HUMAN INTERACTION IN THE AGE OF AI: CONFIDENCE AND SPEAKING PERFORMANCE IN INTERNATIONALISED HIGHER EDUCATION
HUMAN INTERACTION IN THE AGE OF AI: CONFIDENCE AND SPEAKING PERFORMANCE IN INTERNATIONALISED HIGHER EDUCATION

Summary/Abstract: The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in Higher Education has transformed how students prepare for speaking tasks, offering support in idea generation, vocabulary development, and rehearsal. However, the growing reliance on AI-assisted preparation raises important questions about the socio-affective dimensions of speaking performance. This conceptual paper argues that while AI can enhance linguistic readiness, it cannot replace the human processes through which confidence, interactional competence, and emotional presence are developed. Drawing on research in communicative competence, foreign language anxiety, willingness to communicate, and interactional competence, the paper reconceptualises speaking as performance rather than perfection. It identifies five dimensions of speaking that remain fundamentally human: spontaneity, turn-taking, emotional presence, authentic interaction, and the management of communication breakdowns. The paper concludes by outlining pedagogical implications for increasingly internationalised Higher Education contexts, where fostering confident, interactionally competent speakers remains a distinctly human responsibility.

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