Unless you live under a rock you’ve heard about ChatGPT over the last few months. Since its release in November 2022, it’s had a huge influence on education. And second language education is no different.‍Many educators are concerned about ChatGPT and its implications — especially as it relates to assessments and possible job automation. But don’t listen to the doomsayers. ChatGPT is a useful tool for you and your students.‍In this article, you’ll learn about how you can use ChatGPT in your classroom to teach a foreign language.

Language-focused instruction has dominated language lessons for years. Teachers, coursebooks, and students prioritise grammar and vocabulary study over meaning-focused learning. But here’s the problem: Successful language learning needs both approaches.

Vocabulary and grammar dominate language teaching courses and textbooks. Unfortunately, this means your students are getting short-changed. They’re missing out on other key skills. And it’s easy for them to get sucked into an accuracy-is-everything mindset. But don’t worry — there are things you can do to give your students well-balanced language lessons. In this article we’ll cover one important, but often overlooked, kind of activity: fluency development practice.

You can think of language learning like a puzzle. For acquisition to take place, the right pieces need to be in the right place. We know enough about how second-language learning works to know it’s not as simple as learning some grammar. Or listening to YouTube videos. Or spending 3 minutes per day on a gamified language-learning app. To really learn a foreign language, your students need to combine the right types of activities. And one of those activities is producing meaningful output.

Foreign-language teaching is ever-changing. We’ve gone from translating classic texts to learning languages on our smartphones and studying abroad. And we’ve seen grammar translation, the audio-lingual method, and total-physical response all fall by the wayside. But one thing has remained constant since the 1970s — comprehensible input.