Xinyu Liu, Yunhua Deng
The role of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in education has received a surge of scholarly attention in the past decade. However, the emotional aspect of adopting AI in multilingual education has been overlooked. To fill the gap, this study aimed to examine Chinese multilingual language learners’ perceptions about AI-induced emotional challenges and their regulation by drawing on the second wave of positive psychology (PP) 2.0. Forty multilingual students from different countries, each fluent in at least three languages and studying Chinese at universities in China, were interviewed. The results of thematic analysis demonstrated four common emotional challenges involved in AI-mediated language education and four regulation strategies to manage them. It was found that AI caused emotional challenges by increasing negative emotions, isolating and reducing interpersonal communication skills, threatening multilingual and multicultural identity, and over-relying on AI tools and reducing self-efficacy among learners. To regulate such challenges, the participants suggested acknowledging negative emotions, balancing the use of AI tools with human interaction, talking and sharing experiences with others, and taking breaks and setting realistic goals. The study discusses each theme and provides implications for multilingual learners and teachers to better understand and regulate AI-induced emotional challenges in AI-mediated classes.