The mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationships of technophilia and positive emotional experience with perceived learning effectiveness in AI-supported EFL education

Despite the increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education, the psychological mechanisms linking learners’ technological dispositions and emotional experiences to perceived learning effectiveness remain undertheorized and empirically underexplored. This study examined whether self-efficacy served as a statistical mediator in the relationships of technophilia and positive emotional experience with perceived learning effectiveness in AI-supported EFL education. A cross-sectional survey was conducted involving 234 students enrolled in English-language courses at a private college of health sciences. Adapted multi-item scales on technophilia, positive emotional experience, self-efficacy, and perceived learning effectiveness were administered. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping (5000 resamples) was used to examine direct and indirect associations. Self-efficacy demonstrated the strongest direct association with perceived learning effectiveness (β = 0.375, p = 0.001). Positive emotional experience was strongly associated with self-efficacy (β = 0.624, p < 0.001), and its indirect association with perceived learning effectiveness through self-efficacy was significant (β = 0.234, 95% CI [0.128, 0.351]). Technophilia was also positively associated with self-efficacy (β = 0.307, p = 0.002), and its indirect association with perceived learning effectiveness through self-efficacy was significant. The findings were consistent with self-efficacy partially mediating both relationships. These findings suggest that learners’ confidence in managing AI-supported tasks plays an important role in linking affective dispositions to perceived effectiveness appraisals. The study contributes to computer-assisted language learning (CALL) research by clarifying how positive orientation toward AI-supported technologies, emotional experience, and efficacy beliefs jointly relate to learners’ perceptions of effective AI-supported language learning. Pedagogically, the findings suggest that progressively scaffolded practice and mastery-oriented AI tasks may strengthen self-efficacy and improve learners’ perceived effectiveness in AI-supported EFL environments.