ABSTRACT
Nowadays, artificial intelligence (AI) is applied in almost all professions and industries, providing a strong drive for economic growth and societal advancement. The thorough development of AI will inevitably speed up the process of social order restructuring, ensure that humans and nature live in harmony, coordinate the advancement of science and humanity, and present both previously unimaginable potential and difficulties for education.
Education will undergo significant changes in the intelligence age as more educational resources become available, teaching methods become more flexible, and multivariate intelligence systems are used.
This is a case study involving one class of 38 English as a foreign language (EFL) students. The aim was to investigate student engagement in learning interactive speaking by incorporating AI chatbots, namely, Replika and Kuki.
The overall results of this study demonstrated that chatbots powered by AI can be extremely useful learning resources for promoting interactive conversation in a target language. The majority of future primary educators agree that AI chatbots can be helpful teaching and learning tools for both educators and students.
Additionally, a guided strategy is required to carry out a discussion appropriate for the learner’s level and characteristics when integrating various learner data to chatbot technology, such as learner evaluation and diagnosis.
Finally, chatbots may boost EFL student engagement in studying as well as their confidence when speaking in English, as they have a variety of positive emotional effects.
