Divergent Role of AI in Social Development: A Comparative Study of Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions in Online and Physical Classrooms

This study addresses a critical gap in understanding Artificial Intelligence (AI)'s role in education by empirically investigating and comparing the distinct perceptions of teachers and students regarding AI's role in a comprehensive range of social development aspects in both online and physical classroom settings. In particular, we evaluated how teachers utilize AI in their teaching methods, namely, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), the Direct Method (DL), Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), and Community Language Learning (CLL), and students in their learning methods, namely, Communicative Learning (CL), Immersive Learning (IL), Task-Based Collaborative Learning (TBCL), Content Integrated Learning (CIL), and Community-Based Reflective Learning (CBRL), to configure their social development. We interviewed 20 teachers (10 from online and 10 from physical classes) and 40 students (20 from online and 20 from physical classes) and evaluated their perceptions regarding AI usage in teaching and learning methods towards social development. The results of our study are convincing enough to suggest that both teachers and students perceive AI usage helpful in teaching models; however, variation in their perception is observed. Notably, the divergence in the perception of teachers and students with regard to AI's role is a key observation of this study. For instance, the teachers perceived AI as a highly effective tool in fostering community building during online sessions; in contrast, the students viewed its role as being moderately effective. Likewise, the teachers perceived AI's role as a critical tool in traditional classrooms rather than in virtual ones, whereas the students associated AI with online learning-in terms of digital tools, learning opportunities, and critical discussion-by rating its impact on social confidence and verbal-nonverbal communications significantly more strongly in physical settings. On the contrary, the teachers emphasized AI's relevance to their self-confidence, emotional intelligence, and community engagement in online teaching platforms; yet, the ratings dropped to moderate in physical contexts. The students' perceptions in this regard matched those of the teachers, as they also emphasized the importance of social confidence and overall well-being in physical classrooms, where the teachers' assessment was comparatively low. These patterns provide analytical insights that are decisively valuable for designing AI-integrated pedagogical models that support social development within the educational environments.