English Proficiency and Artificial Intelligence Literacy: How Language Level Shapes Students’ Engagement with AI

This study aimed to investigate the attitudes and practices of EFL students when using Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools in an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. To achieve this objective, a quasi-experimental design was used to examine students’ perceptions of harnessing AI before and after a seven-week intervention involving the integration of AI-led learning activities in an English for Business course. A total of 24 second-year students, majoring in Business Administration at a public vocational higher education institution in Indonesia, were recruited to participate in this study. Furthermore, data were collected from the students through Google Forms and the course lecturer through an interview. The datasets included responses from the pre-test and post-test, students’ accounts of their experiences in AI-mediated learning in the ESP course, and the interview transcript. The data were subsequently analyzed using mixed methods, paired-sample t-tests were conducted in R to assess learning gains, and thematic analysis was carried out to interpret students and teacher perspectives. The results showed that the intervention significantly improved practical AI literacy skills, particularly in prompt engineering and the critical adaptation of AI-generated text. However, broader attitudes toward AI remained unchanged during the study time frame. The results emphasized both the potential and the limits of short-term AI integration into the ESP course. The study also identified some implications for curriculum design and institutional policy, emphasizing the importance of embedding explicit AI literacy instruction in the context.