A study of 21st century skills and engagement in a university Spanish foreign language classroom

Abstract

Increasing concern regarding student disengagement and education's role in helping students to navigate the ever‐changing realities of a globalized society has focused attention on the importance of 21st century skills. This mixed‐methods study investigated whether and how intensely students experienced optimal engagement during a Spanish project that required them to conduct and reflect on a 30‐minute interview with a native speaker of Spanish. Engagement was measured through the lens of Csikszentmihalyi's (1996) flow theory. Findings revealed that authentic, real‐world tasks that require students to make use of 21st century skills and which engage learners affectively facilitate behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement.

Covid-19 Salgini Zamaninda Yabanci Di̇l Olarak İngi̇li̇zce Öğrenen Li̇sans Sevi̇yesi̇ndeki̇ Türk Öğrenci̇leri̇ni̇n Çevri̇mi̇çi̇ Di̇l Dersleri̇ndeki̇ Akiş Deneyi̇mleri̇

“…Particularly, for several researchers, it has been a crucial point to be addressed in language learning. In connection with this, there are several studies carried out on flow experience in face-to-face language learning (Deweale & MacIntyre 2017; Cox & Montgomery, 2019;Kirchhoff, 2013). They mostly address to the question whether students experience flow (Cox, 2104) and the factors causing this state (Cho, 2018).…”

“…In the mixed-methods study of Cox and Montgomery (2019), flow experience was called 'optimal engagement'. The study aimed at investigating whether students experienced intense flow in a process in which they were subjected to 30-minute interview with a Spanish native-speaker.…”

“…According to these studies, the students mostly experienced flow in face-to-face language learning. While tasks given to the students during learning process showed significant impacts on flow (Cho, 2018, Cox & Montgomery, 2019Egbert, 2012;Şentürk, 2012), 21 st century skills were also found to be correlated with flow experiences of the students (Cox, 2014;Cox & Montgomery, 2019). In the studies on game-based language learning, it was revealed that in this way of language learning students experienced flow while certain factors such as clear goal, feedback and difficulty/skill balance led to this flow experience (Li et al, 2019).…”

“…In the light of reviewed literature, although there is a growing attention to research flow experiences of language learners, there is still a lot to search about the field. Relevant literature has mostly dealt with the flow experience in face-to-face language learning (Cho, 2018;Cox & Montgomery, 2019) and in game-based language learning (Hong et al, 2017;Hsu, 2017). The limited number of the studies on flow experience in online language learning (Ebrahimzadeh & Alavi, 2016;Nguyen, 2011) necessitates to study in this field.…”

“…Although several people have given explanations to this concept, their explanations do not vary on a large scale, Csikszentmihalyi (1996) describes flow in nine categories below: Regarding these elements, it will be noteworthy to address the differences between the flow in face-to-face learning and in online learning. Considering the literature, while engagement (cognitive-behavioural-emotional) is more related to flow state in classroom environment (Cox, 2014;Cox & Montgomery, 2019), self-efficacy affecting flow comes into prominence in online learning (Hong, Hwang, Tai & Lin, 2017). Further, difficult tasks and authentic materials make students experience more flow in classroom environment (Egbert, 2003;Kirchhoff, 2013, Cho, 2018, the competence of technology usage catalyses flow in online learning environment (Nguyen, 2011;Hong et al, 2017).…”