Psycholinguistic markers of a comfortable educational environment for students in the context of digital transformation

Abstract

This study addresses the need to understand educational well-being in the context of digital transformation, where learning extends beyond conventional classroom formats. The social significance lies in identifying conditions that support students’ psychological comfort and engagement in both human- and technology-mediated settings. The aim is to reconstruct students’ subjective representations of a comfortable learning environment. The methodology combines qualitative content analysis with a psycholinguistic approach, focusing on markers of interaction (e.g., pronominal framing, modality). The empirical material consists of two corpora of essays describing an “ideal” and an “uncomfortable” lesson. Deductive and inductive coding procedures were applied, with particular attention to the parameter of reflected subjectness and the degree of dialogicity within student–teacher–AI configurations. The results indicate that the perception of an ideal lesson prioritizes psychological safety, predictability, dialogic interaction. In contrast, uncomfortable learning is associated with stress, threat of evaluation, disrupted group dynamics. Positive scenarios are characterized by inclusive pronouns (“we”) and permissive modality (“can”); negative scenarios imply individualization (“I”) and prohibitive expressions (“must,” “cannot”). The teacher seems a key regulator of both comfort and threat; despite being explicitly prompted in the task, references to AI-agents remain peripheral, suggesting that transition to a triadic “creative partnership” model is not yet fully internalized and continues to rely on the teacher as the primary source of psychological safety. The findings can be applied in developing supportive learning environments and pedagogical models of creative partnership. Psycholinguistic markers provide a sensitive instrument for diagnosing well-being in new learning formats, identifying the psychological and interactional conditions to make a shift from teacher-centered regulation to creative partnerships with AI psychologically viable.