Hanwei Wu, Gurpinder Singh Lalli, Yongliang Wang
As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) becomes increasingly integrated into second language (L2) learning, there is a growing need for reliable instruments to assess learners' cognitive evaluation of GenAI-mediated interactive learning experiences. This study developed and validated the GenAI L2 Interactive Learning Experience Scale (AI-L2-ILES) among 1130 Chinese university students. Drawing on an interactive experience perspective and adapting it to L2 learning, the study conceptualized learners' cognitive evaluation of GenAI interaction as comprising five dimensions: Effectiveness, Sociability, Novelty, Flow, and Seamlessness. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported this five-factor structure, with satisfactory evidence of reliability, validity, and measurement invariance across gender and academic disciplines. Network analysis further revealed that Flow was the most central dimension, Sociability showed the strongest association with Effectiveness, and Novelty occupied a relatively peripheral position. The network structure was stable across academic disciplines. Overall, the AI-L2-ILES provides a psychometrically sound measure of learners' cognitive evaluation of GenAI-mediated interactive L2 learning experiences and captures five distinct but interconnected dimensions of this emerging construct. The scale offers a useful tool for examining how L2 learners cognitively evaluate their interactions with GenAI.