Beyond Reading Strategies: Reconceptualising English Academic Reading in AI-Augmented Language Learning Environments

Academic reading is traditionally conceptualised as a process of constructing meaning through the application of reading strategies, metacognitive regulation, and self-regulated learning. While these perspectives have substantially advanced understanding of how learners comprehend academic texts, they provide only a partial explanation of how reading unfolds in current the AI-supported learning environments. As they increasingly engage with artificial intelligence (AI), learners are required not only to understand academic texts but also to make continuous strategic decisions regarding whether AI assistance is necessary, how AI-generated information should be evaluated, when alternative sources should be referred, and when sufficient comprehension has been achieved. These decisions shape the reading processes; however, they remain largely under-theorised within English education. This paper argues that while academic reading strategies remain fundamental to English academic reading, greater theoretical attention to learners' strategic decision-making could provide a more comprehensive understanding of the reading process in AI-augmented learning environments specifically for flipped learning classrooms. Although current perspectives have progressive understanding of how learners apply reading strategies, comparatively, less attention has been given to clarify how learners make strategic decisions in selecting, regulating, adapting, and evaluating those strategies during academic reading. Informed by empirical insights from a completed qualitative study involving Malaysian TESL pre-university students and integrating Simon's Bounded Rationality (1957), Janis and Mann's Conflict Theory of Decision-Making (1977), Flavell's Model of Metacognition (1979), and principles of flipped learning, this conceptual paper develops an integrated perspective that reconceptualises English academic reading as a dynamic process of strategic decision-making. Within this perspective, AI is positioned not as the central agent of learning but as one of several cognitive resources that learners deliberately employ to achieve academic reading goals. By shifting the analytical focus from strategy use to strategic decision-making, this paper extends existing conceptualisations of English academic reading and offers a coherent theoretical perspective for understanding learner behaviour in AI-supported environments. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of this perspective for future theory development, empirical research, instructional design, and the responsible integration of AI into English language education.

AI-augmented reading, flipped classroom approach, ESL learners

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