A Qualitative Study on Subjective Attitudes and Objective Achievement of Autotelic and Non-autotelic Students of English as a Foreign Language

Abstract

Csikszentmihalyi (Flow. Harper and Row, New York, 1990), who introduced the concept of autotelic personality, claims that an autotelic individual is the one who performs certain actions for their own sake, rather than in order to achieve some external goals. Moreover, autotelic personalities have a greater ability “to initiate, sustain, and enjoy optimal experiences. The mark of the autotelic personality is the ability to manage a rewarding balance between the ‘play’ of challenge finding and the ‘work’ of skill building. Thus autotelic individuals should enjoy clear advantages in realizing the development of their talents to the fullest extent” (Csikszentmihalyi et al. in Talented teenagers: The roots of success and failure. Cambridge University Press, New York, p. 80, 1993). The present paper seeks to depict the qualitative research on the differences between autotelic and non-autotelic English philology students, namely their subjective attitudes and objective achievements in the process of learning English as a foreign language.

Appendix

Results of the qualitative research on subjective attitudes and objective achievements of autotelic and non-autotelic students of EFL

Open questions	Autotelics’ answers	Non-autotelics’ answers
Do you ever do something where your concentration is so intense, your attention so undivided and wrapped up in what you are doing that you sometimes become unaware of things you normally notice (for instance, other people talking, loud noises, the passage of time, being hungry or tired, having an appointment, having some physical discomfort)?	Writing, reading and communicating with native speakers as the activities that stimulate the concentration most; watching movies and listening to the music make the attention undivided	Similar to those of the autotelics; literature, perceived as a very demanding subject- mentioned only by the non-autotelics
Do you ever do something where your skills have become so ‘second nature’ that sometimes everything seems to come to you ‘naturally’ or ‘effortlessly’, and where you feel confident that you will be ready to meet any new challenges?	Communicating with others, watching movies and British channels on TV, and reading authentic materials	Similar to those of the autotelics
Do you ever do something where you feel that the activity is worth doing in itself? In other words, even if there were no other benefits associated with it (for instance, financial reward, improved skills, recognition from others, and so on), you would still do it	Speaking, inventive and creative activities, important for their future goals; cooperation and team work, communicating with other people, native speakers as well, reading, not only obligatory material, but also dramas and poems; writing essays, poems and e-mails, watching TV or listening to the music. Some mentioned grammar tasks; the activity is worth doing in itself when they feel competent and successful; the role of the EFL tasks- they find challenging but pleasant and satisfying; activities which can enlarge their EFL knowledge, that is browsing through dictionaries or learning new, very often very sophisticated and unique, vocabulary, which is not the part of their curriculum, done for pleasure of doing and for satisfaction	Listening, and writing activities, such as letters and e-mails and translating texts into Polish; moreover, learning English vocabulary and pronunciation, reading English literature, comics, fairy tales, and idioms or authentic materials from newspapers, and also learning grammar
Do you ever do something that has provided some unique and very memorable moments—for which you feel extremely lucky and grateful—that has changed your perspectives on life (or yourself) in some way?	Communicating in English with people all around the world, also with native speakers, reading literature and watching movies and TV programs. Some mentioned methodology, psychology and teaching others as the activities. Some find the opportunity to enlarge their knowledge valuable. Some had doubts, but still declared that the feelings examined are not unfamiliar to them. Some experienced the aforementioned feelings quite rarely	Communicating with people, reading books and magazines and getting to know British and American culture; meeting, including native speakers, watching movies and other programs on British Channels, enlarging vocabulary and translating; They feel advantageous and satisfied when the task is completed successfully and when teaching English but their students must be highly motivated
Would you have learned English if you had had a choice?	100 %—Yes	86 %—Yes
Has anything happened, or have you done anything which could have affected how you feel about learning English	Visiting English speaking countries, meeting English culture and native speakers, finding English essential in the future goals, English as a means of communication with people all around the world, listening to English music, watching movies and reading English stories, positive learning experiences with English from primary or secondary schools, English as the informants’ favourite subject, or the subject they were particularly successful at, and the role of the English teachers who influenced the informants	Similar to those given by autotelics
Do you ever do something where your skills have become so ‘second nature’ that sometimes everything seems to come to you ‘naturally’ or ‘effortlessly’, and where you feel confident that you will be ready to meet any new challenges?	Communicating with others, watching movies and British channels on TV, and authentic materials	Similar to those of the autotelics