A study on the correlation between the perception of intelligent college English learning environments and the willingness to communicate in listening, speaking, reading, and writing

IntroductionAs generative AI tools become integrated into educational settings, foreign language teaching and learning are gradually adapting. This cross-sectional mixed-methods study examines the relationships between college students’ perceptions of intelligent learning environments and their multimodal L2 willingness to communicate (WTC), while analyzing L2 self-efficacy as a potential mediator and foreign language anxiety (FLA) as a moderator.MethodsSurvey and qualitative data were collected from 960 college students. Quantitative analyses were conducted to examine the associations between perceptions of intelligent environments, L2 self-efficacy, FLA, and WTC across both receptive (listening, reading) and productive (speaking, writing) modalities. Qualitative feedback was analyzed to contextualize these relationships.ResultsThe survey data indicated a significant positive association between the perception of intelligent environments and overall WTC. Although baseline WTC for productive skills was lower than for receptive tasks, favorable perceptions of AI showed comparable positive associations with communication willingness across both modalities. L2 self-efficacy served as an indirect link, accounting for 56.19% of the total association. Exploratory analyses indicated that high self-efficacy exhibited a potential buffering tendency against the negative correlation between FLA and WTC, though this interaction did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.068). Multi-group analyses demonstrated that these positive associations were consistent across different language proficiency levels. Qualitatively, AI platforms were characterized as perceived “psychological safety buffers” with lower social-evaluative risks.DiscussionThese cross-sectional insights suggest that favorable perceptions of intelligent environments are positively related to L2 communication willingness. Rather than treating these environments merely as technical aids, educators might leverage their low-pressure attributes as supportive digital scaffolding while monitoring cognitive dependence to encourage eventual autonomous communication.