AI literacy and English speaking performance among Chinese university students: The mediating role of academic emotions.

From a positive psychology perspective, this study explores the relationships among AI literacy, academic emotions, and English speaking performance among Chinese university students, with a particular focus on the mediating roles of speaking enjoyment and speaking anxiety. A total of 253 non-English-major freshmen and sophomores participated in the study. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires and speaking tasks and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicate that students demonstrated relatively high levels of AI literacy and speaking enjoyment, whereas their speaking anxiety and English speaking performance remained at relatively lower levels. AI literacy was found to be a significant positive statistical predictor of English speaking performance. In addition, speaking enjoyment and speaking anxiety partially mediated this relationship in positive and negative directions, respectively. These statistical predictive findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the interconnections among technological literacy, academic emotions, and language performance, and provide empirical support for AI-enhanced language pedagogy and research on academic emotions.