The dynamic effects of flow experience and resilience among ESL learners with cross-lagged panel analysis

There has been a gradual interest in research on individual positive factors in second language acquisition (SLA) under the influence of positive psychology. However, existing literature mainly focuses on cross-sectional analysis without considering the dynamic nature of individual factors. To address this gap, based on the broaden-and-build theory, the present study traced 115 English as second language (ESL) learners for five consecutive weeks and explored the dynamic trends of their flow experience and resilience, as well as their temporal directionality. Results revealed that both learners’ flow experience and resilience did not exhibit significant growth and decline. The cross-lagged panel analysis indicated that learners’ resilience consistently and significantly predicted flow experience over 5 weeks, whereas flow experience was only predictive of resilience at specific points. This study revealed the dynamic nature of learners’ flow experience and resilience, which provides pedagogical implications for educators to implement interventions to facilitate learners’ flow experience.