AI-mediated informal digital learning of English and digital-context L2 willingness to communicate: the mediating roles of growth language mindset and ideal L2 self

Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory and the Second Language (L2) Motivational Self System, this study examined the associations among AI-mediated informal digital learning of English (AI-IDLE), growth language mindset (GLM), the ideal L2 self (IL2S), and digital-context L2 willingness to communicate (L2 WTC). Although AI-supported informal English learning has become increasingly common, limited research has examined how AI-IDLE is related to learners’ communicative readiness in informal digital contexts through cognitive and motivational mechanisms. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 409 university English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in northeastern China, and the data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results showed that AI-IDLE was positively associated with GLM, IL2S, and digital-context L2 WTC. IL2S showed the strongest association with digital-context L2 WTC, while GLM was positively associated with both IL2S and digital-context L2 WTC. The mediation analyses further showed three significant indirect associations between AI-IDLE and digital-context L2 WTC through GLM, through IL2S, and through the sequential pathway of GLM and IL2S. The findings contribute to AI-IDLE and WTC research by suggesting that growth-oriented beliefs and future L2 self-guides are plausible cognitive-motivational pathways associated with learners’ communicative readiness in AI-mediated informal English learning contexts.