AI ASSISTANTS AS DIALOGUE PRACTICE PARTNERS: EXPERIENCE OF APPLICATION IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

Abstract

The growing availability of large language model
(LLM)-based conversational tools – most notably ChatGPT and
specialised derivatives – has introduced a genuinely transformative
resource into English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogy. This
article offers a theoretically grounded and empirically informed synthesis
of current knowledge concerning the use of AI assistants as dialogue
practice partners in EFL settings. Drawing on peer-reviewed research
published primarily between 2022 and 2025, the paper examines three
dimensions of AI-assisted dialogue practice: its theoretical foundations
in sociocultural learning theory and communicative language teaching;
its documented effects on foreign language speaking anxiety, willingness
to communicate, oral fluency, and learner autonomy; and the critical
pedagogical limitations that must be addressed for responsible
integration. The article argues that AI dialogue partners, deployed
purposefully within a teacher-guided framework, offer meaningful
supplementary communicative practice – particularly in contexts, such
as Uzbekistan and broader Central Asia, where learners have
structurally limited access to authentic English interaction. The paper
concludes with evidence-based recommendations for integrating AI
dialogue tools into EFL speaking instruction without displacing the
irreducibly human dimensions of communicative language development.