AI-Enhanced EFL Teaching: Evidence from an Ecuadorian Public High School

This study examines EFL teachers' perceptions of artificial intelligence (AI) integration in a public secondary school in Santa Elena, Ecuador, employing a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design. Phase 1 consists of a systematic scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) synthesizing 21 peer-reviewed studies published between 2020 and 2025 on AI-enhanced EFL teaching, with emphasis on resource-constrained and Latin American contexts. Phase 2 reports descriptive findings from the EFL Teachers' Perceptions of AI Integration Survey (ETPAIS), a researcher-designed 24-item Likert instrument administered to all eight EFL teachers at the Unidad Educativa Otto Arosemena Gómez (N = 8; census sampling). Results reveal that teachers hold positive attitudes toward AI as a complementary pedagogical tool (D2: M = 4.13) but perceive institutional infrastructure as substantially inadequate for implementation (D3: M = 2.31). Professional development emerged as the most urgently demanded facilitating condition (Item 22: M = 4.63). These findings converge with international evidence regarding positive teacher conceptualizations of AI while diverging significantly regarding infrastructure sufficiency, confirming that adoption strategies derived from well-resourced contexts are not directly transferable to Ecuadorian public secondary education. Implications for educational policy and teacher training are discussed.