Original title: Cultural immersion and AI-supported instruction: international students’ Chinese as a foreign language enjoyment
The study looks at international students taking an AI-supported course about Chinese culture. Students answered a questionnaire, and some also described their experiences in interviews. They reported moderately high enjoyment, and enjoyment linked to the teacher, the learners, and the learning environment tended to rise together. Students connected enjoyment with cultural immersion and feeling capable, but unclear AI feedback sometimes caused frustration.
Imagine learning to cook a dish from another country with a teacher and a kitchen guide. It is hard to enjoy the lesson if you do not understand what to do, feel unable to improve, or feel left out. In this paper, learning the dish stands for learning Chinese through cultural activities, while the teacher and guide stand for human teaching and AI support. When those parts help students feel capable and connected, enjoyment grows; confusing guidance can instead cause doubt.
International students learning Chinese may enjoy lessons more when cultural experiences and AI-supported teaching work together. The study also points to a practical risk: feedback that is hard to understand can leave learners frustrated or unsure of themselves.
The abstract reports one course, questionnaire responses from 82 students, and interviews with eight. It does not establish that AI or cultural immersion caused higher enjoyment, nor does it show whether the findings apply to other courses or groups of learners. It also notes that unclear AI feedback could cause frustration or self-doubt.
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Cultural immersion and AI-supported instruction: international students’ Chinese as a foreign language enjoyment — Junfeng Jiao, Meilan Liu — Frontiers in Psychology — doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1814709
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.