THE INCORPORATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLEGENCE (AI) TECHNOLOGY IN UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEBATE SIMULATIONS; STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS, BENEFITS, AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

Debate is a cognitive activity which demands students’ public speaking and critical thinking skills through structured argumentation, logical reasoning, and persuasive delivery. Nowadays, the technology of Artificial Intelligence (AI) enables every student to engage themselves in debate activity as well as develop language and public speaking skill. The research aims to explore how students perceive the usefulness, challenges, and opportunities while interacting with AI tools during debate activities. A mixed-methods approach is deployed toward the data gained through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with university students actively participating in debate activities. The findings show that students consider AI technology a facilitator proving them with rapid feedback and brainstorming during the debate practice. They also emphasized the importance of exercising critical thought and evaluating what they read. On the other hand, they were concerned about the reliability of content produced by AI. AI should complement traditional methods of critical thinking and independent preparation rather than replace them, even though it is seen as a useful tool for enhancing debating abilities.