Artificial Intelligence in Preschool Language Education: Are Educators Ready?

With the proliferation of smart technologies in everyday life, artificial intelligence (AI) tools have started penetrating into universities, schools and even early childhood education centres, raising many questions among educators. AI-powered tools might be used by many on trial-and-test basis; however, to apply them effectively in classrooms, educators should have adequate understating of AI instructional potential and welldeveloped skills in applying it in the classroom. This study reports on the findings based on the survey that involved 96 early childhood educators who self-assessed their AI literacy skills and expressed their views on the benefits and potential threats of AI technologies on overall and language development of preschool children. The results speak for generally positive attitude to AI as an instructional tool but indicate that educators’ understanding of AI potential might be very superficial. The findings suggest the need for educators’ AI literacy development and call for further study of effective practices where AI technologies are used for overall and language development of very young learners.