AI-induced emotions in L2 education: Exploring EFL students’ perceived emotions and regulation strategies

Abstract

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) has recently gained increasing attention among second language (L2) researchers. However, the emotional influences of AI-mediated instruction on English as a foreign language (EFL) students have remained an unaddressed line of research. To fill this lacuna, the present study took a qualitative approach to unveil the perceived emotions of a sample of 498 Chinese EFL learners and their corresponding emotional regulation strategies in AI-mediated L2 education. An open-ended questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were used to glean the data. The results of MAXQDA analysis evinced that Chinese EFL learners had experienced a wide spectrum of positive and negative emotions in light of AI-based L2 education. Moreover, it was found that the participants took advantage of different antecedent-focused and response-focused strategies to regulate their AI-induced emotions. The study discusses the implications of AI-based L2 education and calls for further research on the linkage of AI and L2 emotions.