The Influence of AI-Driven Learning on EFL Students’ Engagement, Emotional Regulation and Well-Being: A Review of Literature

The adoption of AI-driven chatbots has substantially influenced language teaching pedagogies and transformed the educational landscape in terms of providing affective support to EFL students to a great extent. Accordingly, research on emotional AI in EFL education is characterized by the deployment of AI applications to provide emotional support for learners and evaluate the emotional impacts of AI through their affective consequences. This study explores the studies conducted about the role of AI-enhanced social-emotional learning frameworks in promoting engagement and emotional well-being in EFL contexts. In other words, the principal objective of this research is to analyze the effects of integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools into English language pedagogy in terms of facilitating student engagement and fostering their emotional well-being. The scholarly studies underscore the efficacy of AI-enhanced social-emotional learning in heightening student engagement and emotional well-being by tailoring learning to learners’ own profiles (Zong& Yang, 2025). A key function of these AI systems is the cultivation of measurable improvements in emotional regulation, cognitive engagement, and higher academic performance. In addition, AI-powered corrective and motivational elements significantly strengthened EFL learners' self-reflective practices, with increased confidence in expressing original ideas, and enjoyment in productive language skills (He, Abbasi & He, 2025). In this regard, emotional AI applications in EFL settings have been utilized in EFL contexts, where they have shown considerable efficacy on the behavioral, cognitive, and affective dimensions of student engagement. The most important and functional affordances of AI tools in English language pedagogy include the delivery of instructional guidance, creating customized content, and offering the capacity for emotion analysis (Liu et al., 2024). This paper will conclude by analyzing the potential factors that shape the adoption and effectiveness of emotional AI technologies in EFL educational contexts.