How enjoyment spread its wings on tertiary learners’ psychological needs in ChatGPT-assisted English learning

While ChatGPT has emerged as a valuable asset in English education, the success of ChatGPT-assisted English learning requires the consideration of students’ emotional and psychological factors. Grounded by the self-determination theory and control-value theory of achievement emotions, this study investigated the associations between enjoyment and basic psychological needs in the ChatGPT-assisted English learning context to help learners achieve success in English learning in the ChatGPT-integrated setting as existing studies on the interplay between positive emotions and basic psychological needs did not consider the features of ChatGPT. The role of gender was also considered due to its importance in influencing enjoyment, basic psychological needs, and AI-integrated language learning in previous studies. Data were collected from 347 Chinese tertiary English learners through the quantitative method containing two questionnaires. The empirical findings via the structural equation modeling indicated a positive impact of enjoyment on basic psychological needs factors. In addition, the results of multivariate analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of covariance revealed no gender differences among enjoyment and basic psychological needs factors and no significant difference in the relation between enjoyment and basic psychological needs after controlling the impact of gender. Theoretical and practical implications for educators and university learners in ChatGPT-assisted English classrooms were discussed.