Textbook, multimedia, and generative AI in elementary English learning: usage patterns and family-reported evaluations

Abstract

This study examined how often elementary-school learners used textbooks, multimedia resources, and generative AI tools and how these modalities were evaluated by family respondents. A non-probability, teacher-mediated online survey yielded 987 consented responses from multiple sites in mainland China. Respondents rated usage frequency and 15 evaluation items crossing five dimensions with three modalities. Textbooks were used most frequently and received the most favorable ratings. After applying a single-step multivariate-t adjustment to each family of three within-dimension contrasts, multimedia and AI differed reliably only for enjoyment in the full sample. The original three-modality confirmatory model had poor absolute fit (RMSEA = 0.151). A crossed dimension-by-modality model improved fit (RMSEA = 0.067) but produced a negative residual variance and was therefore inadmissible; latent achievement regression was not retained. In the primary proportional-odds model using observed modality scores and categorical controls, textbook evaluation was positively associated with family-reported achievement band ( b = 0.343, OR = 1.409, p < 0.001), whereas multimedia ( p = 0.085) and AI ( p = 0.808) were not. These cross-sectional associations describe this teacher-mediated convenience sample and do not establish modality effects on achievement.