Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)

Presenting a Profile of Flow Barriers in Modalities of Interaction during Covid-19 Pandemic among Iranian EFL Learners

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

University of Isfahan

Abstract

Flow, introduced as one of the founding concepts in positive psychology by Csikszentmihalyi (1990), refers to the complete absorption in a challenging mental, emotional, or physical task to the exclusion of attention to any other surrounding thing. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, whole aspects of human life have changed, and language learning is no exception. The present study explored various obstacles in experiencing flow among Iranian EFL learners while completing tasks in three different modalities: face-to-face (F2F), text-based, and audio-based interaction during the Covid-19 pandemic. The data were elicited from 55 upper-intermediate learners divided into three groups completing the tasks in pairs, each through one of the three modalities, as a part of their classroom activity. Immediately following class time, they were interviewed individually or through group chats via WhatsApp. Under the three different modalities, the qualitative content analysis identified obstacles in achieving flow and categorized them into five themes. The results revealed that the main barriers in the face-to-face group were related to contextual or environmental factors as well as to task-induced issues. However, technological, task-based, and teacher-related factors gained higher percentages among text-based and audio-based interaction themes. The findings offer insight into flow perception by second language learners in different task modalities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords

Main Subjects

The authors declare that there were no conflicts of interest and received no funding for this study.

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Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)
Volume 41, Issue 3
August 2022
Pages 27-55
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History
  • Receive Date: 13 March 2022
  • Revise Date: 18 June 2022
  • Accept Date: 26 June 2022
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