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Background: Considerable evidence suggests that students' achievement emotions are important contributors to their learning and success online. It is, therefore, essential to understand and support students' emotional experiences to enhance online education, especially under the COVID‐19 context. However, to date, very few studies have investigated how students' achievement emotions might be affected by teaching and learning factors in online learning environments. Objectives: Based on Pekrun's (2006) control‐value theory of achievement emotions, this study examined the influence of students' perceived online teaching quality and appraisals of control and value on their achievement emotions in an online second language (L2) learning context instigated by the COVID‐19. Methods: Data were collected using an online survey of 1503 undergraduates from ten universities across different regions of China. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed to test the validity of the instruments and structural equation modelling were conducted to examine the relations between L2 teaching and learning variables. Results and Conclusions: Results revealed that perceived teacher internet and communication technology competence had positive effects on enjoyment, but negative effects on anxiety and boredom, and these effects were fully mediated by perceived control and/or value. Perceived chaotic teaching structure (CTS) had reverse effects for the three emotions. Perceived CTS effects on enjoyment and anxiety were fully and partially mediated by perceived control, respectively. Takeaways: Online teaching quality is critical for students' appraisals and emotions towards L2 learning. Teachers should strive to improve online teaching quality and design interventions targeting students' perceived control and value to temper their affective experiences associated with the crisis‐prompted online teaching practices. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Teachers' internet and communication technology (ICT) competence and pedagogical design can enhance students' e‐learning efficacy, motivation and interests.Students' perceived control and value can influence their achievement emotions in online learning.Teacher's ICT competence and pedagogical design can impact students' emotions in online learning. What this paper adds: Perceived teacher ICT competence and chaotic teaching structures can have differential impact on students' perceived control and value for e‐learning.Perceived control and intrinsic value differently mediated the effects of the two teaching factors on students' emotions for e‐learning.Perceived teacher ICT competence and chaotic teaching structures can have both direct and indirect effects on students' e‐learning emotions via perceived control and value. Implications for practice and/or policy: Teacher training and development programs should prepare teachers for varying teaching formats including unplanned online teaching due to a forced switch to remote teaching.Teachers should acquaint themselves with using various online platforms and software to communicate the goals, expectations, structures and requirements of their language lessons to students' in a clear manner.Online language teaching interventions aiming to increase or decrease a specific emotion could directly target specific combinations of teaching characteristics and appraisals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital competence is critical for university students to adapt to and benefit from digitally enhanced learning. Prior studies on its measurement mostly focus on educators and relied on factor analyses. However, there is a lack of valid and convenient tools to measure university students' digital competence. This study aimed to develop a digital competence scale for university students (DC‐US) in digitally enhanced learning with robust psychometric properties. An initial DC‐US with 23 items was proposed to measure the single latent trait of digital competence. It was validated and refined continuously through a pilot study, a main study and a predictive validity study in three datasets involving 825 participants altogether, using factor analyses, Rasch analyses and the partial least squares modelling. The final DC‐US turned out to comprise two subscales: technical literacy and digital skills, with 10 items retained, and manifested high internal consistency, unidimensionality and measurement invariance. The scale also demonstrated strong predictive validity, with technical literacy greatly predicting digital skills, which negatively predicted technostress. The DC‐US enables instructors and school administrators to conveniently obtain preliminary information of university students' digital competence, informing their digital class preparation and development of timely interventions for addressing digital deficiencies. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: Digital competence is critical for university students to adapt to and benefit from digitally enhanced learning (DEL).There is a lack of valid and convenient tools to measure university students' digital competence.Prior studies on its measurement mostly focus on educators and relied on factor analyses. What this paper adds?: A unidimensional, valid and unbiased digital competence scale was developed for university students.Rasch analyses and classical test theory were employed jointly for the scale development.The digital competence scale comprised two subscales: Technical literacy and digital skills. Implications for practice: University students can use the scale for a quick self‐assessment of their digital competence before joining DEL.Instructors can use the scale to gain an initial knowledge of their students' digital competence to inform digital class preparation.University administrators can rely on the scale to quickly evaluate the implementation effectiveness of DEL schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]