L2 Outsourcing: Chinese International Students' Generative AI Use as an Informal Digital English Practice in the UK

ABSTRACT This research examines how Generative AI (GenAI) assists Chinese international students (ChISs) in the United Kingdom in achieving desired academic performance within the informal digital learning of English (IDLE) framework for overcoming language barriers. Furthermore, we adopt Pennycook's posthumanist approach for the discussion of ChISs' behavioural interaction with the objective materiality of GenAI. With focus group interviews with 20 voluntary ChISs, this study conducted thematic analysis with supporting dialogues excavated with conversational discourse analysis, which suggested that GenAI is a widely used and effective tool for ChISs to overcome language barriers in academic settings by delegating their language needs to GenAI technology. Drawing strength from research in GenAI‐mediated IDLE and under the framework of Pennycook's posthumanist approach, the discussion focuses on the authentic conduct and attitudes of students' low‐quality IDLE practices and identifies the second language outsourcing phenomenon explaining international students' choice of gaining better grades without improving their efforts. The phenomenon's potential prevalence and its implications for policy‐makers and English educators are also discussed.