Learning English with AI: what ChatGPT and co. can do and where the limits are

Learning English with AI: where we stand today

Generative AI has become part of everyday life. According to a Bitkom survey from May 2025 (in German), 67 per cent of people in Germany aged 16 and over use generative AI at least occasionally. Many of our learners tell us that they use ChatGPT to polish emails, look up vocabulary or have grammar explained.

In principle, that is a good thing. Language learning thrives on contact with the language, and AI lowers the barrier to that contact considerably. But it is also risky, because a tool that instantly perfects every text takes away exactly the work through which you learn. From a teaching point of view, the question is not whether you use AI, but how.

My view after many conversations with learners and teachers: AI is an excellent training partner and a mediocre teacher. It delivers material, exercises and feedback in seconds, but it does not plan a learning path, only recognises your patterns if you point it towards them, and does not replace real conversation with people. That is why our language courses for individuals combine lessons with AI tasks for the time between sessions.

What ChatGPT does well when you learn English

ChatGPT and other language models do five things particularly well for English learners: simplify texts to your level, give writing feedback with explanations, patiently play the other person in role plays, supply vocabulary with collocations and example sentences, and explain grammar again and again. That makes AI a very good training partner between lessons.

Tailoring texts to your level

Is a specialist article too difficult? Have it simplified to B1 and then compare it with the original. This shows you how the same idea can be expressed at two levels.

Writing feedback with explanations

AI reliably spots grammar and style mistakes, especially in emails and short texts. Do not just ask for the corrected version, though: ask for a list of mistakes with a short explanation for each. Our Polish-language article on writing in English with AI (in Polish) shows how to do this in practice.

Role plays and conversation practice

Whether it is a salary negotiation, a hotel complaint or small talk with a client, AI will play the other person patiently and as often as you like. In voice mode, you can even speak instead of typing.

Vocabulary in context

Instead of single words, AI can give you collocations, example sentences and synonyms labelled by register. You can transfer these lists straight into flashcards; find out more in learning vocabulary effectively.

Explaining grammar, again and differently

If a rule will not stick, you can ask for a second, third and fourth explanation with different examples, without anyone losing patience.

The limits of AI in language learning

AI has five limits in language learning: it states wrong grammar rules as confidently as correct ones, often corrects unnecessarily and flattens your style, does not plan a learning path with systematic revision, cannot replace a real conversation partner and raises data protection questions. On top of that, many models write American English by default.

1. Plausible errors: language models present wrong grammar rules just as confidently as correct ones. With subtleties such as since and for or with tenses in particular, the explanations are not always right.
2. Over-correction: AI often “improves” phrases that are perfectly fine and rewrites your text in a smooth, interchangeable style. Your own voice gets lost.
3. No syllabus: the AI does not know what you learnt last week and does not plan systematic revision unless you organise it yourself.
4. Pronunciation and interaction: voice features understand even imprecise pronunciation quite well, and that is exactly why they rarely tell you what a person would not understand. The real conversation partner who asks questions, hesitates or interrupts is missing.
5. Data protection: do not enter confidential work information, customer data or personal data. Anonymise texts before you upload them.

Check the variety

Many models write American English by default. If you want British English, say so explicitly, otherwise your texts will switch between organize and organise or color and colour.

ChatGPT prompts for learning English: templates to copy

Good prompts for learning English state your level, your goal and the kind of feedback you want, for example: I’m a B1 learner of British English. List my mistakes in this email, explain each in one sentence, but don’t rewrite the whole text. Write prompts in English for extra practice, and ask for five points rather than twenty.

Typical prompt mistakes

• “Correct my text” without a level or goal: you get a text you could never write yourself.
• Prompts in your first language with answers in your first language: you miss a chance to practise.
• No limits: long answers get skimmed, not learnt. Ask for five points instead of twenty.

Practising English with AI: a weekly routine in 30 minutes a day

The weekly routine spreads 15 to 30 minutes a day across fixed tasks: Monday, write and get a list of mistakes; Tuesday, apply the corrections in new sentences; Wednesday, a role play in voice mode; Thursday, a simplified specialist article; Friday, a vocabulary quiz; and at the weekend, listening without AI.

We developed it for learners from A2 upwards who want to keep working independently between lessons.

Bring Monday’s list of mistakes to your next lesson. That way, your AI work connects with feedback from a person who has known your patterns for weeks. For the listening part, you will find ideas in improving your English listening skills.

How can you use AI feedback to work on your typical mistakes?

The biggest benefit of AI is not correcting individual texts but spotting patterns. After three or four texts, explicitly ask for a summary: Which three mistakes do I make most often? The answers depend on your first language. For German speakers, for example, the same candidates come up again and again.

How to turn feedback into learning material

1. Ask the AI to name your three most frequent mistakes.
2. Ask for ten gap-fill sentences targeting exactly these mistakes.
3. Complete the sentences without help and have them checked.
4. Repeat the exercise a week later with new sentences.

This routine is simple learning psychology: you practise where you make mistakes and revise at intervals. A detailed collection of typical pitfalls for German speakers is available in our article on false friends and typical mistakes (in German). Good teachers do exactly the same, with the advantage that they also hear your mistakes in conversation, where no AI is listening.

AI or a language course? Why the combination works best

The combination works best because AI and teachers have different strengths: AI produces material on demand and finds mistakes in texts, while a teacher plans and adjusts your learning path, holds real, unpredictable conversations with you and provides motivation and commitment. Use AI for volume and speed, and people for direction and quality.

I am often asked whether a course is still worth it when ChatGPT is available for free. My answer is another question: is a gym worth it when there are free workout videos? The videos are useful, but they do not correct your posture, do not notice that you have been avoiding the same exercise for weeks and do not motivate you on a bad day.

This becomes especially clear with speaking: in our courses, we often see that learners read English much more confidently than they speak it. AI can help with practice, but real confidence in speaking comes from conversation. If you freeze up, you will find strategies in overcoming the fear of speaking English. What to look for when choosing a course is explained in choosing the right online language course.

How do you have AI check your work emails in English responsibly?

At work, many people use AI to write emails in English. That saves time but carries two risks: the tone may not suit the recipient, and you may not be able to keep up the same level in a conversation afterwards. If your email sounds like C1 but your phone call sounds like A2, people notice the gap.

Checklist before you press send

• Do I understand every word, and could I explain the content out loud?
• Is the level of politeness right for the recipient and the occasion?
• Are facts, figures and names correct, and has confidential data been removed?
• Is the variety consistent (British or American)?
• Has the text become shorter, or only longer?

For the basics of good emails in English, we recommend our article on writing emails in English. If you communicate a lot at work, our Business English courses, available from A1, are a good choice. And if you first want to know how long it will take to reach your target level, read How long does it take to learn English?

Our recommendation in one sentence: use AI for volume and speed, and people for direction and quality. We are happy to show you what that looks like in a course in our English courses for adults or in our online English courses. We answer questions via our contact page.

Sources

1. bitkom.org: Viele nutzen KI wenige bezahlen dafuer
2. ef.de: germany
3. ef.edu: ef english proficiency index 2025 launched

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Łukasz Pakuła

Head of Studies at choices®. Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland Global Campus, lecturer at HM Business School Munich and Kempten University of Applied Sciences. Doctoral studies in applied linguistics, publications with Springer and Equinox, among others. More about us