Pre-Service Teachers' Task Engagement in Flipped Chinese Language and Culture Learning

Definition of Task Engagement

All learning is based on tasks; a task designed for language learning should provide learners with the opportunity to acquire and utilize language knowledge and skills to achieve specific learning objectives related to effective communication (Egbert, 2004; Wang et al., 2022). The construct of language task engagement, deeply rooted in the concept of engagement, has recently gained considerable research interest. Literature has defined student task engagement in various ways. Generally, it is defined as students’ involvement with their tasks (Meltzer & Hamann, 2005; Lutz et al., 2006). For example, Reeve (2012) explained that task engagement is “the extent of student’s active involvement in a learning activity” (p. 150). In line with Reeve, Oga-Baldwin (2019) claimed that task engagement is “visible and invisible actions that learners take toward learning” (p. 9). In a language learning setting, task engagement happens when language learners are involved in completing a language activity even though they are challenged by the class activities (Mohamadi, 2017). This study defines task engagement as the deep involvement that face-to-face or online activities can generate during students doing their tasks.