Transforming the teaching of oral expression in English through AI: a critical reflection
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Abstract
The teaching of English oral expression has historically been marked by pedagogical limitations associated with traditional methodologies focused more on memorization than on communicative language use. In this context, artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as a transformative element that reconfigures opportunities for interaction, practice, and feedback in second language learning. Beyond the technological dimension, its incorporation raises pedagogical, ethical, and social questions that require rethinking the teacher’s role, student autonomy, and conditions of educational equity. This essay offers critical reflections on the potential of AI in teaching English oral expression and its challenges, arguing that its value lies not in technical innovation but in its capacity to reconstruct the relationships between teaching, learning, and pedagogical mediation. These reflections are grounded in a systematic qualitative documentary review (2019–2025) in Latin America, organized into categories such as personalization, fluency, motivation, anxiety, technological gap, and pedagogical innovation. Based on this, the essay articulates findings with contemporary pedagogical approaches, showing that the effectiveness of AI depends on its didactic integration and contextual factors. Its contribution lies in proposing a critical perspective that goes beyond instrumental use, integrating AI as a mediator of learning while highlighting key conditions for its meaningful implementation in the region
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