Foreign Language Grit, Control‐Value Appraisals, and Writing Emotions Among Spanish L3 Learners: A Mediation and Network Analysis

Writing emotions critically influence foreign language (FL) acquisition, yet existing research predominantly focuses on the anxiety‐enjoyment dichotomy in English learning contexts, overlooking boredom as a key negative emotion and multilingual learners (e.g., Spanish L3). Concurrently, while FL grit emerges as a pivotal trait for emotional regulation, its interplay with control‐value theory (CVT) in shaping enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom remains empirically unexamined. This study examines the relationship between FL grit and writing emotions (enjoyment, anxiety, boredom) among Spanish L3 learners, drawing on CVT. Bootstrap mediation analysis and psychological network analysis of data from 152 Chinese college Spanish L3 learners revealed that FL grit is directly and positively related to writing enjoyment, while negatively with writing anxiety and writing boredom. Both control and value appraisals partially mediated these relationships, complementing FL grit's positive effects on writing enjoyment and negative effects on negative emotions. Network analysis identified writing enjoyment as the central hub in the network, playing a regulatory and buffering role within the emotional system, and FL grit demonstrated the highest expected influence on writing emotions, signaling its systemic role in reducing negative emotions. Perceived control‐value over writing tasks is positively associated with more favorable emotions during the writing process. The results shed light on strategies to optimize emotional engagement and reduce negative affect in multilingual writing instruction.