Purpose Profiles in Informal Digital Learning of English: A Mixed‐Methods Study

ABSTRACT Background Research on Informal Digital Learning of English (IDLE) has largely emphasized engagement intensity, with less attention to learners' underlying purposes. Objectives This study identified purpose profiles in IDLE and examined their associations with digital competence, L2 emotions, and cross‐cultural competence. It also explored how instructional purposes related to informal purposes. Methods A sequential explanatory mixed‐methods design was adopted. Survey data from 686 EFL learners were analysed using latent profile analysis to derive configurations of four purposes: information, socialization, entertainment, and self‐instruction. Profile differences in digital competence, enjoyment, anxiety, cross‐cultural competence, and engagement frequency were tested. Follow‐up semi‐structured interviews with five participants were thematically analysed to illuminate how learning intentionality was positioned within informal engagement. Results and Conclusions Three distinct purpose configurations emerged. Profiles characterized by stronger purpose endorsement showed significantly higher digital competence, enjoyment, and cross‐cultural competence, whereas no significant differences were found for anxiety or engagement frequency. Qualitative findings illustrated three recurring patterns in how learning intentionality was positioned in relation to informal purposes: learning as a distal purpose, as a primary focus, and as an exclusive purpose. Two facilitative conditions associated with learning intentionality were also identified, namely awareness of language learning affordances in informal digital activities and facilitative links among different purposes. Overall, the findings underscore the potential of IDLE as a site for purposeful engagement that can accommodate both language learning and other life needs.