The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Virtual Oral Tutoring APPs on Chinese Youth’s Anxiety in Oral English learning——Interview Research Based on Users of Artificial Intelligence Speaking Tutoring APPs

Abstract

Foreign language learning anxiety is a topic that has long been scrutinized, and the anxiety present in foreign language learning has been studied to guide foreign language teaching as well as the setting of foreign language education scenarios. Today we have entered an artificial intelligence era, with the release of ChatGPT and the wide application of Big Language Modeling AI technology, in which a wide variety of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) oral tutoring APPs have emerged. Due to the relatively short development time of the technology of Great Language Modeling, the foreign language training model for AI foreign language oral coaches built on the basis of this technology is still in the preliminary development stage, and there is less research on the improvement of foreign language learning sentiments brought about by GAI.What is the foreign language learning method provided by AI coaches helpful for foreign language learning? Does it alleviate foreign language learning anxiety? It has become a topic worthy of research.

This study adopts the research method of semi-structured interviews to interview 20 Chinese college students and analyze the data text of the interviews. This study is based on the control value theory for questionnaire design and research, and in terms of control factors, it is found that using GAI Oral Coach to learn a foreign language is more controllable, and it can alleviate the learners' anxiety in many aspects of foreign language communication and exchange, such as: communicative anxiety, situational anxiety, oral anxiety, listening anxiety, and cognitive anxiety. In terms of value factors, due to the prerequisites of the control factors, the use of GAI oral coaching helped learners to significantly increase their sense of self-efficacy and emotional comfort, be more likely to feel a mood of accomplishment, and students to give high expectations in terms of future performance improvement. The role of emotional accompaniment and support found in this study was unanticipated before the study, and GAI oral coaches, in addition to helping to alleviate anxiety, can also provide positive emotional value through caring, companionship, and communication. Of course, there are two sides to everything, especially at the stage when GAI is just emerging, and there are still many imperfections to be explored, such as ethics, cognitive-emotional, and value bias. The findings in this paper help to understand how AI technology helps foreign language learning sentiments, and provide support for subsequent related research on AI accompanying foreign language learning.