Harnessing the Potential of Artificial Intelligence in Language Learning: is AI Threat or Opportunity?

The current article evaluates the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the field of education, namely a foreign language learning. Artificial Intelligence comprises of the development of computers and other technological artifacts, which possess intelligence similar to humans characterized by cognitive ability, learning capabilities, problem-solving skills and the like. The study has discovered that AI has been widely integrated into education in various forms, at first as computer-related technologies, and later as web-designed platforms intended for teaching and learning. AI interference into education, especially into language teaching has enabled educators to carry out a number of administrative tasks, such as reviewing and grading students’ assignments, preparing different activities for lessons more effectively and within short time. In addition, AI has been embedded into miscellaneous chatbots and online learning platforms, offering wide range of study materials and making learners be more autonomous as well as self-confident. On the other hand, AI leverage in language learning has led to several issues in students’ overall performance which will be discussed more deeply in the article.


INTRODUCTION
In one of his interviews with Vanity Fair, an American magazine, Elon Musk said, "We're already cyborgs.Your phone and your computer are extensions of you, but the interface is through finger movements or speech, which are very slow." 1 Indeed, with technology taking a leap, the dependence on artificially intelligent devices in almost any sphere of human activity is becoming more and more inevitable; thus, mastering the skills of "coexisting with Artificial Intelligence" is one of the top requirements for individuals to lead a normal lifestyle.
Artificial Intelligence is an extensive branch of computer science which is engaged in elaborating smart devices capable of exhibiting the tasks that usually require human intelligence to solve, including processing information, problem-solving, reasoning, critical thinking and so forth [1].An intelligent personal assistant Siri, its Russian analogue Alice, bots, and robot assistants are some of the examples.People had not attached much significance to AI until the pandemic in 2019 because of COVID-19, when countries had to establish restrictions on many of the human activities in order to prevent the further disperse of the virus.AI came in handy in rescuing people's jobs and completing the tasks that humans were unable to do due to the lockdown.
AI is a broad term that encompasses a range of evolving modelling capabilities as illustrated in Figure 1.
In higher education, AI has the potential to revolutionize teaching and learning, making education more personalized, efficient, and accessible [3].Technological advance has significantly influenced language-teaching methodologies, paving the way for the wide application of "thinking" machines in and outside the classroom.AI models can be implemented to perform the functions of broad spectrum, such as translating from one language to another, image recognition and description, being a personal assistant available around the clock, and in case of generative AI, creating the content instead of simply copying and pasting it [4].The emergence of miscellaneous Generative AI tools (e.g.ChatGPT, CopyAI, Dall-E2, Bing Chat, Duolingo, Sendsteps, Adobe Sensei) has, therefore, caused the clash in attitudes towards their leverage in many aspects of education system, including language teaching.Some treat such AI tools, especially ChatGPT, like a threat which can discourage students from unleashing their creativity and urge to look for easy ways to complete assignments.By contrast, there are some who believe that AI can foster effective language learning [5].In the current article, by reviewing we would like to answer the following questions: 1. How can educators and learners benefit from AI tools? 2. What are some possible drawbacks of using this kind of technological devices?

LITERATURE REVIEW
As per Chen et.al [6], more human effort in teaching and learning was required before computers penetrated into our lives.The introduction and proliferation of personal computers in the 1950s made numerous noticeable changes in economic and social sectors [6].Wide spread of computers and related technologies resulted in the application of computing devices in education system bringing to life newer methods of conducting lessons and increasing educators' as well as learners' productivity.
Over time, the continuous evolution in computers and information and communication technologies has led to the emergence and further growth of artificial intelligence.AI is defined by Not [5] as the development of computer-based systems which accomplish the tasks requiring human intelligence.AI is firmly rooted in our society, as it helps diverse sectors solve complex problems by updating obsolete methods.AI models are launched in people's smart devices to perform various tasks on a daily basis.For instance, in cars to prevent accidents or mitigate their consequences by making quick and rational decisions [7]; in hospitals to assist doctors in diagnosing, identifying and curing illnesses [8]; in educational establishments to raise the effectiveness of teaching and learning and the like on them.In addition, AI is being incorporated into the work processes of numerous organizations as it can perform tasks as accurately as humans can by facilitating their workload.

POSITIVE SIDES OF AI
AI introduction into educational system has significantly influenced favorably teachers' job in a number of ways: Content creation and lesson planning AI is continuously transforming education by not only altering the way curriculums are taught but also by assisting content creation in smart classrooms.As an essential part of educational system, lesson planning demands time and energy from an educator of any subject.In language teaching, pedagogues ought to plan each of their lessons suiting the needs and potentials of learners.Likewise, lesson planning is a map of what should be done in classroom and how it should occur [9], so the lesson plan should be both effective and engaging, which follows all the steps necessary for students' input and output.With the help of online lesson planning platforms, including Classflow (https://classflow.com/),Nearpod (nearpod.com)and the like, teachers are able to create meaningful lessons in an entertaining form.Furthermore, there are plenty of educational applications and sites (e.g.Wordwall.net,easyQuizzy, Google Platform) which generate interactive games, videos, quizzes, lesson plans and so on, which can be saved, updated and used for many times.This, in-turn, is time-saving and enables educators to conduct engaging lessons.Another advantage of such AI services is that the practitioner may set to announce the results immediately after learners finish the task.The evidence by Ali [10] reveals that integrating AI-powered devices in teaching English leads to the positive development in students' language skills.
Plagiarism detecting tools.Due to technological advance, obtaining information through smart gadgets does not cause too much hardship.The role of the Internet in the data availability is immense.Although the World Wide Web has reduced the time one used to spend on doing research, illegal information leverage, namely plagiarism has become a widespread phenomenon in the scientific world [11].As a result, the need for plagiarism detecting tools has rapidly grown, especially with the emergence of various Generative AI (GAI) systems, which are able to create texts on almost all the requested topics skillfully paraphrasing the information in their database without any copyright infringement.Since humans are coming up with novice ways to perform their tasks fast and with less effort violating academic integrity rules, the existing similarity detection platforms, such as Turnitin (https://www.turnitin.com/)or Text Classifier launched by OpenAI (https://openai.com/blog/new-ai-classifier-for-indicatingai-written-text)aid in identifying plagiarized works within seconds.What makes these plagiarism checkers distinct from many other tools is their ability to detect AI generated texts.
Generative AI tools are the kinds of artificial intelligence technology which are eligible to produce texts, essays, articles, images, audio or video materials according to the commands set into them.One of such GAIT which caused a resonance as soon as it started functioning is ChatGPT, which amassed over a million of subscribers within only a week, since its official release on November, 30, 2022 [12].
These days, many ask a question of whether ChatGPT-like AI models are human assistants or idea thieves, therefore we decided to list how advantageous and disadvantageous they are for language learners.
This submission template allows authors to submit their papers for review to an ACM Conference or Journal without any output design specifications incorporated at this point in the process.The ACM "Submission Template" is a single column MS-Word document that allows authors to type their content into the pre-existing set of paragraph formatting styles applied to the sample placeholder text here, or copy-and-paste their text and then apply the respective paragraph styles (Windows: you can open the Styles task pane from the Home tab [it can also be opened with the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+Shift+S]; MAC16: you can access the Styles pane at the right of the Home toolbar.)Highlight a section that you want to designate with a certain style, and then select the appropriate style from the list.To view which style is being used in any part of this document, place your cursor on your text and look at the "Current style" field in the Styles pane.
It is beneficial to create your document in draft mode with the style panel open in the left-side panel.If the panel is not immediately visible when the Submission Template is opened, you will need to open the panel manually-for Windows: click on the following from the main ribbon above: File > Options > Advanced > Display > Style area pane width in Draft and Outline views.Set the style area width (1-1.5" is a good starting value.);for MAC: go to the "View" menu and select "Draft"; then go to the "Word" menu and select "Preferences" and then "View, " under the "Window" section insert "1.5" inches under the style area width.
All style elements are specified in this template to facilitate the production of your paper and to have the styles consistent throughout.The paragraph styles are built-in and examples of the styles are provided throughout this document.Save as you go and backup your work regularly!

Accessibility
Following the guidelines throughout this template will also improve the accessibility of your manuscript and increase the audience for your work.Ensure that heading styles are applied as instructed, tables are created using Word's table feature (rather than an image), figures have a text equivalent, and list styles are applied as instructed.
To increase the accessibility of your manuscript, you should set the title and language metadata.On Word for Windows, open the File tab and click on Info.On Word for Mac, click the File Menu and select Properties, then click the Summary tab.Fill in the title of your document.For anonymous review, clear the 'author' field.
To set the document language, click the Review tab in the Ribbon.On Word for Windows: Click the Language button and select "Set Proofing Language." Verify the language is set correctly.On Word for Mac: Click the Language button and select the document language from the pop-up.
Constant Language Practice.
Learners are able to use AI chatbots to be immersed into interactive language learning environment.They can participate in real-time conversations; ask questions, which may foster their language growth.It is important to note that, "AI might be utilized in language learning settings to help learners develop their language learning skills and sub-skills" [13][14][15].Consequently, AI supports the learners with valuable feedback and advice on various language learning skills and sub-skills that can boost the learners' overall proficiency.Moreover, it aids the learners in producing coherent written work with correct grammar as well as comprehending human queries.In addition, the learners' lexical resources can be increased alongside with grammar.One of the well-known examples of this is applying Duolingo program helps learners to practice the language with gamification strategies.Babbel and MondlyVR are other language learning tools that allow the learners to focus their attention on conversational language through practice, such as the common phrases at a restaurant or giving and asking for directions.
Autonomous Learning.
Technological advances are enabling learners to become more autonomous and self-paced, having an opportunity to select the materials according to their needs and fields of interest.Chat-GPT, for example, assists in choosing appropriate sources to boost learners' language skills, making them unconstrained by the conventional course of study.According to the research conducted by Fuchs and Aguilos [16], ChatGPT is "the tool that leads to autonomous learning.One common use of ChatGPT is to gain a deeper understanding of complex theories or concepts in students' respective academic majors.This can be particularly helpful for students who are struggling with a particular concept or who need a quick refresher on a topic" [16].
Effective booster of writing skills.Despite being often neglected, effective writing skills are of vital importance in academic as well as professional worlds [17][18][19].There is a higher chance for a well-written piece to persuade and engage the reader than the one written on the same subject and has many grammar mistakes, or erroneously constructed piece full of wrong word choice.Although being skilled at writing is one of the main indicators at a college level for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners, mastering this skill presents numerous challenges for many native students [20,21] and even more for EFL learners because of which they are less enthusiastic about writing classes.However, a large amount of research and investigation has revealed that AI powered digital writing tools are effective in increasing students' written language [22][23][24][25][26] in a number of ways, including sentence construction, effective word choice, correct writing tone, production of flawless sentences and so on.After conducting research on the factors enhancing students' writing skills, Hamuoma and Menezla [27] concluded that the students who used digital writing tools were more proficient than those who did not.According to Purcell et.al [28], those who were wellacquainted with and actively used AI writing assistants, such as Google Docs or Grammarly, had a noticeable improvement in their writing.In addition, the findings by Al Mahmud [29] indicate that applying another writing platform Wordtune has fostered Arabic students' writing growth.
Confidence building.Some learners are too anxious when working with a human partner.The level of anxiety may be reduced to a great extent while communicating with a virtual partner, which does not ridicule the learner's mistakes and provides with a timely feedback to correct those errors.According to Bao [30], who investigated the effect of speech-enabled AI tools on the anxiety and fright reduce, concluded that the participants who were exposed to such AI powered chatbots illustrated significant self-confidence.One of the most available speaking-practice AI models is ChatGPT, which is now able to speak, see and hear a user, meaning more opportunities to enhance speaking skills outside the classroom (openai.com).It is possible to take a picture of any landscape and discuss it with the GAIT, which can help to choose the right phrase enriching one's vocabulary.Likewise, users may now receive audio responses to their questions.This is convenient when the learner is in need of a partner to practice speaking English.
Permanent Availability.
Learners do not have to rely on a human tutor to ask languagelearning-related questions or a human partner to have a conversation with.AI devices are always at their fingertips ready to help them.As a result, the learners have the opportunity to the immediate access to educational materials online and acquire instant performance feedback.Furthermore, applying the language learning platforms can support learners who have challenges in regularly attending traditional classes because of financial or geographical restrictions.

NEGATIVE SIDES
While these kinds of learning tools offer numerous benefits to increase learners' productivity and learning efficiency, there are several drawbacks that, we believe, need considering: Inaccurate or unnatural responses.
Although chatbots are trained to produce accurate replies based on the large data, they have access to; they may still generate incorrect responses which may be later unconsciously adopted by learners.Furthermore, the content generated by AI may sound unnatural, giving the impression that it was written by a machine.This can lead to the learners' discomfort and mistrust.
Limited Context Understanding ChatGPT-like AI systems do create new data; they produce responses according to the information included into their database.This, by-turn, may cause the question misunderstanding and as a consequence, an incorrect reply.The tools may struggle to comprehend a command or request, not taking into account some cultural features, or language nuances, and therefore, reply ambiguously misleading a user.
Overreliance on AI.While AIT may be utilized to increase learners' language skills, relying solely on them may impede the development of other necessary skills, such as critical thinking, decision-making, creativity or problem-solution skills.It is crucial to complement AI tools with human interaction and traditional language learning methods in order to achieve a comprehensive and authentic mastery of a language.Moreover, excessive reliance on AI can lead to errors in translation and communication, which can have negative consequences in both professional and personal contexts.It is important to view AI as a useful aid, but not as a substitute for genuine language learning and communication skills.
Lack of Human Interaction.
While AI tools may serve as an effective language booster, they can make learners' human-interaction skills stay undeveloped.As aforementioned, with its new opportunities, learner is now able to have a voiced conversation with Chat-GPT, which is available at any time and any place with good Internet connection.Students do not have to look for someone to practice their speaking skills.On one hand, it seems a perfect solution, as there is abundance of information in ChatGPT database; and learners discover new points by conversing with it.On the other hand, depending on a virtual interlocutor may reduce the ability to interact with humans.A person can be knowledgeable enough to communicate on any topic, however, not with a human partner.
Potential Biases in the Database.AI devices obtain information from the vast amount of data existing on the World Wide Web, which is naturally not filtered and may contain materials related to gender, age, race, nation, culture and so forth.This might unintentionally reinforce stereotypical views or generate incorrect information, which will be used and remembered by a learner.

CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis of this study, it can be noted that AI has revolutionized the education system by providing numerous benefits to both students and teachers in generating quality language.From content creation to plagiarism detection, AI has made the teaching and learning process more efficient and effective.It has also enabled educators to provide personalized support to their students and ensure academic integrity during assessments.Thus, AI can be the reason for the constant language practice, and to gain autonomy skills while building confidence by permanent availability.As technology continues to evolve, we can expect AI to play an even more significant role in the education sector, transforming the way we teach and learn for years to come.In addition, AI-powered writing tools have been shown to effectively improve students' writing skills, including sentence structure, word choice and overall proficiency.On the other hand, while AI language learning tools like Chat-GPT offer many benefits, there are also several drawbacks that need to be considered.These include the potential for inaccurate or unnatural responses, limited context understanding, overreliance on AI, lack of human interaction, and potential biases in the database.It is important for learners to use AI tools as a supplement to traditional language learning methods and to be mindful of the limitations and potential pitfalls of these tools.By doing so, learners can maximize the benefits of AI language learning tools while also developing a comprehensive and authentic mastery of the language.

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Benefits of using ChatGPT for learners

Figure 3 :
Figure 3: Drawbacks of AI in learners