Can AI-generated culturally contextualized listening materials enhance agentic engagement? An exploratory study with Saudi EFL students

IntroductionPrevious research suggests that culturally relevant listening materials can enhance language learners' engagement. However, creating culturally contextualized listening materials requires considerable time and expertise, hindering many instructors from developing their own resources. Few studies have explored the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in overcoming these obstacles. Addressing this gap, the present study examined the impact of AI-generated culturally contextualized listening materials on five dimensions of learner engagement among English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Saudi Arabia.MethodsUsing a within-subjects design, 78 undergraduate students completed two AI-generated listening tasks: one relevant to Saudi culture and the other related to Western culture. Data were collected through validated post-listening questionnaires measuring behavioral, emotional, cognitive, agentic, and social engagement. Paired-samples t-tests revealed no significant differences in behavioral, social, emotional, or cognitive engagement between the two tasks.ResultsHowever, culturally relevant materials elicited significantly higher agentic engagement (t = 2.70, p = 0.008, d = 0.31), suggesting that culturally contextualized materials may specifically enhance learner autonomy and proactive participation. The effect was small (d = 0.31) and confined to a single engagement dimension; the remaining four dimensions showed no significant differences.DiscussionThe study therefore does not demonstrate a broad improvement in multidimensional engagement, and the design does not allow the agentic effect to be attributed unambiguously to cultural content as opposed to the AI-generated nature of the materials. These findings provide a preliminary indication of how AI-generated culturally situated content might inform EFL listening instruction.