The Promise (and Limitations) of AI-Powered Voice Chatbots for Language Learning

Kyle Young, Upper School French Teacher, Hathaway Brown School

It was such a pleasure to participate in this year’s Spring Conference in Columbus. I especially enjoyed the discussions about using AI in the language classroom. I spoke with teachers from across the state who were curious about the prospect of using AI to help their students get additional practice speaking the target language. In this article, I will share some of the successes and challenges I have encountered in integrating this technology into my classroom.

AI-powered voice chatbots are a uniquely powerful resource for out-of-class practice. While students are in class, there are plenty of flesh-and-blood humans with whom they can practice, but at home, students’ options are often limited. AI has opened up new opportunities for reinforcement outside of the classroom with the enormous benefit of being genuinely interactive. Unlike traditional homework assignments, AI chatbots can adapt to a student’s level and provide support as needed. In contrast with prerecorded simulated conversations, AI can meaningfully respond to the student’s responses, asking follow-up questions and allowing students to speak about their interests, making the activity more engaging.

A key benefit of this kind of interaction is the uniquely low-pressure environment the AI provides. A chatbot is infinitely patient, making students feel less nervous and more willing to speak up without fear of judgment. The result is an experience where students can speak at length about their interests with a sympathetic, non-judgmental interlocutor. Thanks to this, my students have shared with me their shock at discovering that homework can actually be fun. Students also appreciate receiving immediate feedback for improvement which they can instantly apply. I encourage my students to try the same AI speaking activity multiple times to immediately reinforce what they have learned. AI helps make this kind of repetition less tedious by introducing variations into the conversation because no two AI interactions are identical, not even when starting with the same prompt.

Another advantage is that setting up an AI-powered speaking activity is relatively easy. It does work best on a platform designed specifically for schools (my school has a subscription to Flint, for example), but even a freely available general-purpose AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) can work well in this context. The instructor needs to set up the activity by creating the initial prompt describing the objective, the target level of the student, and the expected behavior of the chatbot (i.e., what kind of feedback it should provide to the student). At this stage, it can also be helpful to upload files of any relevant materials from the unit the students are working on (PDFs containing vocabulary lists, readings, etc.). Next, the teacher should share the activity with the students and specify if and how they should submit their work. These last steps are handled automatically by most educational platforms, but there are alternatives for those without institutional subscriptions to one of them. For example, the teacher can give the students the initial prompt to copy and paste into an AI platform and then (if the teacher wishes to check the students’ work) ask them to use a separate device (like a phone) to make an audio recording of their interaction. I also give my students a target for how long the interaction should be (e.g., three minutes) since the indefatigable AI chatbot will gladly keep chatting forever.

Despite the many advantages of this kind of assignment, there are some potential drawbacks. First of all, the landscape of AI platforms is evolving very rapidly.  Available platforms and the capabilities of each (as well as the subscription required to use specific features) can change dramatically in only a few months. Different platforms have different voices (which may sound more or less robotic) and different accents available. Finding the right platform with the right voice for your class can take time, especially when features are frequently updated. Another consideration is data privacy, as each platform handles this issue differently. If you are considering using the free tier of a platform that your school has not subscribed to, I would recommend verifying with your school’s IT department that it is considered safe for student use.

In addition, despite the relative ease of use, AI is far from immune from technical difficulties. As explained above, using AI for speaking practice makes the most sense outside of the classroom context, but this also means that, in many cases, students will be using a new tool without a teacher present to guide them. For this reason, even though I prefer to use class time for human interaction, I recommend that students complete a course’s first AI activity in class so the teacher can help them identify and remedy any problems before they need to use the platform unassisted at home.

Finally, while the low-pressure scenario of interacting with a non-judgmental chatbot is ideal for some students, the lack of human connection may limit other students’ enthusiasm for this kind of assignment. For this reason (and many others), AI must always remain a supplement to human interaction rather than a replacement for it.

In conclusion, AI may not be a silver bullet for effortlessly improving students’ speaking skills, but it is a technology that shows a lot of promise. Despite some of the challenges that come with this emerging technology, I have found it to be incredibly useful for my students. I recommend that language educators give it a try and share their experiences as well.