Artificial Intelligence Tool Adoption for Teachers’ Self-Regulated Learning: A Qualitative Study of In-Service Language Teachers

English language teaching is an area that faces many changes during the digital transformation of education. The current trajectory in the professional development (PD) models is that of progressively more independent and technologically aided PD models. The current study focused on the perspectives and practices of the in-service English language teachers in Türkiye regarding the artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools to inform their self-regulated (SRL) and their PD. With the advent of AI platforms such as ChatGPT, and Gemini, the agents of professional learning, personal learning, reflection, and co-creation of content have seen a revolution in the way teachers interact with these agents now. However, despite the increasing international zeal over using AI in education, there is scant empirical literature that broadly covers the adoption of AI among in-service language teachers in practice in Türkiye. Using a unified conceptual framework of SRL, a qualitative research design was employed to explore the motivations, perceived benefits including the impediments and sociocultural dynamics that influence in-service English language teachers’ SRL with AI tools. The data, collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers, were analyzed using the reflexive thematic analysis method. Synthesized findings presented in clusters and core dimensions indicated: (a) AI as a scaffolding tool for metacognitive regulation, (b) efficiency versus over-reliance, and (c) the role of informal peer networks as a mediator in the absence of formal institutional support. The findings generated within the study add to the emerging understanding of the ecology of teacher learning and implications of emerging technologies in local contexts of ELT.