Pattern Recognition of EFL University Students’ Online Behaviors through Data Science: Any Investment on English Language Components or Skills?

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) has played a crucial role in many fields of study, and its merits and demerits have been investigated by related scholars. However, it seems a somewhat gray area when implementing AI in teaching and learning. This could be mainly because AI developers know little about learning varied sciences and they also lack pedagogical knowledge for implementing AI in teaching (Luckin & Cukurova, 2019). Therefore, the current research aimed at gathering data regarding the online behaviors of 21 Iranian EFL university students through installing an application on their mobile phones for a period of eight days. Afterwards, the collected data were analyzed through Data Science methods and varied patterns of behavior were recognized. The results exhibited that messaging and social media applications are two great parts of the students’ life. Also, there existed some common patterns regarding the applications students owned and the amount of time they spent on them. As a small case in point, the results of the study cannot be generalized; however, the outcomes highlight the proof that in an EFL context, serious steps need to be adopted by course designers and stakeholders in order to cultivate a greater and purposeful use of online learning applications, websites etc. among EFL university students so as to enhance the teaching-learning process. This gains prominence because any AI-mediated learning approach is believed to enhance students’ second/foreign language motivation as well as self-regulation in learning. AI is actually promising a revolution in the realm of language education.