• Journal Menu
  • About This Journal
  • Aims and Audience
  • Abstracting/Indexing
  • Editorial Board
  • Subscription Information
  • Contact Information
• Authors
  • Author Guidelines
  • Code of Conduct
  • IJLS Editorial Style
  • IJLS Style Sheet
  • Peer Review Process
  • Call for Papers
  • FAQ
• Editors
  • Editorial Board
  • Reviewer Guidelines
  • Code of Conduct
  • Peer Review Process
  • IJLS Editorial Style
• Archives
  • Papers in Press
  • Latest Issue
  • Back Issues
  • Special Issues
• Home

AI language tutors have expanded learners’ access to support beyond conventional instructional settings. Although research has largely examined the pedagogical benefits of AI-assisted language learning, less is known about learners’ emotional relationships with these tools. This qualitative exploratory study investigated how Vietnamese EFL learners experienced emotional attachment to AI language tutors and the interactional experiences contributing to its development. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 university students with extensive experience using AI for English learning, and the data were analyzed thematically. Findings showed that attachment was experienced less as affection toward AI itself than as a perception of AI as a meaningful presence characterized by perceived understanding and emotional reassurance. Attachment developed gradually through repeated interaction, fostering familiarity, psychological safety, and emotional dependability. Participants recognized AI as non-human, suggesting that attachment emerged from meaningful interactional experiences rather than anthropomorphic beliefs. The study offers a process-oriented account of learner-AI relationships in language education.

This mixed-methods study examined how AI-assisted and human feedback influenced Saudi EFL students’ engagement and motivation in essay writing. Data were collected through surveys and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative findings showed similar overall engagement levels between students receiving AI feedback (M = 3.84) and those receiving human feedback (M = 3.83). Qualitative analysis revealed notable differences across engagement dimensions. AI feedback enhanced accessibility, provided immediate clarification, created opportunities for iterative revision, and offered emotional comfort during writing. In contrast, human feedback was valued for its personalization, contextual understanding, and social interaction. The findings also showed that students often adopted hybrid engagement practices by combining AI and human feedback to support their writing development. The study contributes empirical evidence to the growing literature on AI-assisted writing instruction and concludes by questioning the simplistic narratives about AI replacing humans. It provides a clear explanation of students’ engagement and motivation in AI-assisted writing instruction and offers practical advice for developing feedback in EFL writing classes.

This study examines Vietnamese tertiary EFL teachers’ perceptions of assessment-relevant abilities and behaviours for digital intercultural communication competence (DICC) in virtual environments. Drawing on a teacher-only subsample of 197 participants from universities across Vietnam, the study used a 30-item questionnaire covering five dimensions: Intercultural communication readiness, contextual sensitivity, virtual interactional competence, reflective adaptability, and operational performance. Descriptive statistics and Cronbach’s alpha were used to analyse perceived importance, response variation, and internal consistency. Findings showed stronger endorsement of respect, openness, contextual sensitivity, polite and clear language, communicative adjustment, and culturally appropriate disagreement, while confidence, participation, explicit reflection, sensitive-topic management, and broad collaboration were relatively less salient or more variable. The results suggest that teachers conceptualise assessable virtual ICC primarily as relational, context-sensitive, adaptive, and behaviorally observable competence. The study highlights the need for contextually grounded, multimethod assessment criteria in Vietnamese tertiary EFL education and offers directions for future assessment framework development.

This study analyzes the Gen AI policies of three Philippine private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Metro Manila: Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), De la Salle University (DLSU), and Far Eastern University (FEU). It uses a combination of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Legitimation Strategies, and Framing Theory to examine how the technology is constructed and framed, and the power relations and governing structures built around it. The study found that Philippine HEIs discourses legitimize Gen AI integration through citing trusted authorities, emphasizing legal compliance, and moral appeals to religiosity/professionalism, among others. The framing constructs Gen AI tools as powerful but flawed tools that cannot be equal to or damage the capabilities of human students. Despite talking about Gen AI’s innovative capabilities and future roles, the policies are largely reactive and present-oriented, retaining traditional institutional authority and unequal power relations.

This qualitative study examines how the smog crisis is discursively constructed in selected Pakistani English newspapers from 2016 to 2025, drawing on ecocentric and anthropocentric worldviews and selected postulates from Stibbe’s (2021) framework for eco-critical discourse analysis. The findings reveal a shift in the discursive representation of the smog crisis from a primarily anthropocentric perspective on urban problems to a more ecocentric one, in which smog is linked to climate change, environmental degradation, and systemic ecological failure. Erasure of agency, managerial framing, and human-centered evaluations remain dominant across print media narratives. The study contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (11, 13, and 15) by highlighting gaps in messaging that may hinder policy action by sponsored institutions, policymakers, and media experts. The exclusion of national and local languages, as well as grassroots viewpoints, is a notable regional shortcoming and a limitation of this study that future research can address.

The present study investigates the structural dynamics of English-speaking anxiety among secondary school learners by validating and modelling the three-factor structure of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), adapted as the English Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (ELCAS). Data were collected from students in Grades 9-12 across selected schools in India. Independent samples t-tests and ANOVA were used to examine demographic variations in anxiety levels. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were employed to test the construct validity of the scale and analyse the relationships among communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, and test anxiety. A mediation model was also estimated to examine the mechanisms linking communication-related anxiety to performance-related anxiety. The findings confirm the three-factor structure of classroom anxiety and reveal significant demographic differences. Fear of negative evaluation mediates the relationship between communication apprehension and test anxiety. The study contributes to theoretical discussions on language anxiety and offers pedagogical insights for fostering supportive communication environments in multilingual ESL classrooms.