Exploring EFL Learners' Basic Psychological Needs, Grit and Willingness to Communicate in Blended Learning

ABSTRACT

The increasing adoption of blended learning in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education has intensified scholarly interest in the psychological factors associated with learners' communicative participation. Despite growing evidence linking motivational and affective variables to language learning outcomes, the combined relationships among basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS), grit and willingness to communicate (WTC) remain insufficiently understood, particularly in blended EFL environments. Drawing on Self‐Determination Theory and contemporary perspectives in positive psychology, the present study investigated the relationships among BPNS, grit and WTC among 673 Chinese university EFL learners. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings revealed statistically significant positive associations among all study variables. BPNS was positively associated with both grit and WTC, indicating that learners who reported greater autonomy, competence and relatedness were more likely to report higher levels of perseverance and stronger willingness to communicate in English. Likewise, grit was positively associated with WTC within the hypothesized structural model. The proposed model accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in WTC, supporting the theoretical relevance of considering psychological need satisfaction and grit simultaneously when examining learners' communicative readiness. Beyond demonstrating these relationships, the study contributes to the literature by integrating Self‐Determination Theory and positive psychology within a single structural framework to examine how contextual psychological experiences and learner‐related personal resources are jointly associated with willingness to communicate in blended EFL settings. Although the cross‐sectional design does not permit causal inferences, the findings provide empirical support for the theoretically specified relationships among these constructs and offer practical implications for designing psychologically supportive blended language learning environments.