The role of learners’ AI literacy and resilience in boosting their engagement and motivation in AI-based settings: From an achievement goal theory perspective

In the changing educational perspective, artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing conventional teaching methods, boosting learners’ motivation and engagement, which are among the vital psychological factors in learners' success. AI literacy is crucial for efficiently incorporating AI tools into education; however, many learners lack the necessary skills to engage with these technologies. Furthermore, resilience is vital for sustaining motivation and engagement in the difficulties presented by AI-based settings. As a result, this research tries to investigate the influence of AI literacy and resilience on learners' engagement and motivation within AI-based settings, using Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) as a theoretical framework. To reach this aim, 585 learners attended and answered the four scales, but among them, 461 questionnaires were valid. This research utilizes structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate the interaction among these variables. The results indicated that resilience and AI literacy were both significant predictors of motivation, jointly explaining 26.9 % of its variance. However, AI literacy proved to be a stronger predictor, uniquely accounting for 10.7 % of the variance, compared to resilience, which explained 6.5 % of the variance. Concerning engagement, the two variables were also significant predictors, jointly explaining 50.4 % of its variance. Here, resilience was found a better predictor uniquely explaining 23.6 % of the variance in engagement scores, while AI literacy could uniquely explain 12.3 % of its variance. Finally, these findings highlight the critical roles of AI literacy and resilience in fostering learners’ engagement and motivation. The results emphasize the need for developing AI literacy programs and resilience-building strategies to optimize learning outcomes in AI-based educational environments. This study underscores the value of AGT as a theoretical lens for understanding the mechanisms underlying these relationships and offers actionable insights for educators aiming to create supportive, technology-enhanced learning settings.