The pedagogical efficacy of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in education heavily depends on cultural, technological, and cognitive contexts. Prior studies examined AI-driven learning outcomes without accounting for cultural variability or sufficiently anchoring their analyses in robust theoretical frameworks. The current study discusses the interconnection between AI technologies, learner competencies, and educational outcomes, in addition to the significance of digital and media literacy in secondary foreign language teaching. It employs Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, the technology acceptance model, and sociocultural learning theory to examine how AI technologies affect learning outcomes of English as a foreign language among Lebanese high school students. One hundred and eighty high school students in Mount Lebanon were given a 20-item survey using a quantitative research design. The results were analyzed using statistical tests and analyses in SPSS version 27.0.1. The findings indicate that AI technologies significantly enhance student learning outcomes: affective and motivational outcomes (45%), social and collaborative competencies (35%), and English language proficiency (accounting for 43% of variance). Furthermore, these relationships are strongly moderated by digital and media literacy, which increases the beneficial effects of AI on learning outcomes. The findings also show that students’ opinions, engagement, and acceptance of AI-supported language learning are influenced by cultural traits.

With the rapid development of digital financial innovations, understanding the drivers of the acceptance of cutting-edge technologies becomes essential. This study investigates new factors that influence the adoption of mobile banking services—defined as digital financial services accessed via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets—in Lebanon, with a particular focus on how infrastructure serves as a mediating variable. It examines the interactions between three key sectors: the banking sector including bank liquidity, quality management, and e-money; the economic sector encompassing exchange rates, purchasing power, and the digital economy; and the political sector covering government activities, policies, and stability. The research aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of the factors driving the uptake of mobile banking. A mixed-methods approach informed by critical realism was employed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 banking professionals to identify crucial political sector factors and to generate hypotheses about the role of infrastructure. Additionally, a survey was distributed to 200 participants to quantitatively evaluate these relationships. The findings prove that infrastructure significantly impacts the adoption of mobile banking services in Lebanon. In addition, key factors such as bank liquidity, quality management, e-money, exchange rates, and the digital economy show strong positive correlations with infrastructure. ANOVA tests confirmed that all investigated variables contribute meaningfully to adopting mobile banking in Lebanon. Received: 28 April 2025 | Revised: 18 August 2025 | Accepted: 27 November 2025 Conflicts of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. Data Availability Statement The data that support this work are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author. Author Contribution Statement Rayan Othman: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Visualization, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Ghalia Nassreddine: Conceptualization, Validation, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.