Abstract

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This study takes a positive psychology approach to the integration of technology in the foreign language classroom. Specifically, it explores the benefits of using flow criteria (Czimmerman & Piniel, 2016; Egbert, 2003) to guide the design sequence of a technology-mediated project for a French for business course (advanced level). In the course of six weeks, twenty students progressed through several collaborative and individual tasks culminating in the co-construction and presentation of a website designed to introduce a new company and product. The analysis of their reflection essays, produced at the conclusion of the project, shows that clear objectives, interest, time to explore, sense of control, and being pushed out of their comfort zone to address various challenges they encountered led to a meaningful experience. Experiencing positive emotions in relation to achievement and creativity was transformative leading them to build confidence, resilience, language skills and strategies, and plan for their future learning path. The findings suggest that fruitful integration of technology should not be judged solely on its effect on linguistic development but also on its potential to generate positive emotions to support engagement in foreign language learning.

Key words: Foreign language pedagogy, technology-mediated project, emotions, French for specific purposes, engagement

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Research on the integration and implementation of technology in the curriculum has examined the role of affect on students’ perceptions. Emotions such as enjoyment, pride, frustration, and anxiety have all been linked to engagement with technology-mediated tasks and the perceived usefulness of technology for foreign language learning (Castaneda, 2013; Ducate & Lomicka, 2008; Karabulut, LeVelle, Li, & Suvorov, 2012; Liu, Wang, & Tai, 2016; Yang & Chen, 2007). In their extensive review of the effectiveness of the use technology for foreign language learning, Golonka, Bowles, Franck, Richardson, and Freynik (2014) remark that reporting the affective benefits tied to the use of technology (e.g., enjoyment and motivation) is certainly valuable and informative but does not demonstrate improvement in learning or proficiency. However, as MacIntyre and Mercer point out (2014), attention to “the processes and timescales in which learners can be seen to be happy and experience flourishing” (p. 163) offers a worthy perspective for foreign language teaching. Solely focusing on the effects of technology on language competence or on the depth of achievement is not sufficient to inform the design and implementation of technology-mediated tasks. Successful integration is inevitably tied to what makes the overall learning experience positive and engaging for students.

Csikszentmihalyi (1988) contends that concerns with the quality of human experience makes flow relevant. Defined as a state of intense focus and involvement that stimulates learning and development (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997, 2003), flow can be viewed as a heightened form of engagement. Experiencing flow can lead to losing one’s self in the task, and being completely absorbed can alter one’s sense of time spent on task. In order to successfully complete the task, students have to activate or adapt their skills, which promotes a sense of achievement, allowing them to measure progress in their development and feel positive about the learning experience. Csikszentmihalyi also points out that enjoyment and interest are key to finding flow. Positive emotions and engagement are the first two elements of the Seligman’s (2011) PERMA model, which characterizes the dimensions of well-being. The other three are “developing positive interpersonal relationships (R), finding meaning by serving a cause beyond oneself (M), and recognizing areas of accomplishment and achievement (A) (Seligman, 2011, as cited in MacIntyre & Mercer, 2014, p. 154). Determining if flow and engagement are one and the same is beyond the scope of this study. However, recent investigations of student engagement reflect the components of the optimal experience described by Csikszentmihalyi. Shernoff (2013) defines engagement as “the heightened, simultaneous experience of concentration, interest, and enjoyment in the task at hand” (p. 12). Oxford and Cuéllar (2014) refer to “the positive undercurrent of flow” (p. 197) as supportive of engagement and argue that the notion of meaning and engagement are inextricably linked because “learners become engaged in that which they consider meaningful” (Oxford, 2016, p. 25).

This article investigates students’ emotional experience of a pilot website design and planning project in a French for business course (advanced level) and how it relates to characteristics known to induce flow. The study examines how using flow criteria to guide the integration of technology affects the learning experience and aims to better understand the links between flow, emotions, project design criteria, and effective use of technology for language learning. To frame my approach, I start by examining the role of positive and negative emotions in the learning process. Next, I combine characteristics of flow-inducing tasks (Czimmerman & Piniel, 2016; Egbert, 2003) and conditions for project-based language learning (Stoller, 2006) to develop design criteria for the project. I proceed to explain my rationale for incorporating website development in a business-oriented course and describe how I used the criteria developed for the purpose of this study to sequence the various tasks in the project. Finally, I report on why students found producing a website a meaningful experience and how the emotions they experienced impacted their perception of progress and personal development as language learners and users.

Emotions and Learning

As Achor (2010) points out, students who experience positive emotions are better students because positive emotions “flood our brains with dopamine and serotonin, chemicals that not only make us feel good, but dial up the learning centers of our brains to higher levels” (p. 14). In other words, positive emotions are tied to mental processes and can enhance learning by providing opportunities to flourish. For Fredrickson and Cohn (2008), they drive active engagement in the learning environment and students’ inclination to participate in tasks and activities. Fredrickson (2001, 2003) identified several positive emotions, such as joy, interest, contentment, pride, and love, and proposes that experiencing these emotions generate an impetus for creativity, exploration, and development of new perspectives of how one sees the self and the world. As a result, individuals build personal resources, “which function as reserves that can be drawn on in subsequent moments and in different emotional states” (Fredrickson, 2001, p. 220). Therefore, positive emotions have an enduring effect that goes beyond their momentary occurrence because they help develop one’s ability to cope with future challenging situations. As such, they can build self-confidence by enhancing understanding and awareness of one’s capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses.

MacIntyre and Mercer (2014) remark that positive and negative emotions are not mutually exclusive; one does not signify the absence of the other. Rather, they should be considered as “two dimensions of experience” (p. 162): positive-broadening and negative-narrowing, both belonging to the learning process, because they help regulate “the whole emotional entity to maintain engagement” (Ibrahim, 2016, p. 277). An interesting, enjoyable, and satisfying task can empower students to mediate negative-narrowing emotions and handle the “dissonance found within their possible selves” (MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012, p. 211) by taking remedial actions or developing new skills or strategies. However, as Lake points out (2016), from a positive psychology standpoint, the focus is not “on reducing the discrepancy between a present and future self” (p. 329), as Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 self-system model proposes. Rather, the power of positive-broadening emotions resides in how they can unveil one’s self-potential and develop outlook and perspectives on what one is capable of accomplishing.

Defining Design Criteria for a Positive Learning Experience

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Taking a positive psychology approach to design a technology-mediated project implies creating conditions to engender positive emotions in order to stimulate engagement and potentially trigger a flow-like state of complete immersion, when “overall awareness of the self as well as the sense of time is reduced” (Guz & Tetiurka, 2016, p. 140). Egbert (2003) specifically addresses the use of technology in relation to flow. In her study, she focused on reading and computer-mediated tasks (emails and online chat). Her participants attributed their heightened interest and focus to communicating with native speakers rather than the computer tool, leading her to conclude that it is not the technology itself but how it is used within the task that will contribute to engagement, immersion, and fulfillment (flow) or frustration and boredom (anti-flow). Her findings suggest that engaging tasks entail initiative-taking and meaning-making, with language “serving a purpose that learners perceive to be authentic” (p. 505). Designing to induce flow requires optimally balancing the challenge within the task with the skills necessary to perform it (Czimmermann & Piniel, 2016). This optimal balance between task demands and skills prompts students to explore ways to improve their performance and take risks to meet the challenge. However, as Egbert points out, achieving this balance is not sufficient on its own to promote heightened engagement. She stipulates other conditions necessary to support flow: focusing learners’ attention, which calls for minimal interruptions; capturing learners’ interest; and eliciting learners’ sense of control by providing opportunities to make choices in terms of content and self-expression. Tasks must have clearly defined goals, and the information and actions necessary to reaching the goals need to be incorporated throughout. In addition, Czimmerman and Piniel (2016) recommend variety and creativity to engage and sustain attention.

Despite the guidelines provided by Egbert (2003) and Czimmerman and Piniel (2016), how to balance challenge and skills to foster a positive emotional state conducive to engagement is conceptually vague and abstract. Because pride, enjoyment, interest, satisfaction as well as increased engagement are often reported in project work (Lee, 2002; Mills, 2009; Stoller, 2006), project-based learning seems ideally suited to create conditions of a positive learning experience. Stoller (2006) lists sequential and manageable tasks, integration of skills, language use and content, choice, responsibility, and collaboration as key elements of a project-based approach. The Essential Project Design Elements outlined by Larmer (2015), which emphasize sustained inquiry, authenticity, student voice and choice, reflection, critique and revision, offer additional pedagogical guidelines to designing a project aimed at generating and supporting a positive learning experience. The following criteria emerged from the integration of the PBL design elements with characteristics of flow-inducing tasks:

• Appropriate and manageable challenge

• Clearly defined goals (real-world)

• Interesting or authentic topic and task

• Sufficient time for completion and a chance to focus

• Structured opportunities for regular and varied types of feedback (to sustain attention)

• Sense of control (choice)

Creating a Realistic and Authentic Context for Language Use

Although projects can be configured in many ways, they usually entail sequenced tasks that help students progress toward the completion of a final tangible product with real-world relevance (Mills, 2009; Stoller, 2006). Using language for purposes that reflect real-world contexts and situation in a collaborative setting provide opportunities to “work on different competences simultaneously” (Barba, 2006, p. 60). At the university where this study took place, the curriculum of an existing French for business course was revisited and emphasis was placed on developing students’ communicative skills and cross-cultural problem-solving abilities through the exploration of business protocols and practices. One of its redefined objectives was to provide opportunities to engage self-expression in the presentational mode of communication within a business environment.

Martin and Adrada-Rafael (2017) point out that, “practicing job interviews, writing a report, or giving a formal presentation to colleagues using PowerPoint all represent common tasks in the business world that, consequently, need to be addressed in the L2 classroom” (p. 57). However, while these tasks do reflect real world situations beyond the classroom, they do not integrate current business digital practices. Companies (regardless of their size) use websites to reach their customers and promote themselves and their products. Because “the world’s internet users prefer to surf the web in their native language” (Blake, 2013, pp. 25-26), it seems quite fundamental to address website development in a business-oriented language course. Websites are localized communication tools that are well suited to the practice of evaluating and producing culturally situated written and visual messages, highly conducive to developing 21st century communication skills (Warschauer, 2001). To ensure that students would not focus on the technology itself, emphasis was placed on the tangible purpose of website development: to present and communicate information. In this course project, students needed to develop a website to introduce a new company and product (that they invented), which they presented orally in class at the end of the semester. 

Designing the Website Project

The criteria outlined above guided the development and sequencing of this project. They are presented in the order they were used to articulate its organization and content. The French for business course met twice a week for 75 minutes. The project was conducted entirely in French over the last six weeks of a 15-week semester. In the presentational mode of communication, students are expected to “present information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media and adapting to various audiences of listeners, readers, or viewers” (National Standards, ACTFL, 2015). The website design and planning project described below contained five tasks (individual and collective) all designed to address different aspects of the presentational mode: a business action plan (10% of the final grade), an ebanner with a slogan (5%), a website (15%), an oral presentation (10%), and a reflection essay (5%). Each component was graded individually based on rubrics I developed.

Appropriate and manageable challenge

Building a website might at first seem intimidating. Students might worry they do not have the necessary skills (technological or linguistic), or they may be overwhelmed by the amount of work they imagine it will entail, which might induce anti-flow experiences, such as anxiety, boredom, or apathy (Czimmerman & Piniel, 2016). It was, therefore, important to ensure that the technological burden would not interfere with the website development. I elected to use Wix, a free and easy-to-use platform for website construction. Wix requires no coding skills and provides templates, allowing users to focus on content rather than on the technical aspects. To ensure that students felt they possessed the level of linguistic competence necessary to presenting a product and a company, the course content addressed some specific notions related to a business website: company types and organization (including job positions), industry sectors and the fastest-growing ones worldwide, companies’ modes of communication with consumers, and website component analysis.

Clear goals

A contextualization articulating the authentic purpose of using French was required to signal that the website represented the communicative tool and that the main goal was to publicize a new product. To introduce the project, I sent each student an email to invite them to participate in an innovative entrepreneur incubator workshop. In class, I explained that as participants in the workshop, they would partner with another attendee, identify a need or an issue, and devise a solution (i.e., the product). Each pair would create their own company and develop a website to present their product solution to the other participants in the workshop, who would then decide the top four to be entered in a seed-funding contest. The project goal was thus to identify an issue and envision how to solve it. Partner selection was integrated in a “meet and greet” class session. Armed with a set of predetermined questions, students discussed their interests with a minimum of five other students.

An interesting task

The authentic nature of the task is not sufficient to induce interest. Czimmerman and Piniel (2016) contend that a task should also be open-ended and enable creativity. Designing an ebanner and a website, developing a marketing action plan and creating a product and company meet these criteria. A meaningful purpose and clear guidelines articulated the task; however, students could decide which issue they wished to work with, constructed their own solution, and had the freedom to choose the content of the website, provided the information contained in the action plan and the ebanner were included.

Sufficient time and chance to focus

To ensure that students could focus their attention on the task, homework and classwork consisted of tasks that guided them in developing the content for the website. Several benchmarks were aimed at keeping them on task to create a sense of progress toward the final tangible product. The breaking down of distal goals into proximal goals contributes to engagement because a sense of progress emerges from completing smaller steps. During week one, they found a partner and identified an issue or need. Week two was spent creating the action plan describing the product and company, customers characteristics, product price and distribution methods. They handed in their actions plans at the beginning of week three. During that week, we also analyzed website architectures, use of colors and images, and students started planning content and organization of their website. Weeks four and five were devoted entirely to building the website. Oral presentations took place during the last two class sessions (week 6).

Immediate feedback

To sustain attention, focus and engagement, students need to know that they are progressing successfully toward the final objectives by achieving smaller goals and milestones. Cooper and Murphy (2016) consider the role of feedback is to “articulate how [students] are doing and help [them] decide what [they] should do next” (p. 91). During week one, each pair presented their issue and solution in an elevator pitch (short and brief description) to another group. I provided written feedback on the business action plan regarding content and language use (beginning of week 4). Students commented on each other’s presentations. In addition to peer and instructor feedback, eliciting self-evaluation seemed highly relevant to reflect on engagement with the project. Bandura (1986) stresses the importance of self-reflection, which engages an individual in evaluating the self and can lead to modifying self-beliefs and behaviors. Aragão (2011) explains that, “through reflection, students are able to identify beliefs, emotions, challenges and how to deal with them” (p. 305). Thus, following their presentation at the end of the project, students wrote a reflection essay to consider and examine their performance, what they had accomplished, what they had learned from the experience, and how it might apply to future endeavors.

A sense of control

Clear goals and guidelines outlining students’ responsibilities activate the perception of autonomy (Egbert, 2003) and contribute to sustaining engagement and flow. Czimmerman and Piniel (2016) remark that allowing students some control over the outcome will maintain their interest and involvement. As they developed their website, students could draw on their existing knowledge and experience and tailor the content to the level of linguistic competence they felt comfortable with. They were able to choose their partner based on mutual interest in an issue and control the look, feel, and organization of the website.

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Table 1 summarizes all the components and criteria incorporated into the design of the project to foster engagement and generate a positive learning experience.

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Table 1

Design Components to Foster Engagement

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