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Effectiveness of an Immersive Flow State Approach in Reducing Speaking Latency and Improving L2 Oral Fluency
Subject area: Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities · Area of research: Linguistics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I8-1714538
Abstract
Indian higher education Regional-medium students are usually able to show a good level of English literacy but constant deficiency in spoken English, which is often explained by the so-called affective mind blocks anxiousness, shyness, fear of negative judgment. The research question is whether or not a pedagogical approach to modeling informed by the Flow Theory, called the Immersive Flow State Approach (IFSA), can reduce the latency in speaking and enhance the L2 oral performance in the Tamil-medium engineering undergraduates. A randomized pretest- post-test two-group experimental design was used having N = 200 Tamil- medium undergraduate engineering students in a private engineering college in Tamil Nadu, India (experimental n = 150; control n = 50). The course was 12-weeks long, combined with the principles of the Flow Theory, flipped learning, and communicative and task-based classroom practice. The speaking performance was evaluated based on the Dialogue Completion, Picture-Cued, and Responsive Assessment activities graded on the basis of a 5-point analytic rubric that included the following points: response time, fluency, relevancy/accuracy, vocabulary, and grammar; the inter-rater reliability was determined (Cohen kappa). Data analysis was done in SPSS version 28.0 with pre-post analysis and additional analyses. The procedures of ethical approval and written informed consent were observed. There were significant pre- and post-experimental gains on the results of the experimental group, such as response time/latency and fluency. As an illustration, in the Dialogue Completion Task, response-time ratings rose by M = 1.40 (SD = 0.50) between pretest and post-test and the gain in fluency by M = 1.32 (SD = 0.476) to M = 2.96 (SD = 0.611) (statistically significant, p =.001). Conversely, the control group did not demonstrate a significantly high or varied measure change. The outcomes of the learner feedback showed that the perceived changes of the anxiety-related barriers were strong and the perceptions of the elements of the intervention were positive.
Keywords
Flow Theory, L2 Speaking Fluency And Speaking Anxiety, Flipped Classroom, Regional-Medium Learners.
References
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[2] Chang, Y. (2023). Flipping EFL low-proficiency students’ learning: An empirical study. Language Teaching Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231165474
[3] Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper & Row.
[4] Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. A. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125–132.
[5] Jiang, Y., & Dewaele, J.-M. (2019). How unique is the foreign language classroom enjoyment and anxiety of Chinese EFL learners? System, 82, 13–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2019.02.017
[6] Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Pergamon.
[7] Payant, C., & Zuniga, M. (2022). Learners’ flow experience during peer revision in a virtual writing course during the global pandemic. System, 105, 102715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102654
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How to cite this paper
@article{1714538,
author = {J. Rajkamal Petro, Dr. M. Beulah Hemalatha},
title = {Effectiveness of an Immersive Flow State Approach in Reducing Speaking Latency and Improving L2 Oral Fluency},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2026},
volume = {9},
number = {8},
pages = {2260-2269},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1714538.pdf},
abstract = {Indian higher education Regional-medium students are usually able to show a good level of English literacy but constant deficiency in spoken English, which is often explained by the so-called affective mind blocks anxiousness, shyness, fear of negative judgment. The research question is whether or not a pedagogical approach to modeling informed by the Flow Theory, called the Immersive Flow State Approach (IFSA), can reduce the latency in speaking and enhance the L2 oral performance in the Tamil-medium engineering undergraduates. A randomized pretest- post-test two-group experimental design was used having N = 200 Tamil- medium undergraduate engineering students in a private engineering college in Tamil Nadu, India (experimental n = 150; control n = 50). The course was 12-weeks long, combined with the principles of the Flow Theory, flipped learning, and communicative and task-based classroom practice. The speaking performance was evaluated based on the Dialogue Completion, Picture-Cued, and Responsive Assessment activities graded on the basis of a 5-point analytic rubric that included the following points: response time, fluency, relevancy/accuracy, vocabulary, and grammar; the inter-rater reliability was determined (Cohen kappa). Data analysis was done in SPSS version 28.0 with pre-post analysis and additional analyses. The procedures of ethical approval and written informed consent were observed. There were significant pre- and post-experimental gains on the results of the experimental group, such as response time/latency and fluency. As an illustration, in the Dialogue Completion Task, response-time ratings rose by M = 1.40 (SD = 0.50) between pretest and post-test and the gain in fluency by M = 1.32 (SD = 0.476) to M = 2.96 (SD = 0.611) (statistically significant, p =.001). Conversely, the control group did not demonstrate a significantly high or varied measure change. The outcomes of the learner feedback showed that the perceived changes of the anxiety-related barriers were strong and the perceptions of the elements of the intervention were positive.},
keywords = {Flow Theory, L2 Speaking Fluency And Speaking Anxiety, Flipped Classroom, Regional-Medium Learners.},
month = {February},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I8-1714538}
}