The Preliminary Elementary School Teachers’ Perceptions and Attitudes on the Future English Education Using AI Technology: Focusing on the Students Majoring in English Education

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate preliminary elementary school teachers’ perceptions and attitudes about the upcoming future English education, namely the fourth industrial revolution era. Method: For the research, 91 preliminary elementary school teachers were surveyed. As for a questionnaire form, this study defines preliminary elementary school teachers’ attitudes in the following categories; 1)interests in English education using AI technology, 2)innovation resistance and anxiety about English educa-tion using AI technology. Results: The results of the survey data were as follows. First of all, the preliminary elementary school teach-ers’ interest in the impact of AI technology on English education was high, but their interest remain at the ‘per-sonal’(1-2 stages) level. Second, the level of the preliminary elementary school teachers’ innovation resistance was not high, but the anxiety level was above average. They showed willingness to take AI technologies as in-structional tools and positive attitudes toward AI technology-embedded future classroom. On the one hand, they were anxious about a lack of knowledge about new teaching method and skills related with utilizing AI technology into their classroom. Conclusion: The curriculum should be the tailored curriculum to meet their level and needs, which was re-quired in the fourth industrial revolution through the use of AI technologies. It is to show the possibility of using AI technology to learn English so that we can maintain the current positive perception of the English education using AI that the preliminary school teacher showed. Also, in order to be open to any paradigm changes related to English education in the era of the 4th industrial revolution, concerns and proposals for a new method of Eng-lish education should be actively discussed. Finally, the university of education, which is a teacher training insti-tution, need to introduce to preliminary elementary school teachers what AI technologies can be combined with English education and what are their characteristics, and to guide how AI technology is being applied to English education