TY  - EJOU
AU  - Liu, Songming 
AU  - Yin, Siyuan 

TI  - Perceived usefulness of GenAI and academic engagement among multilingual learners: The mediating role of resilience as a character strength
T2  - Journal of Psychology in Africa

PY  - 
VL  - 
IS  - 
SN  - 1815-5626

AB  - Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping language learning, yet research often overlooks how AI-related beliefs foster character strengths. This study investigated the relationship between the perceived usefulness of GenAI and academic engagement, and the mediating role of resilience. Study participants comprised multilingual Mongolian university students (N = 421, female = 57.7%, male = 42.3%; freshmen = 26.1%, sophomores = 21.1%, juniors = 29.9%, seniors = 22.8%; mean age = 20.49, SD = 1.11). Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping procedure results indicated that the perceived usefulness of GenAI was directly associated with higher academic engagement. Furthermore, resilience mediated the relationship between the technology perceptions and sustained learning effort, making the association stronger. These findings support the theoretical integration of the Technology Acceptance Model and Control-Value Theory within a positive psychology framework, demonstrating how perceived utility and emotional control are transformed into sustained involvement through the cultivation of internal character strengths. By implication, educators should therefore integrate GenAI in ways that prioritize the cultivation of resilience as a character strength to improve academic flourishing in AI-mediated language learning.
KW  - Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI); multilingual learners; positive psychology; students’ character strengths

DO  - 10.32604/jpa.2026.079616