Cognitive Re-Embodiment of AI in EFL Learning: Shifting from Abstract Tools to Interactive Learning Forces

Abstract

The paper examines the cognitive dilemma that exists between the embodied human cognition and disembodied nature of artificial intelligence (AI) in English as a foreign language education. While most current studies in computer-assisted language learning have been quantitative in nature, this study takes a qualitative, phenomenological perspective to examine the processes that learners go through when interpreting and parsing the AI-driven digital space. The study, based on metaphor-led discourse analysis of the students’ narratives at the university, shows that three main image schemas exist in the conceptual system of the students as follows: Container, Path, and Force. A descriptive categorical analysis was used to explore the distribution of image schemas in each coded interaction state (Flow and Stagnation). Due to the nested design of multiple-metaphor mentions within one participant, the findings indicated patterns of association between metaphoric schemas and learners’ reported interaction experiences, but their interpretations were made with caution. The results also indicate that learners experience cognitive re-embodiment in mapping abstract algorithmic interactions onto the concrete constraints of space, motion, and experiences of effort and resistance. These metaphorical representations can be important in bridging the embodied experience of humans and the virtual experience mediated by AI. The paper suggests a cognitively congruent way of designing AI that sets a new trend in the development of more natural and humanistic methods of language learning that are not only more cognitively compatible with the human learner but also more functional.

Received: 8 May 2026 | Revised: 3 August 2026 | Accepted: 30 August 2026

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

Data available on request from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author Contribution Statement

Zein Bassam Bani Younes: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Project administration. Majid Mohammad Al-Khataybeh: Conceptualization, Validation, Resources, Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Nesreen Bassam Friehat: Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – review & editing. Abeer Hadi Salih: Validation, Investigation, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. KiranGul: Investigation, Writing – review & editing.