As large language models (LLMs) and LLM-powered tools such as ChatGPT enter language classrooms, teachers face new opportunities and challenges in adapting their pedagogical practices. This study adopts a duoethnographic approach to examine how two university English as a foreign language teachers in China made sense of, negotiated and integrated LLM-powered tools over time. Guided by the cognitive-socio-technical framework, the analysis traces their experiences across cognitive, workflow and organisational levels through tandem writing and dialogic conversations. Findings reveal a four-stage trajectory, from initial excitement and early experimentation to critical reflection and balanced integration, showing how enthusiasm gradually gave way to reflective, teacher-led engagement. While LLM-powered tools enhanced efficiency and creativity, they also generated tensions related to academic integrity, teacher identity and institutional support. The study highlights the situated and developmental nature of teachers’ engagement with LLM-powered tools and underscores the importance of teacher agency, ethical awareness and institutional dialogue in supporting context-sensitive integration in English language education.
AbdelhalimSMAlsahilAABaekC, et al. (2025) University EFL instructors’ engagement with generative AI: a cross-cultural analysis. System135: 103861.
2.
Al-khreshehMH (2024) Bridging technology and pedagogy from a global lens: teachers’ perspectives on integrating ChatGPT in English language teaching. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence6: 100218.
3.
AlmaneaM (2026) Instructors’ and learners’ perspectives on using ChatGPT in English as a foreign language courses and its effect on academic integrity. Computer Assisted Language Learning39(3): 512–537.
4.
AlmuhannaMA (2025) Teachers’ perspectives of integrating AI-powered technologies in K-12 education for creating customized learning materials and resources. Education and Information Technologies30: 10341–10371. DOI: 10.1007/s10639-024-13257-y.
5.
AsadiMEbadiSMohammadiL (2025) The impact of integrating ChatGPT with teachers’ feedback on EFL writing skills. Thinking Skills and Creativity56: 101766.
6.
AttardADingliA (2024) Empowering educators: leveraging large language models to streamline content creation in education. In: ICERI2024 Proceedings, Seville, Spain, pp. 1312–1321. DOI: 10.21125/iceri.2024.0400.
7.
BadenhorstDPMashabaneSTMoreleJX, et al. (2025) Does gartner’s hype cycle theory match practice? In: Human-Centred Technology Management for a Sustainable Future: Volume 3: Innovation Management for Sustainability and Resilience, Proceedings of the 33rd IAMOT Conference, Porto, Portugal, 2024. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, 333–342. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-72490-9_33.
8.
Baker-DoyleKJ (2011) The Networked Teacher: How New Teachers Build Social Networks for Professional Support. New York: Teachers College Press.
9.
BaoRChenJMaW (2025) Generative artificial intelligence in middle school classroom: a longitudinal exploration of teacher attitudes, evolving practices, and challenges. Education and Information Technologies30: 22677–22708. DOI: 10.1007/s10639-025-13667-6.
10.
BardachLBostwickKCFüttererT, et al. (2024) A meta-analysis on teachers’ growth mindset. Educational Psychology Review36(3): 1–35.
11.
BarnesMTourE (2026) Teachers’ use of generative AI: a ‘dirty little secret’?. Language and Education40(1): 24–39.
12.
Belda-MedinaJKokoškováV (2026) ChatGPT for language learning: assessing teacher candidates’ skills and perceptions using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching20(3): 446–461.
13.
BlakeCDewaeleJM (2023) Research on language teachers’ emotion labour and emotional well-being. A critical analysis and suggestions for further research. European Educational Researcher6(1): 43–59.
14.
BoryckiEMKushnirukAW (2010) Towards an integrative cognitive-socio-technical approach in health informatics: analyzing technology-induced error involving health information systems to improve patient safety. The Open Medical Informatics Journal4(1): 181–187.
15.
BoryckiEMKushnirukAW (2025) Cognitive-socio-technical theory: application and use in health informatics. In: GrayKLedermanR (eds) Research Handbook on Health Information Systems. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing, 45–59.
16.
BreaultRA (2016) Emerging issues in duoethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education29(6): 777–794.
17.
BurleighDBurmS (2022) Doing duoethnography: addressing essential methodological questions. International Journal of Qualitative Methods21: 16094069221140876.
18.
ButlerYGJiangS (2025) How do pre-service language teachers perceive generative AIs’ affordance?: A case of ChatGPT. System129: 103606.
19.
ChanCKYTsiLH (2024) Will generative AI replace teachers in higher education? A study of teacher and student perceptions. Studies in Educational Evaluation83: 101395.
20.
ConsoliS (2021) Understanding motivation through ecological research: The case of exploratory practice. In: SampsonRPinnerR (eds) Complexity Perspectives on Researching Language Learner and Teacher Psychology. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 120–136. DOI: 10.2307/jj.22730471.11.
21.
ConsoliS (2022) Life capital: an epistemic and methodological lens for TESOL research. TESOL Quarterly56(4): 1397–1409.
22.
DizonG (2026) ChatGPT as a tool for self-directed foreign language learning. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching20(2): 334–350.
23.
GaoLXZhangLJ (2020) Teacher learning in difficult times: examining foreign language teachers’ cognitions about online teaching to tide over COVID-19. Frontiers in Psychology11: 549653.
24.
GaoYWangQWangX (2024) Exploring EFL university teachers’ beliefs in integrating ChatGPT and other large language models in language education: a study in China. Asia Pacific Journal of Education44(1): 29–44.
25.
GuoZSidhuS (2024) From identity unbecoming to becoming: duoethnography of multilingual and multicultural English language teacher identities. System121: 103246.
26.
HeYBagwellD (2022) Supporting teachers working with English learners: engagement and impact of a professional development program. TESOL Journal13(1): e632.
27.
HeinekeAJ (2018) The invisible revolving door: the issue of teacher attrition in English language development classrooms in Arizona. Language Policy17(1): 77–98.
28.
HsuHP (2025) From programming to prompting: developing computational thinking through large language model-based generative artificial intelligence. TechTrends69: 485–506. DOI: 10.1007/s11528-025-01052-6.
29.
JangGRakhshandehrooM (2025) “I am feeling alive again”: transformative learning between two female transnational scholars of color through duoethnography. System130: 103631.
30.
JeonJLeeS (2023) Large language models in education: a focus on the complementary relationship between human teachers and ChatGPT. Education and Information Technologies28(12): 15873–15892.
31.
KarataşFAbediFYOzek GunyelF, et al. (2024) Incorporating AI in foreign language education: an investigation into ChatGPT’s effect on foreign language learners. Education and Information Technologies29(15): 19343–19366.
32.
KilduffMTsaiW (2003) Social Networks and Organizations. London: Sage Publications.
33.
KorsebergLElkenM (2025) Waiting for the revolution: how higher education institutions initially responded to ChatGPT. Higher Education89(4): 953–968.
34.
Korucu-KışS (2024) Zone of proximal creativity: an empirical study on EFL teachers’ use of ChatGPT for enhanced practice. Thinking Skills and Creativity54: 101639.
35.
LorenzEKrulatzATorgersenEN (2021) Embracing linguistic and cultural diversity in multilingual EAL classrooms: the impact of professional development on teacher beliefs and practice. Teaching and Teacher Education105(1): 1–14.
36.
MaQCrosthwaitePSunD, et al. (2024) Exploring ChatGPT literacy in language education: a global perspective and comprehensive approach. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence7: 100278.
37.
MohamedAM (2024) Exploring the potential of an AI-based chatbot (ChatGPT) in enhancing English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching: perceptions of EFL faculty members. Education and Information Technologies29(3): 3195–3217.
38.
Mohammad NezhadPStolzSA (2025) Unveiling teachers’ professional agency and decision-making in professional learning: the illusion of choice. Professional Development in Education51(6): 1067–1087.
39.
MolleD (2013) Facilitating professional development for teachers of English language learners. Teaching and Teacher Education29(1): 197–207.
40.
MoorhouseBL (2024) Beginning and first-year language teachers’ readiness for the generative AI age. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence6: 100201.
41.
MoorhouseBLKohnkeL (2024) The effects of generative AI on initial language teacher education: the perceptions of teacher educators. System122: 103290.
42.
MoorhouseBLWanYWuC, et al. (2024) Developing language teachers’ professional generative AI competence: an intervention study in an initial language teacher education course. System125: 103399.
43.
MoorhouseBLWanYWuC, et al. (2025) Generative AI tools and empowerment in L2 academic writing. System133: 1–13. DOI: 10.1016/j.system.2025.103779.
44.
NorrisJSawyerRD (2012) Towards a dialogic methodology. In: NorrisJSawyerRDLundD (eds) Duoethnography: Dialogic Methods for Social, Health, and Educational Research. New York: Routledge, 9–40.
45.
NugrohoAPutroNHPSSyamsiK, et al. (2024) Teacher’s experience using ChatGPT in language teaching: an exploratory study. Computers in the Schools: 1–20. DOI: 10.1080/07380569.2024.2441161.
46.
SadeghiKRichardsJC (2021) Professional development among English language teachers: challenges and recommendations for practice. Heliyon7(9): 1–7.
47.
SawyerRDNorrisJ (2012) Duoethnography. New York: Oxford University Press.
48.
SinghKBillingsleyBS (1998) Professional support and its effects on teachers’ commitment. The Journal of Educational Research91(4): 229–239.
49.
SloteM (2021) Taiji. Dao20(3): 365–375.
50.
SulisGBabicSMairitschA, et al. (2022) Retention and attrition in early-career foreign language teachers in Austria and the United Kingdom. The Modern Language Journal106(1): 155–171.
51.
ThomasLTuytensMDevosG, et al. (2019) Beginning teachers’ professional support: a mixed methods social network study. Teaching and Teacher Education83: 134–147.
52.
TziridesAOOZapataGKastaniaNP, et al. (2024) Combining human and artificial intelligence for enhanced AI literacy in higher education. Computers and Education Open6: 100184.
53.
WuY (2001) English Language teaching in China: trends and challenges. TESOL Quarterly35(1): 191–194.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
