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VAMOS is a practical and easy-to-follow framework that helps language learners make more effective use of AIGen tools while staying responsible and academically honest. Each letter in VAMOS stands for a key step that guides you through integrating AI into your language learning tasks effectively and ethically.

V – VERIFY

Before using any AI tool for a language task, verify that it’s appropriate and allowed. Check your school, college, or institution's policies to ensure that AI use is permitted for the specific type of work you're doing. Some institutions may have rules about what kind of help you can get from AI. Also, make sure the tool you choose can actually help with your language learning goal. For example, is it good for practicing grammar, expanding vocabulary, or generating sample texts?

A – AFFIRM

After using an AI tool, affirm that the information or content it provides is accurate and useful. AI can sometimes make mistakes, so double-check facts, grammar, and phrasing. Read carefully and confirm that the tool helped you complete your task correctly. Don’t assume everything it says is right—think critically, and if needed, use dictionaries, grammar guides, or any resource you may think can help you.

M – MIND

Mind the source and limits of the AI tools. These tools are trained on massive datasets collected from the internet, which means they may include outdated, incorrect, or biased information. Also, be aware of privacy and copyright concerns. Don’t input personal information or submit private work into a public AI tool. And remember: the tool might reuse parts of content it’s been trained on—always check for originality and avoid unintentional plagiarism.

O – OKAY

Once you've reviewed the content, decide if you're okay with it. Ask yourself: Does the AI-generated text meet the requirements of the task? Does it reflect your own learning and understanding? At this point, you choose how to use the content—whether you will use it as a model, rewrite it in your own words, or just get inspiration from it. It’s important that you stay in control and ensure the final product is still your own work.

S – SUCCESS

Finally, success means you've used AI tools thoughtfully and responsibly. You’ve verified their use, affirmed the content’s accuracy, kept ethical concerns in mind, and made clear choices about how to integrate AI-generated help into your work. Most importantly, you’ve combined technology with critical thinking and maintained academic integrity—all while advancing your language learning.

By following the VAMOS framework, learners can harness the power of AI without sacrificing the quality, honesty, or originality of their work. It encourages the smart and safe use of technology to support language learning, rather than replace it.

ENDS 

This guide explains the key steps that educators or learners can follow to build an effective prompt or instructions for a Generative AI chatbot. 

The steps are presented in a logical sequence to help users understand how to communicate clearly with the Generative AI chatbot.

The first part of the process is called prompt engineering and comprises the first four steps:

Step 1. The role.

The first part of the prompt consists of telling the chatbot what role it should take in the conversation. This helps set the tone and perspective of the response. For example, the chatbot can act as a teacher, a dialogue partner, a study partner, or an assessor.

Step 2. The task.

After defining the role, the next step is to describe the action you want the chatbot to perform. In the context of language learning, this could include explaining a concept, generating activities, selecting vocabulary, summarising, simplifying, translating, or adapting a text to a specific tone, register, formality, or style.

Step 3. The context. 

Once the role and task are set, it is important to provide the context. This means giving the chatbot more information about the situation, such as the language level of the learner, the topic being studied, or the specific language skill being targeted, like reading, writing, speaking, or listening.

Step 4. The format. 

The final step in prompt engineering is to indicate how you want the output to be presented. For example, you might want the response to be in the form of a table, a conversation, a list, a multiple-choice activity, a role play, or organised in sections.

To summarise, a good prompt includes four essential elements: role, task, context, and format. Including these elements helps the chatbot understand your needs more clearly and respond more effectively.

After receiving the first response from the chatbot, the next phase involves refining the output and comprises step 5 and 6.

Step 5. The feedback. 

After receiving the first response from the chatbot, you can improve it by giving feedback. This means asking the chatbot to revise or adjust its response based on your preferences. For example, you might request that the explanation be organised by difficulty level or presented in a different format.

Step 6. The output. 

The final step is to evaluate the output. Since Generative AI can sometimes produce incorrect or misleading information, it is important to assess the quality and accuracy of the response. You should compare the output with your own knowledge or other trusted sources and, if necessary, reframe your prompt to get better results.

This guide offers a clear and practical approach to creating effective prompts and improving AI-generated responses to better support learning and teaching objectives.

Prompt: 

Take the role of the (dialogue partner-interviewer from a prestigious company offering placements to college students). Your name is (give a name accordingly to your language). Your task is to engage in a role-play with me, this simulation aims to help me practice and improve my interviewing skills for an oral exam in (choose the language). I am a (choose the student context) student studying (choose the language) at level (choose the language level). Begin the role-play by greeting me and introducing yourself, then you can initiate the interview process. Can we start?   

Prompt: 

You are a student of (choose the language). Engage in a debate in (choose the language) with students in your same language level: B1 (CEFR). Pretend we are in a language class and the teacher is present during the class debate so you need to use grammar and vocabulary for B1 level. You will start the debate by stating the topic and giving your first point. Then prompt the opponent to engage in the debate. 

Prompt:

 We are a group of students, and we need ideas for an oral presentation on ________. What could we suggest? Give a list of ideas in bullet points and explain briefly each idea.

Note: this activity may take place in a Language Lab.  

Prompt: 

You are a (choose the language). Provide feedback on grammar, syntax, and vocabulary usage for this text (level B1) and suggest ways to improve the tone, the style and the composition: …..

Note: This activity could be used for language productions created outside the class or in class.

Prompt: 

Act as an expert in (choose a language variety) and idiomatic expressions. Create a list of 5 idioms used only in (choose a language variety). Show this format: [idiom] (next line) Explanation: (next line) Origin of the expression: (next line) Equivalent idiom in (choose a language variety) 

Note: This activity could be used to explore language varieties and cultural differences based on idiomatic expressions.