Dear friends, second language teachers and learners,
As second language (L2) teachers, we revel in those moments when our learners are so fully engaged in a task that we have to alert them that class has ended. In these moments, learners are fully engaged and focused on the task at hand, assured by feelings of security and empowerment to explore and take risks. They are aware of their actions and believe in their ability to successfully complete the task. It is neither too easy nor too difficult. It’s perfect.
We revel in these moments of engagement, because we intuit that they represent some of the richest learning experiences. Experiences where there is a perfect synchronization between the subconscious emotional brain and the conscious cognitive brain. Learners are doing what they intrinsically want to do. Such motivation stands in sharp contrast with those dreaded signs of boredom, eyes watching the clock or the Facebook feed, signs that precious attentional resources are being squandered. Thus the mission of the L2 Classroom Flow Project is to help teachers increase engagement, exploration, learning and a sense of wellbeing in their L2 classrooms. Simply put, we want to understand how teachers can more create flow, in the classroom (see Csikszentmihalyi, 2008).
Our objective is to determine the specific characteristics of classroom tasks and activities that generate the most flow. Participating teachers select five (5) different activities that their students will evaluate for flow. The protocol is simple. Teachers execute an activity as they normally would. Immediately following the activity, teachers invite their learners to fill out an anonymous 5-minute on-line flow questionnaire, which is then linked to a short on-line teacher questionnaire describing the attributes of the activity. We are aiming to evaluate 100 tasks and activities, in order to identify specific flow-enhancing characteristics and features.
The results of the study will be shared on this website. We will use those results to create a framework, which teachers can use to evaluate and improve their own practices with regard to optimal experience and flow. Furthermore, the results will also allow us to elaborate flow-generating tasks and make them available on this website. Finally, we are creating an on-line Flow Calculator, which will allow teachers to get instant feedback from their students about flow levels associated with a given activity.
If you are interested in participating in the L2 Classroom Flow Project, please feel free to contact us.
Best wishes,
Michael Zuniga, Ph. D.
Professeur en didactique des langues secondes
Département de didactique des langues
Université du Québec à Montréal
Rédacteur en chef de la Revue de l’AQEFLS