Pre-service elementary and secondary teachers’ acceptance of AI-based ELT tools: Predictors of behavioral intention and group differences

The present study investigatedwhether pre-service elementary and secondary English teachers differ in theircompetence in using artificial intelligence(AI)-based English language teaching tools,perceived usefulness, trust, and behavioral intention. It also examined to what extentcompetence, perceived usefulness, and trust predict behavioral intention and whetherthese predictive relationships differ across groups. In addition, it explored groupdifferences in expectations and concerns. A survey questionnaire was developed basedon the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis 1989), extended with items on competence,expectations, and concerns, and subsequently administered to 126 pre-service teachersin Korea. The results showed that competence was the only factor with a significantgroup difference, with secondary-level participants reporting higher levels than theirelementary counterparts. Perceived usefulness emerged as the only significant predictorof behavioral intention, while competence and trust did not significantly contribute,and these predictive relationships did not differ across groups. Expectations were broadlypositive and comparable across groups, while concerns were significantly higher amongpre-service secondary teachers. Overall, the findings suggest that adoption mechanismsare largely shared, with perceived usefulness playing a central role. Furthermore, theresults imply that teacher education should link practice opportunities to pedagogicalusefulness while encouraging critical discussions of ethical and pedagogical concernsrelated to AI-based English language teaching tools.