AI-mediated tools in primary English language education: a scoping review of pedagogical functions and teacher orchestration

AI-mediated tools have expanded from specialised systems to generative and multimodal platforms, but research in primary English language education remains fragmented by technology, educational stage, and evidence type. This scoping review followed JBI methodology and PRISMA-ScR. Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and ERIC were searched with a cut-off of 21 September 2026 without publication-year limits. The synthesis included 119 reports, comprising 72 core empirical reports on primary English education, 31 adjacent empirical reports from related settings and 16 contextual sources. The synthesis organised the evidence into five recurring pedagogical functions. These covered oral interaction and speaking rehearsal, pronunciation and oral-reading feedback, and writing, vocabulary, and feedback scaffolding. They also included reading and multimodal meaning-making and teacher-facing assessment and materials design. AI-mediated tools supported structured language practice and feedback-guided activity. Reported performance differences varied across tasks, comparison conditions and outcome measures. Delayed outcomes varied, and transfer findings were tied to the tested material or task. Cross-study analysis developed an evidence-informed conceptual framework linking pre-task design and in-task regulation with post-task interpretation and subsequent instructional adjustment. The educational value of AI appears to vary according to task design, support during use, and professional interpretation. The review offers a function-based framework for selecting tools and an orchestration framework for connecting AI-mediated activity with classroom teaching.