Libyan EFL Students' Perceptions and Challenges of Utilizing ChatGPT Voice Chat for Oral Practice

This study investigated Libyan English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ perceptions, attitudes, benefits, and challenges regarding the use of ChatGPT’s voice chat feature for speaking practice. Framed within Vygotsky’s Social Interactionism Theory and the Zone of Proximal Development, the research addressed geographical and methodological gaps by examining interactive communicative competence in a Libyan tertiary context. A mixed-methods survey design was used to gather data from a purposive sample of 32 undergraduate and postgraduate EFL students at the University of Tripoli via an online questionnaire comprising Likert-scale and open-ended items.

The findings revealed significantly positive attitudes toward the AI tool; 45.16% of participants agreed that ChatGPT voice chat improved their overall speaking skills, noting advancements in pronunciation (38.71%), vocabulary (45.16%), and confidence (35.48%). Qualitative analysis confirmed that the chatbot provided a safe, judgment-free environment that reduced anxiety and the fear of making mistakes. However, notable challenges emerged, including internet connectivity issues, a lack of conversational realism, and shallow feedback compared to human interaction. Despite sample-size limitations and the absence of an experimental design, this study underscores the pedagogical potential of integrating generative AI voice tools to support authentic language production.