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Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Special Issue on CALL Vol. 17, No.12. July 2026 Pp.213-236
Department of English Language and Culture, Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia, Dražovská 4, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia
Department of English Language and Culture, Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia, Dražovská 4, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia
Department of English Language and Culture, Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia, Dražovská 4, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia
This study addresses whether Generation Z pre-service teachers of English as a Foreign Language are prepared to deliver artificial intelligence-supported online instruction. The main aim is to evaluate this preparedness through the lens of the Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge framework. The significance of the study lies in identifying areas of competence that English language teacher education programmes should prioritise to better prepare future teachers for artificial intelligence-supported online language teaching. Drawing on a mixed-methods case study, the research analyses 22 Slovak master’s students enrolled in a distance-teaching methodology course, in which they were required to use at least one artificial intelligence-driven tool. Data were corroborated from lesson observations and video recordings and analysed using qualitative content analysis aligned with the three domains: technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge. The findings indicate that most participants demonstrated moderate preparedness, while only a minority achieved high-level integrated competence, and a similar proportion showed low preparedness. Although students were generally able to operate artificial intelligence tools, pedagogical integration and language-focused instructional design were often weak. In particular, scaffolding, feedback, and explicit language-learning objectives were frequently underdeveloped. The results suggest that digital nativeness does not guarantee the pedagogically meaningful use of artificial intelligence and highlight the need to integrate artificial intelligence pedagogy, grounded in the Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge framework, into English as a Foreign Language teacher education.
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Zuzana Sándorová is an Associate Professor at the Department of English Language and Culture, at the Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. Her specialization includes developing intercultural communicative competencies of future English teachers and teaching English as a foreign language online. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8738-4737
Veronika Vrábelová is a full-time PhD student in the Didactics of English Language and Literature study programme at the Department of English Language and Culture, at the Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. Her doctoral dissertation focuses on AI integration in pre-service teachers’ online micro-teaching. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5575-9528
Zdena Kráľová is a Professor of Language Pedagogy at the Department of English Language and Culture at the Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, specializing in psychological aspects of foreign language learning. Her current research interests focus on AI-supported brain-friendly EFL pronunciation learning. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6900-9992