The Impact of Human-AI Language Interaction on EFL Learners’ Language Communication Competence: A Literature Review

Shanghai Chongguang Culture Communication Co., Ltd., Xuhui District, Shanghai, 200231, China.

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Abstract

Technological advances in generative AI have fundamentally changed traditional language philosophy assuming that natural language is an exclusive human faculty. Consequently, it is important for language educators to consciously know how to develop English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ language communication competence in the current era. The literature review summarizes Human-AI language interaction (HALI) systems’ affordances across various EFL learning contexts. It also evaluates HALI’s effects on EFL learners’ language communication competence. The results show that HALI’s beneficial effects include enhancing linguistic accuracy and fluency, and providing unlimited access to speech practice in low-anxiety environments. However, it has certain deficiencies in developing advanced communication competence, such as pragmatic strategies, sociolinguistic awareness, and critical intercultural communicative competence. The study suggests that educators should prioritize human interaction and instruction as dominant factors to enhance sociocultural and pragmatic abilities, and use AI to build specific linguistic skills and enhance language accuracy and fluency.