STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES IN UTILIZING GEMINI FOR ENHANCING ENGLISH AT SMA TUNAS BANGSA: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

This qualitative case study examines the digital learning experiences and operational challenges encountered by secondary school students utilizing the generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform, Gemini, to enhance their English language proficiency at SMA Tunas Bangsa. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews involving 11 students who actively participated in the school’s structured AI-integrated learning activities. The thematic analysis, assisted by NVivo 12 software, reveals that while students perceive Gemini as a highly adaptive and low-anxiety cognitive assistant that facilitates context-based translation and grammar explanations, their digital learning workflows are concurrently disrupted by multi-dimensional constraints. The empirical findings systematically categorize these challenges into three primary barriers. technological errors, structural barriers, and institutional. Among these, the mandatory collection of mobile devices during instructional hours stands out as the most formidable obstacle, creating a sharp spatial dichotomy that banishes AI adoption from the active classroom environment and restricts it to an isolated self-study aid at home. The study concludes that successful AI integration in secondary education requires a strategic pedagogical balance that reconciles administrative school discipline with the necessity of fostering learner autonomy in the digital era.