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Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (FKIP) Universitas Islam Malang (Unisma) menegaskan pentingnya peran manusia di tengah derasnya arus teknologi Artificial Intelligence (AI) dalam pembelajaran bahasa Inggris. Pesan ini mengemuka dalam The 6th International Conference on English Language Teaching (ICON-ELT) 2025 yang digelar pada 19–20 November 2025.
Konferensi internasional yang dipusatkan di Hall KH. Abdurrahman Wahid, Unisma, itu mengusung tema “ELT in a Digital Era: Bridging Technology, Culture and Pedagogy”. Hadir peneliti dan pakar pendidikan dari Indonesia, Singapura, Australia, Amerika Serikat, Taiwan, Thailand, hingga Malaysia untuk membahas bagaimana pendidik dan generasi muda dapat merespons tantangan pembelajaran bahasa Inggris di era digital.
Ketua Pelaksana ICON-ELT 2025, Ika Hidayanti, S.Pd., M.Pd., menyampaikan bahwa transformasi digital dalam pendidikan bahasa Inggris merupakan keniscayaan. Berbagai perangkat dan platform kini telah menjadi bagian tak terpisahkan dari proses belajar-mengajar.
“Konferensi ini kami selenggarakan mengikuti perkembangan era digital. Harapannya, apa yang kita pelajari hari ini membuka wawasan bahwa pembelajaran bahasa Inggris sangat terbantu oleh teknologi,” ujarnya..
Ia menjelaskan, teknologi tidak lagi hanya pelengkap, tetapi sudah masuk ke seluruh ekosistem pembelajaran: mulai dari pencarian referensi, kolaborasi akademik, hingga publikasi ilmiah. Beragam perangkat seperti Learning Management System (LMS), video conference, aplikasi pembelajaran bahasa, perpustakaan digital, hingga AI-assisted writing tools kian akrab digunakan di ruang kelas.
Namun, di balik semua kemudahan itu, Ika menegaskan bahwa pendidik tidak boleh kehilangan kendali. Menurutnya, ada batas yang harus dijaga agar kelas tetap humanis dan berkarakter.
“Tidak semuanya bisa digantikan teknologi. Tetap harus ada kombinasi antara metode digital dan metode tradisional. AI itu membantu, tapi keputusan dan kendali kelas tetap di tangan guru,” tegasnya. Ia mengingatkan dosen dan mahasiswa untuk tetap waspada dan tidak menyerahkan seluruh proses berpikir kepada mesin.
Sejalan dengan itu, Rektor Unisma, Prof. Drs. H. Junaidi, M.Pd., Ph.D., dalam paparannya menempatkan teori Konektivisme (Connectivism) sebagai kerangka berpikir utama untuk menjawab tantangan pembelajaran di era digital. Teori ini menekankan tiga prinsip penting: pembelajaran sebagai proses menghubungkan berbagai sumber informasi, kemampuan melihat koneksi lintas bidang sebagai keterampilan inti, serta pentingnya merawat jejaring informasi untuk pembelajaran sepanjang hayat.
“Belajar kini bukan lagi sekadar menghafal isi satu buku. Belajar adalah bagaimana kita menghubungkan simpul-simpul informasi yang tersebar di internet, pustaka digital, jurnal ilmiah, hingga media massa,” paparnya.
Prof. Junaidi juga mengingatkan bahwa cepatnya perubahan informasi membuat pengetahuan mudah kedaluwarsa. Mengutip satu gagasan penting, ia menyatakan, “Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.” Artinya, kemampuan seseorang untuk terus belajar dan memperbarui pengetahuan jauh lebih vital daripada sekadar apa yang sudah diketahui hari ini.
Konferensi yang digelar secara hybrid ini menghadirkan deretan narasumber bergengsi. Selain Rektor Unisma, hadir secara luring pakar ELT Dr. Willy A. Renandya (NTU Singapura) dan Dr. Finita Dewi (UPI Bandung). Sementara secara daring, hadir pula Dr. Zamzami Zainuddin (Flinders University, Australia), Jan Edwards Dormer, Ph.D. (Taylor University, USA), serta pembicara undangan dari Thailand, Taiwan, dan Malaysia.
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Universitas Islam Malang’s Faculty of Teacher Training and Education (FKIP) reaffirmed the vital role of human presence amid the rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in English language teaching. This message resonated strongly during The 6th International Conference on English Language Teaching (ICON-ELT) 2025, held on November 19–20, 2025.
The international conference, centered at the KH. Abdurrahman Wahid Hall, UNISMA, carried the theme “ELT in a Digital Era: Bridging Technology, Culture and Pedagogy.” Researchers and education experts from Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, the United States, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia gathered to discuss how educators and young learners can respond to the challenges of English language learning in the digital age.
Chair of the Organizing Committee, Ika Hidayanti, S.Pd., M.Pd., emphasized that digital transformation in English language education is inevitable. Technological tools and platforms have become integral parts of teaching and learning processes.
“We organized this conference in response to the demands of the digital era. We hope that what we learn today broadens our understanding that English language teaching can be significantly enhanced by technology,” she stated.
She explained that technology is no longer merely supplementary but has permeated the entire learning ecosystem, from sourcing academic references and facilitating collaboration to supporting scholarly publication. Learning Management Systems (LMS), video conferencing platforms, language learning applications, digital libraries, and AI-assisted writing tools are now commonplace in classrooms.
However, despite these advancements, Ika stressed that educators must not relinquish control. There must be clear boundaries to ensure that classrooms remain human-centered and character-driven.
“Not everything can be replaced by technology. There must be a balance between digital and traditional methods. AI is a tool to assist, but decisions and classroom control remain in the hands of teachers,” she asserted. She cautioned both lecturers and students against outsourcing critical thinking entirely to machines.
Echoing this perspective, UNISMA Rector Prof. Drs. H. Junaidi, M.Pd., Ph.D., presented Connectivism as a key theoretical framework for navigating digital-era learning. This theory highlights three essential principles: learning as the process of connecting diverse information sources, the ability to identify cross-disciplinary connections as a core skill, and the importance of nurturing information networks for lifelong learning.
“Learning today is no longer about memorizing the content of a single book. It is about connecting nodes of information spread across the internet, digital libraries, academic journals, and mass media,” he explained.
Prof. Junaidi also reminded participants that in a rapidly evolving information landscape, knowledge quickly becomes outdated. Quoting a well-known idea, he emphasized, “Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.” In other words, the ability to continuously learn and update one’s knowledge is far more vital than simply mastering existing information.
The hybrid conference featured distinguished speakers. In addition to the UNISMA Rector, on-site keynote speakers included Willy A. Renandya from Nanyang Technological University and Dr. Finita Dewi from Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. Online speakers included Dr. Zamzami Zainuddin from Flinders University, Jan Edwards Dormer, Ph.D. from Taylor University, as well as invited scholars from Thailand, Taiwan, and Malaysia.
Through ICON-ELT 2025, UNISMA firmly underscored that while technology continues to transform education, the humanistic touch, embodied in empathy, ethics, and critical judgment, remains irreplaceable in English language teaching.
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