Empowering Language Acquisition through Artificial Intelligence

This monograph examines the integration of Artificial Intelligence into Foreign Language Acquisition and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) instruction, offering learners, educators and researchers practical frameworks for implementation. Drawing from the Erasmus+ ELITE-AI project, four European universities collaborated to produce this comprehensive resource combining recent scholarly research, a systematized database of over 100 AI tools, and interactive lesson plans designed for diverse classroom contexts.The volume addresses AI's transformative potential while contemplating ethical considerations, pedagogical challenges, and implementation strategies. Chapters progress from theoretical foundations to skills-based approaches, covering activities enhanced by AI technologies throughout different lesson stages and teaching, learning and assessing processes. Specific emphasis is placed on specialized vocabulary acquisition and personalized learning experiences that meet ESP learners' domain-specific needs.Designed for language educators, applied linguistics researchers, and curriculum developers, this work bridges theory and practice by providing practical strategies for responsible AI integration. The resource supports both novice and experienced practitioners exploring the evolving landscape of technology-enhanced language education across international contexts.

The authors are established scholars in applied linguistics and language education across European institutions: from Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania, Andreea Nechifor specializes in pragmatics, discourse analysis, foreign language acquisition, ESP, natural language processing, gamification and AI in language learning, with over 40 publications in these fields, and Cristina Dimulescu focuses on applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, and AI-supported language education; from the University of Maribor, Slovenia, Mojca Kompara Lukančič concentrates on lexicography, bilingualism, and ESP with over 40 papers, 10 book chapters, and 5 monographs published, and Tilen Smajla studies early language learning, content and language integrated learning, and digitally enhanced education, with more than 60 works authored; from the University of Udine, Italy, Francesco Costantini researches Romance syntax and semantics, Germanic minority languages, sociolinguistics, and historical linguistics, and Eleonora Gallitelli investigates specialized and literary translations and English tourism discourse, with over 40 publications in these domains; from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, Emanuela Li Destri works on sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, and computational linguistics; from Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Croatia, Iva Blažević specializes in kinesiology, with over 80 papers, 10 edited volumes, and 7 book chapters written, and Jelena Gugić researches contrastive linguistics through Language Management Theory.