Artificial intelligence and positive psychology play crucial roles in education, yet there is limited research on how these psychological factors influence learners’ use of AI, particularly in language education. Grounded in self-determination theory, this study investigates the factors influencing Chinese English learners’ intention to use AI for language learning. Utilizing structural equation modeling, this research examines the mediating roles of grit, flow, and resilience in the relationship between basic psychological needs and the intention to use AI. Data were analyzed using AMOS 26 and SPSS 26. The findings reveal that flow, grit, and resilience mediate the relationship between basic psychological needs and the intention to adopt AI tools for language learning. This study provides valuable insights into how educational environments can be designed to fulfill psychological needs, thereby fostering greater engagement and acceptance of AI in language education.

In the last 19 years (2003–2021), research on genre-based approaches (GBAs) to writing pedagogy has been accumulating in the fields of English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL). This review mapped existing literature to identify research trends and provide a research agenda for future GBAs. This study employed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and identified 52 published articles and 2 unpublished doctoral theses via a structured keyword search on Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC, Google Scholar, and ProQuest in the fields of teaching English to speakers of other languages, language learning, and education. The results show that GBA is now widely used in teaching English academic writing to ESL/EFL tertiary/graduate students. The main research findings include: (1) the top five countries in the number of paper publications are China (i.e., five), the United States (i.e., five), Japan (e.g., 4), Thailand (e.g., four), and Sweden (e.g., four); (2) the top four authors in the number of paper publications are Hyland (i.e., two), Lu (i.e., two), Negretti (i.e., two), and Pineh (i.e., two); and (3) the top three most strengthen keywords are writing pedagogy, genre-based approach, and English for academic purpose. This study also discusses the theoretical and practical implications.

Since establishing the Silk Road initiatives, increasing numbers of Chinese students are going to Malaysia to pursue their postgraduate degrees. As the largest group of international students, numerous research studies have reported that Chinese international postgraduate students face language obstacles in English language communication during their overseas studies in English-medium instruction (EMI) campuses. This qualitative case study supplies in-depth insight into different adaptation strategies utilized by international Chinese postgraduate students to overcome challenges faced in academic communication practices. Qualitative data were collected from three sessions of semistructured in-depth interviews. Informants were six international Chinese mainland postgraduate students (i.e., three masters’ students, three Ph.D. students) from diverse disciplines. The interviews allowed the participants to share their own experiences of utilizing effective adaptation strategies to overcome challenges faced in academic English communication practices in their studies. Their adaptation strategies include enhancing their oral English language communication competence and academic achievement. Thus, this study contributes by providing suggestions to Malaysian higher education institutions seeking measures to improve international service quality.

Generation Z (Gen Z) consumers account for an increasing proportion of the food market. The aim of this study took lamb shashliks as an example and developed novel products from the perspective of cooking methods in order to develop a traditional food suitable for Gen Z consumers. The sensory characterization of electric heating air (EH), microwave heating (MH), air frying (AF), and control (traditional burning charcoal (BC) of lamb shashliks) was performed using the CATA methodology with 120 Gen Z consumers as assessors. A 9-point hedonic scale was used to evaluate Gen Z consumers’ preferences for the cooking method, as well as a CATA ballot with 46 attributes which described the sensory characteristics of lamb shashliks. The machine learning algorithms were used to identify consumer preferences for different cooking methods of lamb shashliks as a function of sensory attributes and assessed the relationship between products and attributes present in the perceptual map for the degree of association. Meanwhile, sensory attributes as important variables play a relatively more important role in each cooking method. The most important variables for sensory attributes of lamb shashliks using BC are char-grilled aroma and smoky flavor. Similarly, the most important variables for AF samples are butter aroma, intensity aroma, and intensity aftertaste, the most important variables for EH samples are dry texture and hard texture, and the most important variables for MH samples are light color regarding external appearance and lumpy on chewing texture. The interviews were conducted with Gen Z consumers to investigate why they prefer innovative products—AF. Grounded theory and the social network analysis (SNA) method were utilized to explore why consumers chose AF, demonstrating that Gen Z consumers who had previously tasted AF lamb shashliks could easily perceive the buttery aroma. This study provides a theoretical and practical basis for developing lamb shashliks tailored to Gen Z consumers.

The practice of review writing is an essential component of postgraduate students' academic studies for graduation requirement and especially for those who are undergoing their postgraduate studies by theses by publication. However, very few studies have focused on review genres. In this review, the researchers would like to offer an overview of different types of review articles and identify the trend in the development of the review article genre. The researchers of this study employed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. They identified the published articles specific to the review genres via a structured keyword search in Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar (from the years 2019-2022). A mixed analysis approach (e.g., qualitative analysis combined with quantitative analysis) was conducted to further examine the selected articles using the data visualization software CiteSpace. The results showcased that there were currently a limited number of review types in social science disciplines. The researchers call for more effort to discover new models for writing review genres in the EFL/ESL context. This study also discusses the theoretical and practical implications.