Does AI Help EFL Learners? A Scoping Review of Effectiveness, Engagement, and Ethics Across 131 Scopus-Indexed Studies

This scoping review maps 131 Scopus-indexed publications (2022–2026) examining AI-mediated English language teaching (ELT). Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines (Page et al., 2021), we searched Scopus and analyzed retrieved records through bibliometric analysis, thematic synthesis, and keyword co-occurrence mapping. Publication volume grew from one article in 2022 to 70 in 2025, a trajectory driven by the emergence of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. Thematic analysis identified four clusters: (1) effectiveness of AI interventions across vocabulary, writing, and speaking skills; (2) engagement outcomes encompassing motivation, anxiety reduction, and foreign language enjoyment; (3) the diversity of AI tools spanning chatbots, intelligent tutoring systems, and large language models; and (4) ethical concerns including academic integrity, AI dependency, and algorithmic bias. Geographic analysis revealed a pronounced concentration in Asia-Pacific contexts, with China accounting for 60 publications (45.8%). Given the breadth of topics and the heterogeneity of study designs across the corpus, this review adopts a scoping rather than systematic synthesis approach, mapping the landscape of current research rather than producing definitive effect estimates. The evidence base suggests promising but context-dependent effectiveness for discrete language skills and predominantly positive engagement outcomes; however, most primary studies were conducted in 2022–2024 and should be read as reflecting AI capabilities of that period rather than the current generation of tools. Significant gaps remain in longitudinal research, theory-driven investigation, and empirical examination of ethical issues.