The Role of Multimodal AI Technologies in EFL Students’ Perceived Positive and Negative Achievement Emotions: An Existential Positive Psychology (EPP) Perspective

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Ali Derakhshan 1
Yujong Park 2
1 Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran
2 Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language and Literature, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea
10.48311/lrr.2025.118514.83043
Abstract
Various aspects of English as a foreign language (EFL) education are affected by the adopting of artificial intelligence (AI) tools with both monomodal and multimodal capacities. However, the emotional consequences of AI-mediated second/foreign language (L2) education remain underexplored in the existing literature. To address this gap, the current experimental study drew on the principles of existential positive psychology (EPP) to explore the role of multimodal AI technologies in shaping students’ positive and negative achievement emotions. A total of 82 Iranian EFL students were assigned to a control (n = 41) and an experimental group (n = 41) and completed a validated achievement emotions questionnaire a questionnaire twice (pretest and posttest). Students in the experimental group went through a multimodal AI-mediated instructional intervention, while their peers in the control group received conventional teacher-fronted instruction. The results of analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that multimodal AI-mediated instruction had a statistically significant impact on EFL students’ achievement emotions. Specifically, there were significant improvements in learners’ positive emotions, while their negative emotions significantly decreased after the intervention. Interpreted through an EPP lens, these findings suggest that engagement with multimodal AI technologies may simultaneously foster emotional flourishing and alleviate emotionally adverse experiences in EFL learning contexts. The study foregrounds often-overlooked emotional dimension of AI-mediated L2 education and provides theoretical and pedagogical implications pertaining to multimodal AI adoption by students and teachers in EFL contexts

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