446
INTRODUCING THE GEMINI AI TOOL IN LEARNING SPECIALIZED
ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED COLLEGE
STUDENTS AT NAM SAI GON POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE
Trương Thục Mẫn
Foreign Languages
Phone number: 0394968599; Email: thucman7700@gmail.com
Nam Sai Gon Polytechnic College
Abstract
Over the period, learning English has always been a big challenge for non-English majored
students at vocational education institutions. This problem becomes much more serious
when such students have an exposure to English for specific purpose course which requires
them to absorb a huge amount of complex vocabulary. Therefore, there is a need to develop
to an effective learning strategy with an aim of helping students overcome this difficulty.
This research aims to perform some useful features of the Gemini AI tool which can be
utilized to assist non-English majored students to learn specialized vocabulary at Nam Sai
Gon Polytechnic college. College students in some classes had a chance to expose to this
tool during two weeks. Then, the mixed method was carried out to examine the
effectiveness of using the Gemini AI tool for learning specialized vocabulary towards
students from Pharmacy, Nursing, and Restaurant and Food Service Management majors.
The result shows that the majority of students spend from two to four hours on using
Gemini and express their satisfaction towards the features of translation, creating a word list
and creating fill-in-the-blank or matching definition exercises generated by this tool. From
this result, educators are able to be aware of benefits of applying artificial intelligence into
teaching, hence bringing the optimal learning outcome for students.
Key words: Gemini AI, specialized vocabulary, non-English majored college students,
vocational education institutions
Introduction
The vocational education in Vietnam has transformed into a new era within the context of
global integration in line with global development trends. This is the process when the
country’s vocational education system connects with and adjusts to standards, trends, and
requirements of the global vocational education to enhance to the training quality, increase
the employment opportunities and satisfy with the labor demands in this scenario. From
2023 onwards, the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training has actively promoted
the global integration in order to improve the training quality and meet the demands of labor
market (Chuyên Trang Dân Sinh - Tổng Cục Giáo Dục Nghề Nghiệp Triển Khai Nhiệm Vụ
Năm 2023 | Báo Dân Trí, n.d.). According to many leaders at vocational education
institutions, it can be seen that the international collaboration in the vocational education
system has recently undergone some significant improvements and brought many positive
impacts for schools and learners. This means that it is urgent to have the knowledgeable and
skillful labor force to meet these demands. To be more specific, developing foreign
language proficiency, especially English, plays a vital role in forming competitive labor
force. It is true that many domestic and foreign enterprises such as Intel, DHL, Canon and
Vietnam Airlines require their technicians and skilled workers to have basic English-using
447
ability, especially in procedure document translation, machinery operation or
communication in international working environment.
At Nam Sai Gon polytechnic college, apart from being famous for its high-quality
vocational training, this school also focuses on improving students’ English ability not only
by investing heavily in English major but also by teaching English for specific purposes for
non-English major students. After completing the basic English subject in the first school
year, these students have a chance to continue learning English for specific purposes tailored
to their fields of study such as Pharmacy, Nursing, Automotive Technology, Beauty Care,
Restaurant and Food Service Management majors and so on. In this subject, students are
equipped with specialized vocabulary, advanced grammatical structures and necessary four
skills like listening, reading, speaking, and writing through various topics to serve for their
majors and future career.
However, most non-English majored students find it difficult to study English as they have
to absorb a considerable number of new words in each lesson. As a result, having some
supportive learning tools is a necessity to enhance learning outcomes. In the digital era, the
artificial intelligence has become prominent in educational field. In particular, as stated by
Institute of Technology Development, the integration of AI in vocational education is
considered as a modern teaching and learning method. This means that the application of AI
in learning English vocabulary is an ideal strategy. Typically, Gemini AI is the highlighting
tool thanks to its flexible interaction in supporting English learners more actively and
promote personalized learning.
Therefore, this research aims to introduce some valuable features of Gemini AI and conduct
a survey to evaluate the effectiveness of using this tool in helping non-English majored
students acquire specialize vocabulary. In addition, the feasible solution of integration of AI
in teaching and learning is also proposed in order to develop the English training for non-
English majored students to meet the demands of international integration.
CONTENT
1. The introduction of Gemini AI
In the scenario of the massive popularity of artificial intelligence, Google introduced
Gemini AI in December 2023, with its highlighting feature of quickly intelligent response
and superior contextual understanding better than previous AI tools like ChatGPT, and it is
called as ―Google's most powerful and general-purpose AI model". According to Team et al.
(2023), this tool possesses the most powerful general capabilities across multiple modalities
as well as advanced comprehension and reasoning performance in each specific domain. In
particular, regarding language learning, Gemini AI offers the free translation service for
users into over 50 languages including English, Korean, Chinese and others. To be more
specific, this tool assists learners to give contextual examples of new words, provides
understandable definitions, facilitate communication and interaction, and creating quizzes,
and thus learners are able to have practical learning experience and consolidate their
knowledge. Besides, with its easy-to-use interface, Gemini AI is totally the suitable learning
tool for non-English majored students, and these students can access easily to this tool and
seek help on vocabulary and grammar learning and exercises without having some serious
technological problems.
Key Advantages of Gemini AI Compared to Other Artificial Intelligence Tools
448
In the context of the widespread application of artificial intelligence tools in education,
Grammarly and ChatGPT have also been recognized as prominent options. However,
Gemini AI stands out due to its ability to offer a more proactive and highly personalized
learning model, going beyond the basic functions of language correction or content
generation typically provided by conventional tools. Grammarly is well known for its
strengths in grammar and spelling checks; however, its capacity to systematically explain
linguistic context or underlying language principles remains limited. This limitation
constrains learners’ ability to develop a deeper understanding of language structures and
prevents them from avoiding repeated mistakes. As noted in the study by Bailey and Lee
(2020), Grammarly does not provide guidance on how to improve overall coherence and
structure in writing. Therefore, learners still require support from instructors to enhance
their writing comprehensively.
Moreover, while ChatGPT often demands highly detailed and specific prompts to accurately
interpret user intent, Gemini AI is designed with enhanced contextual understanding,
thereby reducing the burden on users in articulating their requests. In addition, its optimized
architecture and extensive training dataset have equipped Gemini AI with superior
capabilities in reasoning and in-depth analysis.
2. The interface of Gemini AI
Access to Gemini: Access to the Gemini website at https://gemini.google.com. Log in and
users will be welcomed by the Gemini’s interface (Picture 1). The interface has 3 main
parts:
History: This part displays the recent interaction of users with Gemini, allowing them
to see the previous questions and responses.
Ask Gemini: This part allows users to ask questions by typing text directly.
Add images and audios: This part allows users to input prompts or commands by
using images or audios.
Users can interact freely with Gemini AI by using prompts or commands by adding text,
images and recordings. Gemini AI can understand Vietnamese, English and other languages.
The clearer and more detailed your prompt is, the better Gemini can understand your
request and perform the desired action.
449
Picture 3: The interface of Gemini AI
3. The application of Gemini AI in learning vocabulary
Users can utilize the following prompts to optimize their vocabulary learning. Illustrations
of specific features activated by these prompts are provided in the appendix.
3.1. Using Gemini AI for text translation
When users want to translate the text into Vietnamese, they can use this prompt:
"Translate to Vietnamese" hoặc "Dịch sang tiếng Việt"
Besides, users can screenshot the picture of that text then click to ―Add image‖ and ―Enter‖.
In the displayed result, Gemini will propose some possible answers. If the result does not
meet users’ requirements, they can retype the prompt until having the satisfactory answer as
Gemini will provide different answer in each different prompt.
3.2. Using Gemini AI for creating a wordlist
Given this feature, users can type these prompts as followings:
1. Create one column with serial numbers based on the provided list.
2. Create one column with the provided words.
3. The next column displays the part of speech.
4. The next column displays the pronunciation.
5. The next column displays the simple English definition.
6. The last column displays the usage of words in the sentence.
Moreover, after creating a wordlist, Gemini AI also provides the feature "Export to Sheets".
This allows users to transform the data into another app or another data source like Google
Sheets, helping users easily work with data in a spreadsheet to analyze, sort, filter, and
visualize the data.
3.3. Using Gemini AI for creating a fill-in-the-blank exercise
450
In order to understand the usage of words in the specific context, users can apply vocabulary
to fill-in-the-blank exercises and type the prompts as followings:
―Create a fill-in-the-blank exercise based on these words‖ (a list of words)
This feature allows users to remember the vocabulary more easily by learning from context.
Gemini will provide a number of selections for users.
3.4. Using Gemini AI for creating a ―Matching the word with definition‖
exercise
Given this feature, users can type these prompts as followings:
―Create the matching the word with definition exercise based on these words‖ (a list of
words)
4. Research methodology
4.1. Participants and settings
The research was carried out with non-English majored students at Nam Sai Gon
polytechnic college as the target participant. To be more specific, the students chosen were
from Pharmacy, Nursing, and Restaurant and Food Service Management majors.
All of these students are studying English for specific purpose subject. The selection of
students from various majors aims to ensure the diversity regarding to the need for learning
specialized vocabulary and examine the application of the Gemini AI tool across different
professional fields.
4.2. Research method
In this research, the mixed method using the survey combing quantitative with qualitative
questionnaire was selected to collect the data about examining the effectivess of using
Gemini AI in learning specialized vocabulary towards non-English majored students. These
students were introduced to Gemini AI in learning English specialized vocabulary. After 2
weeks, they would conduct a survey to examine the effectiveness of this tool. The survey
included quantitative questions using a 5-point Likert scale to assess the level of usage,
experience with learning features, confidence in vocabulary usage, and learning
effectiveness when applying Gemini AI. In addition, the qualitative questionnaire was
carried out through open-ended questions within the same survey, which aims to explore
learners' perceptions, challenges encountered, and suggestions for further improvement.
Students would do this survey within 5 to 6 minutes. The online questionnaire was designed
via Google Forms in order to facilitate the distribution to students and assist the process of
collecting and analyzing data to be more conveniently.
5. Results
65 responses were collected through Goole Form. The data was demonstrated by charts and
tables to display the result.
