Artificial Intelligence in TESOL: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions

Alamdar, Fatemeh Sadat; Mohammadi, Abdol Hamid

doi:10.22080/iselt.2026.29862.1114

Artificial Intelligence in TESOL: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Education, Ministry of Education, Hormozgan Province, Iran

² Faculty Member, Bandar Abbas University of Medical Sciences, Hormozgan Province, Iran

10.22080/iselt.2026.29862.1114

Abstract

This systematic scoping review presents an investigation of how and in what ways artificial intelligence (AI) has impacted Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) during the period 2020 to 2025. This systematic scoping review is based on 110 peer-reviewed articles extracted from premier academic databases to synthesize both empirical, review-based, and critical literature to unearth broader trends in language education that have been led by or altered by AI. The findings reveal that there are four major areas that have presented new avenues. AI-based tutoring and feedback platforms have increased access to language practice. AI-based adaptive learning systems and analytics have made it possible to provide personalized learning options based on students’ language skills. Generative AI technology has assisted with maximizing flexibility in designing instructions. Moreover, AI-based mobile and multimodal platforms have also improved language learning access to English. On the other hand, the review points out that there are four clusters of challenges that are interrelated. These challenges include the risks of automated feedback systems to pedagogy due to a lack of grounding in theory; equity challenges posed by digital divides and algorithmic biases; challenges about the roles of teachers, their professional preparedness, and identity; and ethics of privacy, surveillance, and academic honesty. As pointed out by the review, the inclusion of AI in TESOL learning requires a human-centric focus. It is asserted that AI can make a significant difference to TESOL learning only if it is implemented through partnerships between TESOL teachers and AI systems.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by the Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages at the University of Mazandaran. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.

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