Exploring the effects of intelligent personal assistants on bilingual education teachers’ L2 speaking proficiency

Communication in a second and foreign language (L2) is regarded as the most challenging and anxiety-inducing language skill for L2 learners and teachers. The emergence of artificial intelligence and automatic speech recognition (ASR) has opened new avenues for enhancing L2 interaction, with intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) showing significant potential. While prior research has predominantly focused on learners, using IPAs for bilingual education (BE) teachers has received relatively little attention. The study investigated the effects of IPAs (i.e. Google Assistant) on BE teachers’ L2 speaking proficiency and their perceptions of IPA-assisted L2 speaking. Thirty Taiwanese BE teachers who were L2 English speakers participated in a semester-long IPA-mediated interaction program. These teachers interacted with Google Assistant in their daily lives. Both quantitative (English speaking proficiency tests) and qualitative data (semi-structured interviews) were collected and analyzed. The results revealed that Google Assistant significantly promoted BE teachers’ English-speaking proficiency. Most teachers confirmed that Google Assistant could establish an authentic environment that facilitates communication, increases English-speaking opportunities, enhances practice frequency, and provides scaffolding and immediate feedback, which contribute to their English speaking proficiency. Integrating Google Assistant into lesson preparation proved valuable, enabling teachers to access curriculum-related information efficiently and increasing their motivation to engage with IPAs. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.