Generative AI-Mediated Speaking Practice and Intercultural Communicative Competence in EFL Contexts: A Scoping Review of the Literature (2022-2026)

Speaking is widely regarded as the most challenging skill for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has rapidly become a prominent resource for oral practice, while a parallel but largely separate strand of research has examined how artificial intelligence (AI)-mediated tools contribute to intercultural communicative competence (ICC). This scoping review maps the evidence base at the intersection of GenAI-mediated speaking practice, oral fluency and ICC, with particular attention to the underrepresented Vietnamese EFL context. Following a PRISMA-ScR-informed approach, 17 empirical and review studies (2022-2026) were thematically synthesized into four clusters, namely GenAI and oral fluency, GenAI and affective-communicative outcomes, AI-mediated ICC and Vietnam-specific studies, alongside three foundational theoretical works. Findings show that GenAI-mediated speaking practice consistently improves short-term fluency, willingness to communicate and speaking anxiety; that AI-mediated interaction can support ICC development when paired with reflective, culturally responsive pedagogy, though this evidence remains preliminary; and that the Vietnamese literature, while fast-growing, is small and methodologically narrow, with no study yet examining ICC outcomes. Critically, no identified study combines a longitudinal design with simultaneous measurement of oral fluency and ICC within a single GenAI-mediated speaking intervention, opening a worthwhile direction for doctoral-level research. This review argues for such an integrated research agenda, situates it within Sociocultural Theory, the Interaction Hypothesis and Byram's ICC model and outlines its theoretical, methodological and pedagogical implications for the Vietnamese higher-education context.