Flow Theory in the L2 Context: Does “Optimal Challenge” Apply?

Abstract

This study explores the possibility of applying Csikszentmihalyi’s (1975, 1990) notion of “flow” to L2 contexts. Flow describes an optimal human experience resulting from a balance of challenges and skills in diverse activities. This study investigates whether such a balance is necessary to achieve flow in L2 freewriting. It further considers the role of L2 writing anxiety in learners’ flow experience. The participants were forty-four university students. After 10 weeks of in-class L2 freewriting practice, they completed two surveys, one on their cognitive and affective experiences, and one on their perceptions of the challenge of freewriting, their freewriting skills, and their L2 writing anxiety. The survey results were used to create scores on balance between challenge and skills, and on Csikszentmihalyi’s optimal compatibility of challenges and skills. Regression analyses indicated that high challenge–skill compatibility was not a significant predictor for either emotional or cognitive experiences, contrary to what Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) hypothesis would predict. Rather, the participants felt both joy and cognitive engagement when they perceived their skill level to exceed the activity’s challenge level. L2 writing anxiety had a negative influence on cognitive involvement, but no influence on affective dimensions of freewriting.