Students’ emotions about AI Integration in the Indonesian language for foreign speakers program

Transitivity and emotional geography perspectives

Abstract

This study investigates the integration of intercultural competence within AI-based learning frameworks, focusing on its transformative potential in global education. Utilizing a narrative inquiry design, it examines the experiences of seven international students who used AI-driven tools to learn Indonesian in a higher education setting in Indonesia's culturally diverse contexts. The research employs emotional geography, as proposed by Hargreaves (2001), to explore the emotional dynamics of interactions among students, AI systems, and educators, and transitivity analysis to examine how language in AI-mediated instruction represents cultural identities, values, and relationships. The findings showed that AI tools reduce students' moral distance and provide space for cultural trial and error when AI fails to capture the Indonesian politeness manner (Unggah ungguh), leading to frustration and stress. The study offers practical guidance for AI developers to prioritize cultural empathy. It provides theoretical insights by bridging emotional geography with techno culture to sustain human-mediated AI.