Examining the Role of Self-Determination Theory in AI-Enhanced Personalized Blended Learning Environments for Primary School Chinese EFL Learners

It is pertinent to mention here that EFL education in Chinese primary schools has emerged as an important focus of the last few decades due to rising globalization and development of economosaic(Cosmopolitic)eti fluence of China (Wang & Kirkpatrick, 2022; Li et al. , 2023). Today, Ministry of Education, China has laid policies to begin English learning from the third grade; this is an indication that learning should begin early in a childhood so as to learn the language and have the ability to communicate through it (Zhang & Liu 2024). However, many concerns still exist in EFL educational environment such as great class size, less opportunity to interact with real contexts, and curriculum stress on examinations (Chen et al. , 2023; Wu & Johnson, 2024). The literature review of the present study has also stressed on the fact that new strategies are being called for to tackle these issues. For example, Yang et al., (2023) stated that conventional paradigm C loses the interest of young readers and Zhao and Smith (2024) noted that more entertaining and user-centred learning approaches have to be established. In addition, Liu and Wang (2023) pointed out that the present EFL curriculum implemented in Chinese primary schools does not incorporate the sociocultural context and fails to provide authentic language practice to the learners which is essential for second language acquisition.