ChatGPT as a Translanguaging Partner: Filipino University Students’ Multilingual Meaning-making in GenAI-mediated Language Learning

Abstract

This qualitative study examines how Filipino university students integrate ChatGPT into their language-learning practices, with particular attention to translanguaging and multilingual meaningmaking. Data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire completed by 21 university students and follow-up semi-structured interviews with five of these participants. The data were analyzed thematically to examine how students use ChatGPT across English, Filipino, and regional languages, as well as the perceived affordances and limitations of GenAI-mediated language learning. The findings suggest that students engage ChatGPT as a mediational and collaborative resource, not just as a corrective tool. Participants described strategically drawing on their multilingual repertoires to support comprehension, writing, and engagement with academic content, reflecting a distributed form of language learning shaped by linguistic, affective, and technological resources. At the same time, participants reported issues in their use of ChatGPT, particularly when English-centered norms and generic AI-generated outputs marginalized or constrained minoritized languages. The study highlights ChatGPT’s potential to support multilingual meaning-making while also showing how GenAI can reproduce dominant language hierarchies. Implications for multilingual language education and GenAI-informed pedagogy are discussed.

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