To Look from Another Window in Education: Artificial Intelligence Assisted Language Learning and Its Reflections on Academic Demotivation, Foreign Language Learning Anxiety and Autonomy

Abstract

In the age of technology, old methods and approaches are no longer effective in teaching English to EFL learners. Nowadays, EFL learners benefit significantly from using artificial intelligence (AI) as a branch of technology in their English learning. Considering the effectiveness of AI, the current research intends to scrutinize its impacts on EFL learners' academic demotivation, foreign language learning anxiety (FLLA), and autonomy. To meet this objective, 83 students majoring in English from Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University in Alkharj, Saudi Arabia, were selected and divided into two groups: the EG (41) and the CG (42). The groups were administered three scales as the pretests to measure their academic demotivation, FLLA, and autonomy before receiving the intervention. As the independent variable of this study is AI, the EG received the treatment using ChatGPT while the CG was trained in their course materials without integrating any AI-based learning instruments. At the termination of a 16-session treatment, the pretests were administered again as the post-tests to assess the effectiveness of the two instructions on the EG and CG participants' academic demotivation, FLLA, and autonomy. The results gained via ANCOVA and independent samples t-tests proved a meaningful difference among all three post-tests favoring the EG. Besides, the findings depicted that using ChatGPT as an AI-mediated learning tool reduced Saudi Arabian EFL learners' demotivation and FLLA while enhancing their autonomy. Based on the results, the researcher concluded that ChatGPT should support learning, not replace human interactions.