Assisting the English Skills of Pre-Service Flight Attendant Students in Aviation through the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Application Tools

Abstract

The technological advancement has very rapidly increased the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) application tools to increase students’ English skills, especially speaking skill fluency. With the high demand and increasing importance of speaking skill in flight attendant occupational duties in a workplace of airline industry, this research aims at exploring and analyzing the use of AI application tools to enhance English-speaking skill of English for Specific Purpose (ESP) students majoring in flight attendants employed during the in-house training period. This study employed a qualitative research design, a case study.  The study involved students majoring in flight attendants at Angkasa Avia Surabaya, an aviation training center, with purposive sampling technique. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews as the main data collection and field-note classroom observation as supporting data. The data were analyzed using three activities: data reduction, data display, and drawing conclusion. The result of the study showed that the students used various AI application tools and they were considered as important tools that could help increase the students’ speaking skill significantly. This paper also offers recommendation for the students to explore more and maximize the use of AI application tools in enhance their speaking skill as the most needed skill for flight attendants to master in a limited time during in-house training.