Abstract
Being a first-year student in the English Literature Department often face challenges in learning literature and therefore; to overcome the challenges, students have to prepare their learning strategy in learning English literature in the era of digital learning. The research objectives tried to reveal students’ challenges and the impact of digital learning practices in literature instruction. This study employed a sequential mixed method beginning with quantitative stages and was then followed by qualitative stages. Participants were 41 students consisting of 22 females and 18 males. Data collection was gathered through questionnaires and interviews. Quantitatively, data analysis used Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) through SmartPLS to evaluate validity and reliability and test hypotheses. Qualitatively, thematic analysis was used to analyze the semi-structured interview with the following steps: data recognition, code generation, theme naming, definition phase and writing the report. The result of the quantitative analysis revealed all indicators have a loading factor value greater than 0.60, indicating they are valid, and the Cronbach alpha value was greater than 0.7, which means all variables were categorized as reliable. Based on hypothesis testing, self-regulated learning does not have a significant influence on academic literacy challenges with a P-value of 0,737 >0,05. On the other side, self-regulated learning has an effect on AI in literary learning with a P-Value value of 0.000 < 0.05. AI in literary learning has a positive and significant effect on academic literary challenges with P-Value value of 0.000 < 0.05. The result of qualitative analysis revealed students burdened to analyse literature that needs understanding of metaphor and cultural context. Students used AI as a dialogue partner and cognitive scaffold to help them understand literature works with strong self-regulated learning. In conclusion, the strong self-regulated learning was effective when mediated by the use of AI in facing academic literary challenges.