Tutors can be expensive and hard to find. However, new research shows that AI may provide a suitable alternative to one-on-one tutoring—at half the cost.
In seconds, AI platforms can spell-check an important essay, craft a personalized running plan, or even provide a comprehensive list of date ideas in your area. Though AI can be helpful in some settings, educators and students alike debate its place in formal education. Yet, as these tools become more accurate and accessible, both students and professionals find themselves turning to their favorite AI platform to fine-tune their work. To help settle the debate, Haotian Ye (MA Second Language Teaching ’25) and Associate Professor Rachel Yu Liu (Chinese Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition) teamed up to complete a semester-long study to see how ChatGPT impacts language learning. To some people’s surprise, their research suggests that, when used correctly, AI improves language learning.
Setting the Stage
Liu has taught non-native Chinese speakers of all levels and has found tutors and TAs essential in the learning process. However, for many college students, affordable tutors and around-the-clock TAs are hard to come by. This problem sparked an idea: What if AI could assist in the learning process, almost like a tutor? Liu believes that AI can be turned “into a very useful language tutor or self-learning tool.” In this way, students can use an AI platform of their choice to improve their understanding of a language without sacrificing the quality of their education.
Starting in fall 2024, Liu and Ye set out to see if language students really can use AI as a mentor to help with difficult concepts. Using students in Ye's Chinese 301 class, they created two groups: one control group that used a textbook to prepare for class and an experimental group that instead relied on ChatGPT. Students in the experimental group received instruction on how to most effectively write AI prompts to make the program grab example sentences, explain grammar patterns, and provide immediate feedback on students’ language usage. Every day for a semester, the 301 students used either their textbook or ChatGPT to study difficult grammar patterns and new vocabulary words prior to class discussion.
Anything’s Possible If You Just AI
Student testing at the end of the semester suggested that ChatGPT does in fact improve some aspects of language learning. Liu and Ye specifically noticed that undergrads’ grammar usage improved with the help of ChatGPT while both groups’ vocabulary use stayed the same regardless of their preparation materials. “Using ChatGPT, you receive guidance. If you make wrong sentences, you will have feedback to help you understand more about [the topic],” Liu explains. “Then, in class, the instructor can help students practice this grammar in context.”
According to Liu, these findings don’t mean that AI should replace daily classroom interactions and activities. Instead, she claims that its use before and after class can enhance students’ comprehension levels in the long term. She says that for language students, “ChatGPT would be a very good tutor because a lot of the data [it pulls] is from real newspapers and books.” However, Liu recommends students use AI sparingly to ensure students don’t just memorize new rules and vocabulary but actually use them when speaking and writing in Chinese.
Liu hopes to build on this research in upcoming semesters by testing AI prompts to find those most effective for language study. She believes this will impact students’ ability to learn and study languages on their own—not just during their undergraduate, but for years to come. “When students develop this habit of studying by themselves,” she says “it will help them develop their interest of learning their language, [even] after they leave campus.”
To learn more about BYU’s Chinese Program, visit their website.