The Future of Education

English proficiency has become mandatory for current Moroccan English as Foreign Language (EFL) graduates to obtain their Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. degrees. Latest research studies on the field of education showed that, despite the great efforts made by their language educators, it was found that a significant number of Moroccan university students from different departments still find it hard to communicate effectively in English in some national and international professional settings.  Given this concern, this work aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Artificial Intelligent (AI) tools –as a speaking tutor- in enhancing communicative competence among n=78 EFL third-year Economic students from Moulay Ismail university. To achieve this goal, speaking exams, classroom observations and interviews research designs were used to collect the data. Obtained results on the integration of AI in English language communication indicated a positive significant improvement not only in developing students’ pronunciation, self-confidence, learning motivation, learners’ autonomy, listening abilities, but also in reducing communication anxiety among the participants of this study. The findings suggested that the incorporation of AI models could be effective in developing the communicative competence of Moroccan English as foreign language learners.

Keywords: AI, effectiveness, communicative competence, EFL students, Department of Economics.