Digital literacy, technophobia, and technophilia: Exploring their roles in artificial intelligence integration into English language education

The exponential development of artificial intelligence (AI) has introduced both opportunities and barriers in language education. While AI-driven tools offer significant potential to personalize instruction, their effective use depends on teachers’ digital literacy and their attitudes toward technology, that is, their technophobia and technophilia levels. This study investigates the impact of digital literacy, technophobia, and technophilia in shaping AI integration into English language education among Kurdish EFL university teachers. Employing a quantitative design with 92 teachers, the research utilized validated scales and non-parametric statistical tests to assess EFL teachers’ levels of digital literacy, technophobia, technophilia, and AI integration, as well as the interrelationship among the variables. The results revealed that teachers demonstrated low levels of technophobia, high levels of technophilia, and moderate levels of digital literacy and AI integration into teaching and assessment. Correlation analyses indicated that digital literacy and technophilia were positively associated with AI integration, whereas technophobia was negatively related. Furthermore, digital literacy was negatively correlated with technophobia and positively correlated with technophilia, suggesting that skill levels shape technology-related attitudes. Age demonstrated weak but significant associations, with older teachers showing slightly higher technophobia and lower technophilia and digital literacy, while no gender differences were observed. This implies that successful AI integration in language education can be strongly affected by teachers’ digital skills and affective orientations toward technology. These insights highlight the need for targeted professional development to foster both competence and positive attitudes toward AI-enhanced teaching.