Cultural immersion and AI-supported instruction: international students’ Chinese as a foreign language enjoyment

Introduction While Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) has been widely investigated in English learning, Chinese as a Foreign Language Enjoyment (CFLE) remains underexplored, particularly in AI-supported culturally immersive contexts. Guided by Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this study examines how an AI-supported immersive Chinese culture course contributes to learners’ psychological needs and the experience of CFLE among international students in China. Methods A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used. Eighty-two international students joined the study completing a 40-item questionnaire assessing teacher-, learner-, and environment-related CFLE. Reliability and validity analyses, descriptive statistics, and Pearson correlation analyses were performed. Eight participants completed semi-structured interviews, and the interview data were analyzed thematically. Results Participants reported moderately high levels of CFLE ( M = 3.59–3.71, SD = 0.748–0.887). Reliability and validity analyses indicated satisfactory internal consistency, with Cronbach’s α = 0.951. Pearson correlations revealed strong positive relationships among teacher-, learner-, and environment-related enjoyment ( r = 0.743–0.805, p < 0.01), suggesting that CFLE functions as an integrated affective system. Thematic analysis showed that enjoyment was exprienced through culturally responsive teaching, learner competence development, authentic cultural immersion, and AI-supported teacher-mediated learning, despite inadequately explained AI feedback occasionally leading to frustration or self-doubt. Discussion Interpreted through SDT, CFLE appeared to surface in learner’s reported accounts when cultural immersion and AI-supported instruction was perceived as jointly satisfying learners’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The findings advance CFLE research and suggest implications for the design of AI-supported immersive CFL learning environments.