Utilization of AI-aided vocabulary teaching in K-12: A case study

The innovative teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) is rapidly being and will probably continue to be driven by the extensive incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) in English language teaching (ELT). AI applications and AI-powered educational materials have the potential to enrich teaching and learning practices by taking up various roles, and vocabulary is one of them (Kessler, 2018). Considering this, this experimental research aims to evaluate the effect of an artificial intelligence tool (DALL-E) on the English vocabulary learning of first-grade primary school students. DALL-E produces visual outputs in line with the provided detailed commands. In that sense, the main focus of this research is to examine and compare the possible impact of using AI-powered vocabulary learning cards against the traditional use of word cards in vocabulary teaching to young learners. This research covers a ten-week implementation, which lasted four weeks in the 2023 fall term and six in the following term, and evaluates the differences between students’ pretest and post-test scores in both the experimental and control groups that involved twenty students in each. The data were also strengthened with a delayed post-test conducted two weeks after the implementation. While the weekly word cards presented to the students in the experimental group were designed with the aid of the DALL-E artificial intelligence-supported Microsoft Design Creative AI program, traditional word cards, which are paper flashcards that lack color and object-related details, were employed in the control group. Regarding data analysis, tallying correct answers in percentage was performed in the first term, while Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests were run on SPSS in the second term to detect within- and across-group differences between the groups. The results of this study showed a statistical significance in the post-tests of the groups. While the experimental group performed better in the posttest during the first and second phases, there was no significant change in the delayed test, while the control group did the opposite and performed better with traditional flashcards. The study provided implications for educators, teachers, and relevant stakeholders to evaluate the possible ways of integrating AI-powered tools in vocabulary learning of K-12 students in English.