Get grammar lessons 'flow'ing...

As a reminder, there are 9 elements that contribute to flow (read more about flow here):

1. clear goals every step of the way
2. immediate feedback for one's actions
3. balance between challenges and skills
4. action and awareness are merged
5. distractions are excluded from consciousness
6. no worry of failure
7. self-consciousness disappears
8. sense of time becomes distorted
9. activity becomes 'autotelic' (an end in itself)

How can we write lesson plans that apply these principles?  

When we use clear goals in our lesson plans, they help us create a focused, concentrated sequence of activities that will start from the assessed learner's needs and gradually build on their skills and knowledge to ensure that new content is learned one concept at a time with increasing levels of independence. This makes it possible for learners to gain confidence with new material in an environment that balances skill with challenge in such a way as to produce the feeling of flow, which will be discussed in a following point.

What does this look like in practice?  Goals will be specific and focused.  They will be few.  Activities in the lesson will be gradually building confidence.  First, the topic will be presented, learners will practice first in a 'safer' environment among peers with activities that involve group or peer work.  Learners at this point will correct themselves or others.  By doing so, adequate feedback is given, learners are less self-conscious and they are interacting and using the language, so they are aware.  Then, learners may practice independently with yet a more advanced activity that will increase the level of challenge since skill and knowledge have also increased.  

In fact, is essential that challenge and skill are well balanced if we want to achieve a sense of flow.  If activities planned in our lessons are too easy or have already been mastered by our learners, they will either be too relaxed, bored, or basically indifferent.  At the same time, if we have planned lessons that are too difficult, disregard gaps in learner skills and / or knowledge, or require learners to independently perform activities they are not yet prepared to perform in a small group or pair, we have misjudged our learners' readiness.  In this case, learners may feel frustrated, anxious, or worried.  

Whether it is indifference or anxiety, such feelings will not contribute to learning and will not result in flow.  Lessons with a good balance of challenge and skill do not throw learners into the sea without first teaching them to swim - or at least giving them a life jacket.  Rather, learners are well prepared for the challenges presented to them throughout the lesson (by the teaching of specific skills and knowledge necessary to effectively achieve the goal of the lesson).  Because he or she has mastered the required tools for the challenge, the learner does not fear it and will apply themselves and the newly acquired tools (skills and knowledge) to the challenge with joy.

A good balance of challenge and skill also keeps learners involved and on task.  As Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes in his video about flow, the brain can handle only so much stimulation at a time.  Thus, when learners are adequately challenged and have the right skills required by the activity, they will be busy, focused on the application of their skills, their awareness will be heightened and the activity will become autotelic or an 'end to itself'. 

What does this look like in practice?  It appears as a progression from perception (through presentation) to recognition and comprehension (through focused practice) to use (independent free use).  Activities will be planned in such a way as to reflect this progression, moving gradually from one stage to another, providing adequate feedback and confidence along the way.

If we want our learners to be 'in a state of flow' as they are learning language, it is essential that we apply these techniques to our lesson planning.