Upward Facing Dog: motivation and flow in the Legal English classroom (workshop)

CHOVANCOVÁ, Barbora, Alena HRADILOVÁ and Štěpánka BILOVÁ. Upward Facing Dog: motivation and flow in the Legal English classroom (workshop). In CercleS 2020: Language Centres at a Crossroads: Open Directions for New Generations of Learners. 2020.

Basic information

• Original name: Upward Facing Dog: motivation and flow in the Legal English classroom (workshop)
• Authors: CHOVANCOVÁ, Barbora, Alena HRADILOVÁ and Štěpánka BILOVÁ.
• Edition: CercleS 2020: Language Centres at a Crossroads: Open Directions for New Generations of Learners, 2020.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 50300 5.3 Education
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Language Centre
• Keywords (in Czech): flow ve výuce jazyků; odborný cizí jazyk; právnická angličtina
• Keywords in English: flow in language learning; language for specific purposes (LSP); legal English
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

In the ideal language classroom, just like in a yoga studio, students are busily engaged, totally engrossed in their task, completely disregarding any outside distractions, being in the here and now. This is a state for which Csikszentmihalyi in mid 1970 s coined the term flow experience, i.e. “focused attention on a limited stim-ulus field containing challenges matching or marginally higherthan the person’s skills, and it is sought out by people because the state is an enjoyable one that they wish to experience again and again”. In this workshop, the participants had a chance to experience the scenario set up for law undergraduates to achieve the flow experience. This can be done by satisfying the followingconditions: clear goals, immediate feedback, and the right level of difficulty. In order for it to work, it needs to be a well -plannedand finely tuned challenge. To use the yoga analogy again, it would be unwise for a novice yogi to attempt an advanced Asthana class or for an experienced one to join a class for beginners, for learning can be as easily hampered by anxiety as by boredom. The yoga pose of Upward -Facing Dog will challenge you to lift and open your chest, our workshop will challenge you to rethink the classroom experience – or simply go with the flow.