The Effect of ChatGPT Usage on Foreign Language Enjoyment: The Mediating Role of Learning Effort and the Moderating Effect of Artificial Intelligence Anxiety

This study investigated the effects of ChatGPT usage on foreign language learning enjoyment (FLE), the mediating role of foreign language learning effort (FLLE), and the moderating function of AI anxiety. Grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model, Self-Determination Theory, and the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework, a cross-sectional survey was conducted with 880 undergraduate learners in English preparatory programs at three Turkish universities. PLS-SEM with 5,000-resample bootstrapping was used for hypothesis testing. Results showed that ChatGPT usage significantly predicted both FLE and FLLE, with a stronger path to behavioral engagement than to emotional experience. FLLE partially mediated the ChatGPT–FLE relationship and explained approximately 42% of the total effect. Contrary to expectations, AI anxiety positively predicted FLE at the second-order level; however, factor-level analysis revealed that societal-concern factors drove this positive association while interaction-level factors negatively predicted it. AI anxiety moderated the ChatGPT–FLE relationship: the direct emotional benefit disappeared at high anxiety while the indirect pathway through effort remained significant. These findings pinpoint the centrality of purposeful task design and targeted anxiety reduction in AI-assisted FL learning.