AI ASSISTANTS AS DIALOGUE PRACTICE PARTNERS: EXPERIENCE OF APPLICATION IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

The growing availability of large language model (LLM)-based conversational tools – most notably ChatGPT and specialised derivatives – has introduced a genuinely transformative resource into English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogy. This article offers a theoretically grounded and empirically informed synthesis of current knowledge concerning the use of AI assistants as dialogue practice partners in EFL settings. Drawing on peer-reviewed research published primarily between 2022 and 2025, the paper examines three dimensions of AI-assisted dialogue practice: its theoretical foundations in sociocultural learning theory and communicative language teaching; its documented effects on foreign language speaking anxiety, willingness to communicate, oral fluency, and learner autonomy; and the critical pedagogical limitations that must be addressed for responsible integration. The article argues that AI dialogue partners, deployed purposefully within a teacher-guided framework, offer meaningful supplementary communicative practice – particularly in contexts, such as Uzbekistan and broader Central Asia, where learners have structurally limited access to authentic English interaction. The paper concludes with evidence-based recommendations for integrating AI dialogue tools into EFL speaking instruction without displacing the irreducibly human dimensions of communicative language development.