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International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2226-6348

Empowering Higher-Order Thinking through Generative AI: The Mediating Roles of Teachers’ Digital Literacy and Pedagogical Innovation in Vocational Education

Zhong Mengmeng, Mohamad Izzuan Mohd Ishar, Muhammad Sukri Saud

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARPED/v14-i3/25996

Open access

As Generative AI (GenAI) becomes integral to vocational education, this study investigates how teachers’ GenAI proficiency fosters student higher-order thinking (HOT), and the mediating roles of digital literacy and innovative AI-supported pedagogy. Using a correlational design with 200 teacher–800 student dyads in Guangxi’s vocational tourism programs, teachers completed the GenAI Application Ability Scale (? = .88), Digital Literacy Inventory (? = .85), and Innovative Teaching Strategies Questionnaire (? = .82), while students responded to a 14-item HOT Skills Scale (? = .90). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed construct validity; structural equation modeling with bias-corrected bootstrapping assessed direct and indirect effects. Results show a strong direct path from GenAI ability to HOT (? = .45, p < .001; 95% CI [.35, .55]). Mediation analyses reveal significant indirect effects via digital literacy (? = .32, p < .001; 95% CI [.24, .40]) and teaching strategies (? = .28, p < .001; 95% CI [.18, .38]), yielding a total indirect effect of .60 (p < .001; 95% CI [.50, .70]). The model accounted for 50% of HOT variance. This work underscores the need for training that fuses AI fluency with pedagogical innovation to prepare teachers for AI-enhanced classrooms.

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Mengmeng, Z., Ishar, M. I. M., & Saud, M. S. (2025). Empowering Higher-Order Thinking through Generative AI: The Mediating Roles of Teachers’ Digital Literacy and Pedagogical Innovation in Vocational Education. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 14(3), 524-537.