Perception of masters in electrical engineering of using ChatGPT in ESP learning

Abstract

An essential challenge in ESP learning is the wide variety of skills that must be developed, which range from understanding technical terms, comprehending profession-based texts and writing engineering reports and proposals to the ability to express opinions and technical concepts, give presentations, participate in projects and present research findings. The lack of academic hours for ESP learning in the Masters in Engineering curriculum indicates the need for strategies that assist effective communication in professional contexts and motivation for further ESP self-study. This paper aims to investigate how first-year Masters in Electrical Engineering at the Technical Ukrainian University perceive the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in ESP learning. The research was conducted with a participant group of 48 students from the Department of Engineering and Technology. We designed pre- and post-surveys to measure students’ attitudes towards utilizing ChatGPT in ESP learning. The participants completed the surveys at the beginning and completion of a semester ESP course. We used Excel for graphical data analysis. The findings demonstrate that almost half of the respondents had not used ChatGPT in their previous learning. Those students who had used ChatGPT in previous studies implemented this tool as a generator of relevant information, a translator and a vocabulary acquisition platform. Post-survey results indicate that the students revealed the potential of ChatGPT as a conversational partner, technical writing support, a language feedback tool and as an individual ESP tutor. The respondents believe that a language learning system based on ChatGPT can serve to improve further ESP self-study.