From augmentation to transformation: Foreign language teachers’ perceptions of GenAI’s role in redefining teaching, learning, and assessment

Abstract

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) continues to reshape educational practices, particularly within foreign language (FL) teaching and learning. Although research on GenAI in education has expanded globally, studies within the Caribbean remain limited despite the region’s distinctive multilingual, sociocultural, and infrastructural realities. This study explored FL educators’ perceptions of GenAI in relation to pedagogical affordances, perceived challenges, personalized learning, and the transformation of curriculum and assessment practices. Using qualitative content analysis, data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire completed by 30 FL educators across 13 Caribbean countries. Responses were inductively coded and thematically analyzed in relation to four research questions, while Diffusion of Innovations and the UNESCO AI Competency Framework for Teachers informed interpretation as sensitizing concepts. Findings indicate that FL educators generally perceive GenAI as an augmentative pedagogical tool capable of enhancing lesson planning, feedback provision, differentiated instruction, multilingual support, and instructional efficiency. However, participants also expressed concerns regarding academic integrity, overreliance, cognitive erosion, algorithmic bias, and ethical responsibility. While GenAI-enabled personalization was viewed as promising, educators questioned its ability to support deeper disciplinary engagement, authentic communicative competence, and sociocultural understanding without sustained human pedagogical mediation. Participants further anticipated that GenAI would significantly reshape curriculum and assessment practices, advocating for more flexible, process-oriented, and authentic assessment approaches that emphasize critical thinking, learner accountability, transparency, and communicative competence. The study proposes the Caribbean Contextualized AI Mediation (Carib-AIM) Framework, which conceptualizes GenAI integration as a dynamic interaction among technological affordances, human pedagogical mediation, ethical tensions, sociolinguistic contextualization, and transformative pedagogical adaptation. Overall, the findings contribute empirical and conceptual insight into how Caribbean FL educators are negotiating AI integration while seeking to preserve human agency, cultural relevance, and authentic language learning in increasingly AI-rich educational environments.