You can’t be happy without grammar – on the conditions necessary to achieve a state of flow in the context of Polish glottodidactics

Abstract

M. Csikszentmihalyi, as a result of many years of research, has attempted to answer the eternal question about the conditions of happiness (2022). He defined the state of optimal experience, which is also the state of peak efficiency, and he called it flow. This article proposes a look at the action-oriented approach in teaching Polish as a foreign language as a potential field for experiencing the state of flow by both sides of the educational process. The focus of the discussion is teaching-learning grammar, which is a prerequisite for achieving optimal experience in the context of Polish language glottodidactics. The text also presents an example of a 10-week-long educational project that gives learners the opportunity to experience the state of flow, as well as a description of a survey conducted after completing the task, regarding the feelings/emotional states and thoughts accompanying the participants of the project at its various stages. The results show, on a specific example, the mechanisms that enable staying in the flow channel as part of the language teaching-learning process. The article ends with an attempt to look at teaching-learning grammar as an important component co-creating the well-being of both parties of the relevant process.