Abstract

State of flow has been conceived as the optimal mental condition on a learner's part for task engagement and learning (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). The occurrence of flow experience during language learning activities depends to a large extent on those features of learning environment which are mainly derived from a dynamic view of cognitive-affective functioning. Consequently, a balanced combination of cognitive, emotional and motivational engagement with a language learning task is regarded as a favorable condition for flow sate to occur (Dornyei, 2010). In this study, different pretask activities were used to induce emotional, motivational and cognitive engagement with a vocabulary learning task. The results indicated that each type of task engagement activity was effective in enhancing short-term gains in productive and receptive command of target words. Meanwhile, integrating the three types of task engagement activities led to the enhanced performance on both short-term and long-term assessment of target words, which is interpreted as resulting from flow state in task engagement. The findings of the study imply suggestions for adding emotional and motivational components to the syllabus and pedagogy of focused tasks in a task-based program.