Psychological capital and (AI-mediated) informal digital learning of Spanish as an L3: the role of out-of-class emotion profiles

Informal digital learning gives learners substantial autonomy, yet less is known about how psychological resources and configurations of out-of-class emotions are related to engagement in languages other than English and in AI-mediated environments. Drawing on self-determination theory, this study examined the associations among psychological capital (PsyCap), out-of-class emotion profiles, informal digital learning of Spanish (IDLS), and AI-IDLS. Participants were 381 university learners in China studying Spanish as L3. Questionnaire data were analysed using regression, latent profile analysis, and profile-based path models. PsyCap was positively associated with both IDLS and AI-IDLS. Three emotion profiles were identified, namely positive-dominant, high-intensity mixed-emotion, and boredom-dominant. Higher PsyCap was associated with a greater likelihood of positive-dominant membership and a lower likelihood of boredom-dominant membership. The positive-dominant profile showed no indirect association between PsyCap and either outcome, whereas the boredom-dominant profile statistically accounted for part of the associations between PsyCap and both IDLS and AI-IDLS. These findings show that emotional configurations are related to informal digital engagement in different ways and highlight the value of considering emotions jointly. The study extends PsyCap and (AI-Mediated) informal digital language learning research to L3 Spanish.