Speaker
Description
“[T]he entire ELT community needs to see any threats to individual well-being as a collective community issue” (Mercer, 2021, p.19). However, in this day and age, the extent to which language teachers are prepared to handle AI and sustain their mental well-being still needs more insight. With that in mind, a case study focusing on the context of Vietnamese higher education was conducted to examine how important support, technology in particular, is to language teachers at the tertiary level so that they are more capable of handling AI and safeguarding their wellbeing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Vietnamese teachers of English at the tertiary level. Transcribed data were analyzed using the constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006). In this presentation, the theoretical framework encompassing the study is discussed together with the detailed procedure of the data analysis. Findings suggest that the teachers indeed did not receive sufficient technological support and training from their institutions, which eventually could make them feel more resentful toward the potential of AI and affect their mentality exponentially. Therefore, it is hoped that the presentation could provide suggestions to both institutions and language teachers on how to utilize the advantages that AI brings about and hence, sustain their well-being. As such, while it is highly recommended that institutions provide fundamental technological support to their teachers, teachers should not rely solely on that assistance but take the necessary initiatives to develop their skills and teaching practice.
References
Mercer, S. (2021). An agenda for well-being in ELT: An ecological perspective. ELT Journal, 75(1), 14–21. https://doi:10.1093/elt/ccaa062
Charmaz, K (2006). Constructing grounded theory (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.
| Keywords | AI, teacher wellbeing, professional development |
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