Beyond the Self in AI-Enhanced EFL Classrooms: Cultivating Self-Transcendent Emotions, Well-Being, and Speaking Fluency through Intelligent Simulations

This study explored the potential of AI-driven simulated learning environments to evoke self-transcendent emotions and to enhance both language performance and psychological well-being among Iranian university EFL learners. Anchored in Positive Psychology and Self-Transcendence Theory, the research examined how emotionally intelligent AI-mediated dialogues can cultivate experiences of awe, empathy, and interpersonal connectedness—emotional states that orient learners beyond self-focused concerns toward meaning-centered engagement in language use. Employing a six-week mixed-methods design, the study involved sixty undergraduate students who were assigned either to an AI-based simulation group or to a traditional communicative instruction group. Quantitative findings demonstrated that learners in the experimental condition achieved significantly higher gains in speaking fluency, self-transcendence as measured by the AWE-S, and overall well-being assessed through the PERMA Profiler. Complementary qualitative analyses of reflective journals and semi-structured interviews revealed recurring experiential themes, including expanded perspectives, heightened awareness of shared humanity, and renewed motivation to communicate authentically in English. The findings indicate that self-transcendent emotions—conceptually distinct from related constructs such as flow or mindfulness—can be purposefully elicited through affect-sensitive AI design, thereby connecting cognitive, emotional, and existential dimensions of language learning. Contributing to Second-Wave Positive Psychology, this study demonstrates how digitally mediated environments can foster learner flourishing through dialectical engagement with emotion and meaning. From a pedagogical standpoint, the findings position AI as a collaborative partner in humanistic language education and propose design-oriented implications for ethically informed, emotionally intelligent technologies that support both communicative competence and holistic well-being.