How Is L2 Grit Positioned in Chinese College EFL Learners’ Network of Anxiety, Boredom, and Psychological Need Frustration? A Psychological Network Analysis

This study examines how domain‐specific L2 grit is conditionally associated with foreign language anxiety, foreign language boredom, and basic psychological need frustration among Chinese university EFL learners. Drawing on Complex Dynamic Systems Theory as a systems‐oriented heuristic, we use psychological network analysis to model these variables as an interconnected set of contemporaneous associations. Survey data were collected from 908 university students enrolled in English courses. Participants completed established scales measuring L2 grit, foreign language anxiety, classroom boredom, and psychological need frustration. To capture the interrelations among these constructs, we estimated a Gaussian graphical model in which factor scores derived from CFA‐estimated latent constructs were represented as nodes and regularized partial correlations were represented as edges. The estimated network showed relatively denser associations among boredom facets and psychological need‐frustration facets, whereas the two L2 grit facets displayed comparatively weak direct connections to the other nodes. These results indicate that, in this cross‐sectional network, L2 grit was not among the most structurally prominent nodes. The findings suggest that strengthening grit alone may be insufficient to explain variation in classroom anxiety, boredom, and psychological need frustration. Future intervention research should therefore examine whether emotion regulation support, task design, and psychological need support are more directly associated with improved classroom affect.