AWARENESS AND PRACTICE OF CHAT GENERATIVE PRE-TRAINED TRANSFORMERS: A NEW LANGUAGE MODEL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS: THE CASE OF AMBO UNIVERSITY EFL INSTRUCTORS

Abstract

The introduction of ChatGPT has caused a significant upheaval in the education sector. It is altering the method by which educators obtain information for scholarly and investigative endeavors. This study aimed at exploring awareness and practice of Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer: New Language Model Artificial Intelligence in Higher Institutions: The Case of Ambo University EFL Instructors. Sixteen instructors of English Language and Literature at Ambo University were subjects of the study. Questionnaires and interviews were used as data-gathering instruments. Both probability and nonprobability sampling techniques, simple random sampling and availability sampling, were used in order to collect the necessary data. The collected data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings of this study indicated that EFL instructors were not familiar with ChatGPT, a new language model in English language teaching. The study also showed that EFL instructors’ practice of ChatGPT was low due to a lack of familiarity with it. Challenges such as lack of awareness about ChatGPT, lack of familiarity with the tools and their functionalities, lack of technology-related resources, lack of personalization, and lack of time to use ChatGPT in the language classroom affected their use of ChatGPT in their EFL classroom. Therefore, effective integration of ChatGPT technology will likely require on-going professional development and a collaborative approach between teachers, administrators, and educational technology experts.