Under the paradigm of ‘New Liberal Arts’ construction, higher education is confronting the dual challenge of interdisciplinary integration and digital transformation. While Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) offers vast potential for foreign language education, current applications often fail to foster deep learning, acting merely as answer providers rather than pedagogical guides. This paper proposes an innovative teaching model empowered by AI Educational Agents—intelligent systems designed with pedagogical logic to facilitate human-machine symbiosis. This research introduces a ‘Functionally Complementary’ agent role matrix, categorizing agents into Subject Experts, Functional Supporters, and Persona Immersions. Through a specific case study of the ‘IELTS Speaking Expansion Coach’ developed on the Doubao platform, this study demonstrates how AI agents can shift students from passive information reception to active critical thinking via scaffolded dialogue. The research argues that AI agents serve as the critical bridge between technology and humanities, reshaping the foreign language classroom into a personalized, interactive, and ethically grounded ecosystem. The findings suggest that when properly configured, AI agents can simultaneously improve teaching quality, expand access, and reduce costs, while maintaining the irreplaceable human elements of empathy, cultural transmission, and ethical guidance.

This study investigates how primary school English teachers in Malaysia assess word level writing capacity for upper primary students within the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and how they perceive the appropriateness of students' vocabulary use across CEFR levels A1 to B1. Recognizing vocabulary as a key component of writing ability, particularly in multilingual classrooms, the research addresses the challenge teachers face in applying CEFR lexical descriptors—more specifically lexical range, control, and task-appropriateness—with consistency in classroom assessment. While CEFR has been applied across the nation in Malaysia, prior research has established that the majority of teachers rely on intuition rather than standardized descriptors due to a lack of training, a lack of exemplars, and time constraints. Employing a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design, the research gathered quantitative data from 100 Melaka Tengah district English language teachers using a structured questionnaire, followed by qualitative data from three SJKC Ayer Keroh teachers using semi-structured interviews. Quantitative analysis established trends in CEFR-aligned assessment practice, whereas qualitative findings provided contextual insight into the interpretation and utilization of descriptors by teachers. Results indicate teacher assessment practice variability, with inconsistencies arising from differences in interpretations of vocabulary appropriateness, workload pressures, and learner diversity. While the majority of participants valued CEFR as a guiding framework, the absence of localized rubrics, annotated exemplars, and regular professional development limited its consistent implementation. The study reiterates the need for targeted training modules, collaboratively designed CEFR-based rubrics adapted to Malaysian primary contexts, and inter-rater moderation workshops to determine inter-rater reliability. Such measures can bridge the policy-practice divide to bring more equitable and consistent vocabulary testing and enable students' lexical development in alignment with international standards. The findings contribute to both domestic and foreign studies on CEFR operationalization, vocabulary assessment literacy, and education policy improvement in multilingual primary school settings.

This study explores the relationship between the use of digital devices, English academic performance, and attention span among lower primary students. Specifically, it aims to identify how digital device use affects lower primary students’ English academic performance and examine the connection between digital device use and attention span in lower primary students. As technology has become a part of children’s daily lives, the effects on children’s academic performance and attention span have raised concerns among educators and parents. This research focuses on how the time spent on mobile devices may influence the students’ attention span and English academic performance. The study draws an overview of mobile device use among lower primary students, highlighting students’ screen time, focusing span, and English language academic performance. A questionnaire was distributed to 473 lower primary students in the Klang Valley area to collect data on their screen time, and interviews with 7 English language teachers and students’ Term 1 and Term 2 English academic results were collected. Data analysis involves statistical and thematic methods to interpret quantitative and qualitative data findings. The findings highlight the correlation between digital device usage, students’ English performance and their focus span in the classrooms. The findings will help educators and parents understand the influence of digital devices on lower primary students and offer strategies for managing screen time to enhance students’ focus spans and learning experiences.

Many vocational schools have been bringing their educational practice closer to industry along with the concept of Teaching Factory (TEFA) to adjust the students’ skills as close as the industry demands. The implementation of TEFA based curriculum in one of vocational higher education in Surabaya for all subjects including English subject has been performed since 2019. In English classes, the Teaching Factory-Based Strategy covers two methods: product-based learning and flipped classroom. This research aims to explore the implementation of TEFA-based strategy and the two methods by revealing students' perceptions and responses on the strategy. This research is descriptive qualitative research in which data were obtained through questionnaires and interviews. The students observed were from 4 different study programs in this PPNS. The results of this study show positive perceptions of students toward TEFA – based strategy implemented in the classroom even though there are some obstacles faced by both students and lecturers. Hopefully this research can contribute practically to English teachers who are adopting TEFA in English language teaching.

The rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially generative technologies such as ChatGPT, has instigated significant transformations in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education. This systematic review examines empirical research published from 2019 to early 2025, concentrating on ChatGPT applications in EFL teaching and learning. In accordance with the PRISMA criteria, pertinent studies were located via databases including ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, ... Prominent motifs identified in the literature encompass augmented writing fluency, heightened student autonomy, and enhanced speaking confidence. ChatGPT functions as an invaluable resource for educators in class preparation and providing tailored feedback. Nonetheless, apprehensions persist over excessive dependence on AI, possible plagiarism, diminished critical thinking abilities, and the lack of institutional regulations. Numerous educators have difficulties stemming from insufficient AI literacy and an absence of organized training. This study emphasizes the significance of ethical and substantiated AI integration, advocating for longitudinal research and the establishment of formal training programs to guarantee the sustainable application of ChatGPT in EFL instruction.

ABSTRACT While the relationship between teacher attributes and the motivation and achievements of language learners has been extensively studied in the past decades, the relevant research that addresses the evolving educational context of China has been relatively limited. This study fills this knowledge gap by identifying distinctive attributes of English teachers shaped by China's traditional and modern educational context. These attributes are categorised into three main groups: teacher attitudes, teaching performance and teacher–student interaction. In this mixed‐methods study, a questionnaire on teacher attributes was designed to survey the perceptions of 417 students regarding what teacher attributes they found motivating. Qualitative data was obtained from semi‐structured interviews with 36 students. We explored the teacher attributes perceived as motivational by the students, considering the backdrop of cultural factors and educational policies in China. The findings revealed not only internationally recognised motivating attributes but also teacher attributes particular to the Chinese context. These perceptions can guide educators in providing both effective and enjoyable language learning experiences in the given cultural context, while also informing school authorities in designing teacher training programmes and evaluation systems. The findings are also valuable and enlightening in other Asian countries, where exam‐oriented education and Confucian heritage prevail.

This study explores the integration of critical literacy in language teaching as an innovative strategy to foster students’ reflective thinking and intercultural competence. Drawing on Freire and Giroux’s critical literacy framework, Dewey and Schön’s reflective thinking, and Byram and Deardorff’s intercultural competence models, the research combines literature review, best practice analysis, and theoretical case studies. Findings reveal that critical literacy equips students to evaluate texts and discourses embedded with ideological values, while reflective thinking enhances self-awareness and social engagement. Intercultural competence, in turn, strengthens adaptability in cross-cultural communication. Major challenges identified include limited understanding of socio-cultural issues, difficulties in analyzing multimodal texts, implicit bias, and deeply ingrained cultural stereotypes. To address these issues, the study proposes strategies such as authentic text discussions, multimodal discourse analysis, intercultural simulations, and reflective practices. Practical solutions, including contextual scaffolding, step-by-step multimodal training, and interactive cross-cultural simulations, are recommended to ensure effective implementation. The research emphasizes the need for a holistic pedagogical approach that integrates critical literacy, reflection, and intercultural competence to develop learners who are critical, adaptive, and inclusive. Ultimately, such integration prepares students not only to succeed academically but also to engage meaningfully within increasingly complex global societies.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly transforming English Language Teaching (ELT), yet limited empirical evidence exists on how Malaysian primary ESL teachers perceive and intend to use AI tools in classroom practice. This study investigates teachers’ readiness, perceived usefulness and behavioural intention to integrate AI, addressing a gap in empirical research within the Malaysian primary school context. A quantitative survey design was employed, involving 80 primary ESL teachers who completed a structured questionnaire adapted from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Descriptive statistics indicated moderately high levels of readiness, strong perceptions of usefulness and high intention to adopt AI. Pearson correlation analysis revealed strong, positive and statistically significant relationships among the three constructs. Multiple regression results further showed that perceived usefulness was the strongest predictor of intention, followed by teacher readiness. Openended responses provided supplementary insights, highlighting teachers’ need for hands-on training, practical examples and continuous professional development. Overall, the study offers timely empirical evidence on AI adoption in Malaysian primary ESL classrooms and underscores the importance of enhancing teachers’ digital competence and pedagogical capacity for sustainable and meaningful AI integration.

In recent years, artificial intelligence has moved from the margins of education to its very core, profoundly reshaping how English is taught and learned. This study offers a descriptive bibliometric overview of research on AI-assisted English language teaching (AI-ELT) based solely on data retrieved from the Scopus database between 2019 and 2025. Rather than relying on external analytic software, the analysis was conducted directly through Scopus’s built-in tools to ensure transparency and reproducibility. The findings reveal an exceptional surge in academic productivity, especially after 2022, when generative models such as ChatGPT began influencing classroom practice and teacher research alike. Most publications are concentrated in the fields of social sciences and education, followed by computer science and the humanities, confirming the hybrid nature of AI-ELT as both a pedagogical and technological domain. The most active contributors and institutions are clustered in East Asia particularly in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore reflecting the region’s growing leadership in educational AI. Overall, the results indicate a paradigmatic shift from automation toward cognition and reflection in English pedagogy. AI is increasingly viewed not merely as a tool for efficiency but as a partner in meaning-making, creativity, and learner autonomy. The study concludes that future research should deepen empirical validation, explore teacher AI collaboration, and strengthen ethical frameworks that support human-centered innovation in language education.

This study aims to examine students' perspectives on the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in enhancing their comprehension of English learning materials within the context of the tourism industry. A qualitative descriptive research methodology was employed, with data collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The sample consisted of 42 students enrolled in the English for the Tourism Industry program. The findings reveal that the majority of students held favorable views regarding the integration of AI in understanding English learning content within tourism industry settings. They expressed the belief that, when used appropriately, AI could significantly facilitate their grasp of the material. Moreover, the AI tools most frequently utilized by students included translation applications, grammar correction tools, and AI-based chat services. This research provides valuable insights for English language teaching within tourism, highlighting the potential of tools like ChatGPT, QuillBot, Claude, and Notebook.im to support language proficiency. However, it also underscores the need for ongoing guidance from instructors to maximize the effectiveness of these technologies.

Student engagement (SEN) is pivotal for meaningful learning, yet the factors influencing engagement in EFL settings remain insufficiently understood. This study examines the roles of students' perceived teacher support (SPTS) and self-efficacy (SEF) in shaping engagement among Chinese EFL learners. A total of 2263 participants were surveyed using a quantitative approach. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 26.0 to examine the relationships among students' perceived teacher support, self-efficacy, and student engagement. The results revealed that students' perceived teacher support positively predicted both self-efficacy and student engagement. Additionally, self-efficacy was found to not only directly influence student engagement but also partially mediate the relationship between students' perceived teacher support and student engagement. This inquiry extends the theoretical understanding of SCT by providing empirical evidence and deepens our understanding of how contextual (i.e., students' perceived teacher support) and individual (i.e., self-efficacy) factors specifically influence behavior (i.e., student engagement) in the Chinese EFL learning context, offering valuable insights for educators to design targeted interventions to optimize language teaching and learning.

This study investigates the Lontaraq writing competence of pre-service Bugis language teachers by applying a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) framework to evaluate their narrative development and textual organization. Thirteen handwritten Lontaraq narrative texts produced in the Marukiq course served as the primary data. Using a qualitative descriptive design, the analysis examined genre structure, ideational choices, theme–rheme patterns, and cohesive devices. The findings reveal strong and consistent control of Orientation and Sequence of Events, driven by action-based clauses dominated by material processes (63–74%), reflecting the influence of oral storytelling traditions. However, Complication and Coda were infrequently realized, showing limited ability to construct tension, evaluation, and reflective closure. Textual organization was characterized by locative topical themes, constant thematic progression, and simple additive cohesion, with minimal reference chains or complex logical connectors. These patterns indicate that students are transitioning from oral to written narrative conventions but have not yet developed advanced textual management. The study highlights a need for explicit SFL-based instruction in narrative staging, ideational diversification, and theme–rheme structuring to strengthen Lontaraq literacy. The findings contribute to the emerging scholarship on indigenous script revitalization by demonstrating how SFL can be applied to assess and enhance writing competence in non-Latin, heritage-script contexts.

This study looks at how language education increasingly uses data from school software and adaptive learning platforms. This creates a big teaching contradiction. While these systems claim to give personalized feedback on student performance, they often turn the complex, cultural process of learning a language into simple numbers that lack context. This can accidentally favor students who speak only one language and frame others as lacking skills. This article contends that technical data skills alone aren’t enough for teachers; instead, argue that teachers need more than just technical skills to read this data. They need a "Critical Data Literacy" (CDL), built on the habit of carefully reflecting on their practice. The researcher has made a three pillar framework: Interrogate, Contextualize and Humanize, as reflective fix. This framework will turn the instructors from passive information consumers to active proponents. The proposed method helps them read dashboard analytic through an equity lens, recover their professional judgment, and map assessment to the rich realities of multilingual learners. This ideology is about denial of the data but an appeal for a considerate, thoughtful and ethical incorporation of the data into humanistic work in language teaching, proposing a pragmatic anchor between critical theory and classroom practice.

Review of Vyatkina (2024): Corpus applications in language teaching and research: The case of data-driven learning of German

This mixed study explores the impact from reflective journal writing upon students' interpreting anxiety. It draws on data sources from students' reflective journals written during the semester as well as two questionnaires of Anxiety Scale for Chinese Interpreting Learners. The study focuses on three dimensions of interpreting anxiety, namely task anxiety, error anxiety and confidence anxiety. Task anxiety has been significantly alleviated over the course, while the other two have not. The cognitive–affective–behavioral intervention mechanism identified in students' reflective journals, functions effectively in mitigating interpreting anxiety. The study also reveals how instructed reflective journals enable students to perceive themselves as self-motivated and sustainable learners. This study holds important pedagogical implications for educators in language teaching and other educational context.

Sustainable professional growth through digital mentorship: evidence from language teachers in low-resource settings.

Abstract This paper aims to explore the role of teachers in bilingual and multilingual translanguaging classrooms and how bilingual and multilingual translanguaging are different from each other. Data were collected from five state-run schools in the Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal, India. A qualitative approach to data analysis was adopted. Findings reveal that most English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers use translanguaging in two different ways — six teachers use only two dominant languages (Bengali and English) and three teachers use three languages, including minority languages. This paper argues that bilingual translanguaging is subtractive whereas multilingual translanguaging is additive and inclusive. Moreover, multilingual translanguaging seems to be more beneficial to students than bilingual translanguaging.

The present study investigated the impact of an electronic gamification-based program, using the “Class Point” platform, in improving grammatical achievement and retention of learning among grade five students in the Sultanate of Oman. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design and the study sample consisted of 120 male and female students, distributed evenly into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was taught grammatical activities through an interactive gamification program, while the control group was taught using conventional methods of teaching. An achievement test was administered as a pre-test, post-test, and a delayed post-test. Statistical analyses using t-tests, ANCOVA, and Eta-squared effect size revealed statistically significant differences in favor of the experimental group for both genders, indicating large effect sizes (η² = 0.55 for males; η² = 0.57 for females). Results further showed significant improvement in delayed post-test scores, suggesting strong retention of learning. No significant differences were found based on gender suggesting that the gamification-based program created an inclusive learning environment. These findings confirm the effectiveness of gamification in enhancing grammatical learning and sustaining its effect over time. The study recommends incorporating gamification strategies into Arabic language curricula and teacher professional training programs to promote active, technology-enhanced learning.

The rapid evolution of real-time machine translation (MT) tools, especially AI-based systems such as Google Translate, DeepL, and ChatGPT-powered translators, has transformed the landscape of foreign language pedagogy. Over the last decade, learners have increasingly relied on MT technologies to complete tasks, interpret texts, and overcome linguistic barriers. This article presents a comparative pedagogical study investigating the effectiveness of real-time translation tools in foreign language teaching, with particular focus on comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, learner autonomy, and translation accuracy. Drawing on recent research, classroom-based observations, and comparative linguistic analysis, the article evaluates the benefits and limitations of integrating MT tools into foreign language instruction. The study finds that while real-time translation tools support rapid comprehension and expand learner independence, inappropriate or unmonitored use may hinder deep linguistic processing and reduce the development of communicative competences. The article proposes methodological recommendations for balanced pedagogical integration of MT tools in language classrooms.

This study investigates the impact of digital storytelling (DST) on secondary school students’ speaking proficiency in an ESL classroom. The research was driven by the need for engaging, technology-enhanced approaches that support Malaysian learners who frequently struggle with low confidence, limited vocabulary, and speaking anxiety. Using a qualitative case study design, the study involved 25 Form 4 students and collected data through semi-structured interviews and student reflective journals. The data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis framework. The findings reveal that digital storytelling contributed positively to students’ speaking development. Students reported improvements in confidence, fluency, vocabulary use, and pronunciation awareness. They also felt more motivated and less anxious when speaking, particularly when creating and presenting personally meaningful stories. The project fostered autonomous learning, as students took ownership of their scripts, recordings, and multimedia outputs. Despite these benefits, the study also identified challenges such as scriptwriting difficulty, technical issues, and time constraints. Overall, the study concludes that digital storytelling is an effective pedagogical tool for enhancing speaking proficiency in ESL learners. Its integration in classrooms promotes language development, learner engagement, motivation, and reflective practice. The findings offer valuable implications for English language teaching in Malaysia and suggest that DST can serve as a practical and meaningful addition to current instructional practices in secondary schools.