Investigating EFL Teachers’Acceptance of AI Academic Tools:

Abstract

The integration of AI academic tools in EFL teaching presents a significant advancement, creating new opportunities alongside certain challenges. While these tools offer potential benefits for enhancing teaching practices, their acceptance and actual usage by EFL teachers remain uncertain. The present study aims to explore the acceptance of AI academic tools among EFL teachers at the University of Guelma-English Department through the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework. This research addresses a significant gap in the literature regarding the application of TAM in the context of AI-enhanced language teaching, offering valuable implications for educational institutions. Thus, the study adopts a quantitative descriptive research design, employing a structured questionnaire based on TAM constructs to collect data. It was administered to a sample of 24 EFL teachers. The findings confirm the research hypothesis that perceived ease of use influences perceived usefulness. However, the hypotheses that perceived ease of use influences behavioral intention, and that perceived usefulness influences behavioral intention, were partially supported. Despite the limitations encountered in this study, several recommendations are provided to support the effective integration of AI tools in EFL teaching to offer guidance for future research in this field.