Integrating structured questioning and AI-mediated inquiry in SLA: a pedagogical innovation in EFL teacher education

This innovation-in-practice article presents a novel pedagogical intervention in an English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher education course on second language acquisition (SLA). Given the abstract and interdisciplinary nature of SLA, many preservice teachers struggle with engagement and conceptual understanding. To address these challenges, this pedagogical intervention implemented a structured questioning strategy through the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), enabling students to generate and refine inquiry-driven questions, followed by artificial intelligence (AI)-mediated exploration to investigate SLA theories in greater depth. The primary objectives of this intervention were to enhance student engagement and foster intellectual curiosity by encouraging questioning and exploration of SLA theories and concepts through generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI). The intervention consisted of three interrelated steps: (a) delivering lectures on key SLA concepts and theories; (b) generating questions using the QFT method; and (c) conducting AI-mediated inquiry. The combination of QFT and Gen-AI-supported inquiry provided students with opportunities to engage more deeply with SLA concepts while honing their questioning and analytical skills. However, some challenges emerged, including students’ varying levels of proficiency in using AI tools and difficulties in critically assessing AI-generated information. To address these issues, future implementations of this pedagogical approach should incorporate explicit AI literacy training and a structured peer-review mechanism. Beyond its immediate instructional benefits, this intervention also opens avenues for further research, such as the integration of AI to foster active learning and critical engagement in EFL teacher education, as well as the role of QFT in creating spaces for dialogic pedagogy in teacher preparation.