A sociocultural perspective on the role of AI in shaping intercultural communicative competence in L2 education

As AI-powered tutors increasingly appear in language education, their role in shaping learners' communicative practices invites critical scrutiny. Grounded in Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory and its application to L2 development, this paper conceptualises AI not as a neutral educational tool but as a sociocultural mediator that co-constructs meaning within socially situated learning environments. Drawing on the concept of praxis and Byram's model of intercultural communicative competence, it argues that ‘quasi-social interactions’ with AI may create new, though pedagogically and ethically complex, opportunities for intercultural learning. The paper proposes a reconceptualisation of AI-mediated interaction and calls for pedagogical frameworks that extend sociocultural principles.