Structural and configurational analyses of GenAI-mediated informal digital learning of Chinese, multicultural personality traits, and willingness to communicate: evidence from plurilingual international students in China

This study examines how plurilingual international students’ generative AI-mediated informal digital learning of Chinese (GenAI-IDLC) interacts with dimensions of multicultural personality to predict their second language willingness to communicate (L2 WTC). Survey responses were collected from 387 plurilingual international students learning Chinese in China and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approaches. SEM results demonstrated that learners’ GenAI-IDLC was significantly and positively associated with cultural empathy, open-mindedness, social initiative, flexibility, and L2 WTC, but not emotional stability. Moreover, international students’ flexibility was significantly and positively associated with their L2 WTC, whereas their cultural empathy, open-mindedness, emotional stability, and social initiative were not significantly associated with their L2 WTC. The association between GenAI-IDLC and L2 WTC was partially mediated by flexibility. The fsQCA further identified four configurations in which different combinations of GenAI-IDLC and multicultural personality were linked to high L2 WTC. By integrating SEM with fsQCA, the study advances our understanding of the multiple and complex pathways underlying L2 WTC in the GenAI-mediated informal Chinese learning context. The results offer a basis for implications for language educators and universities seeking to facilitate cross-cultural communication through GenAI technologies.