a template explaining the process of how to effectively and honestly use GenAI as a complement to their own work.   

Writing as assessment is very problematic with GenAI available.  Although writing is a common method of gauging learning in our students, discerning original writing versus GenAI compositions can be challenging.  Instructors must design assessments and writing assignments that cannot be completed with a simple GenAI prompt.  Rather, instructors must be innovative and create assessments requiring synthesis of many concepts and theories as well as personal insights and reflection (Meishar-Tal, 2024).  Requiring students to write in class may be another solution to this challenge.

Beneficial Uses in an English Context

Instructors can implement GenAI in a variety of ways to supplement learning in their classrooms.  For instance, students can practice argumentation skills by debating with GenAI (Watson et al., 2024).  Students can upload articles with difficult concepts and request that GenAI summarize or simplify the content and quiz the student on their understanding of the content. GenAI can be useful during the research stage of writing.  Students will benefit from guidance in crafting a prompt which leads them to appropriate sources. For example, one prompt might read: “Help me find peer-reviewed articles from the last five years on the topic of ______.” In addition to peer review, students can use GenAI during the drafting stages of essay construction to identify weak arguments, improper citations, and problems with grammar.

Conclusion

In conclusion, with all its challenges, GenAI is an emerging technology that will permanently impact education.  Instructors can thoughtfully integrate GenAI into student-centered learning activities to refine education.  However, ultimately students must understand the risks to their cognition if they choose to abuse or overuse GenAI rather than responsibly complete work themselves.  As instructors guide student use of GenAI, both students and instructors can benefit from its emergence.

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References

Haderlie, T. C., Jr, Sewak, S., Agarwal, S., & Lee, J. (2025). Investigating the effects of generative Artificial Intelligence on student satisfaction and self-efficacy. Marketing Education Review, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10528008.2025.2576159

Jia, W., Pan, L., & Neary, S. (2025). Effect of GenAI dependency on university students’ academic achievement: The mediating role of self-efficacy and moderating role of perceived teacher caring. Behavioral Sciences (2076-328X), 15(10), 1348. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15101348

Luan, Y. L., Kim, Y. J., & Zhou, J. (2025). Augmented learning for joint creativity in human-GenAI co-creation. Information Systems Research, 1. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2024.0984

Meishar-Tal, H. (2024). ChatGPT: The challenges it presents for writing assignments. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 68(4), 705–710. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-024-00972-z

Noisy Frame. (n.d.).  Presentación Diapositivas Inteligencia Artificial Profesional Moderno Azul y Blanco [Canva presentation]. https://www.canva.com/design/DAG6q1-JEto/IEPJzy-v4s-4NvNBLdhZGw/edit?ui=eyJBIjp7fX0

Watson, F., Beninger, S., & Stanton, J. (2024). Marketing & Society in the classroom: The scaffolded controversies approach. Journal of Macromarketing, 44(3), 679–684. https:// doi.org/10.1177/02761467241260406