Ai Assistants as Dialogue Practice Partners: Experience of Application in the Efl Classroom
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: The growing availability of large language model(LLM)-based conversational tools – most notably ChatGPT andspecialised derivatives – has introduced a genuinely transformativeresource into English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogy. Thisarticle offers a theoretically grounded and empirically informed synthesisof current knowledge concerning the use of AI assistants as dialoguepractice partners in EFL settings. Drawing on peer-reviewed researchpublished primarily between 2022 and 2025, the paper examines threedimensions of AI-assisted dialogue practice: its theoretical foundationsin sociocultural learning theory and communicative language teaching;its documented effects on foreign language speaking anxiety, willingnessto communicate, oral fluency, and learner autonomy; and the criticalpedagogical limitations that must be addressed for responsibleintegration. The article argues that AI dialogue partners, deployedpurposefully within a teacher-guided framework, offer meaningfulsupplementary communicative practice – particularly in contexts, suchas Uzbekistan and broader Central Asia, where learners havestructurally limited access to authentic English interaction. The paperconcludes with evidence-based recommendations for integrating AIdialogue tools into EFL speaking instruction without displacing theirreducibly human dimensions of communicative language development.
Institution: Renaissance Educational University
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7204239768