Teaching agricultural university students a professional foreign language using technological solutions based on artificial intelligence

Importance. The use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based technological solutions for specific aspects of a foreign language or types of speech activity is currently one of the most relevant vectors in the development of foreign language teaching methodology. The rapidly growing body of research by domestic and international scientists, dedicated to determining the linguodidactic potential of specific AI tools and step-by-step teaching methodologies, provides a necessary scientific foundation for creating models of systematic and comprehensive foreign language instruction based on AI. This involves integrating students’ language work with AI into traditional teaching. The aim of the study is to develop a methodology for comprehensive teaching of professional foreign language to students of an agricultural university using AI-based technological solutions.

Materials and Methods. The study is conducted at Voronezh State Agrarian University named after Emperor Peter the Great. The participants are first-year students enrolled in the degree program 35.03.06 – “Agricultural Engineering”. In the control group (N = 38), a traditional methodology for teaching professional foreign language is used, based on the principles of Language for Specific Purposes with elements of Content and Language Integrated Learning. In the experimental group (N = 38), in addition to the traditional methodology, students engaged in practice with AI-based technological solutions. This practice took place outside of class hours. Mathematical processing of the results is performed using Student’s t-test method.

Results and Discussion. The experimental study confirmed the effectiveness of the author’s methodology for teaching professional foreign language to agricultural university students by supplementing traditional instruction with extracurricular practice using AI-based technological solutions. Statistical analysis of the results at the control stage revealed the effectiveness of the innovative method across all five diagnostic indicators: acquisition of professional vocabulary (t = 3.43 at p ≤ 0.05), mastery of grammatical structures (t = 2.91 at p ≤ 0.05), further reading skills’ development (t = 2.91 at p ≤ 0.05), oral dialogic speech (t = 3.95 at p ≤ 0.05), written monologic speech (t = 3.68 at p ≤ 0.05).

Conclusion. The novelty of the study lies in the development and validation of a comprehensive methodology for teaching professional foreign language to agricultural university students using AI-based technological solutions. The prospects of the research are that its results can be utilized in designing models for integrated foreign language instruction for students of both linguistic and non-linguistic degree programs and specialties.