The Impact of Learning Task Characteristics on College Freshmen's English Class Flow: The Mediating Effect of Task Value Perception

Objectives This study aims to improve college freshmen's class flow by analyzing the relationship between learning task characteristics, class flow, and task value perception in learner-centered college English classes. Methods A survey was conducted for 3 weeks from July 3 at the end of the first semester to 127 freshmen at S university who took college English in 2023. For data analysis, SPSS WIN 26.0 was used to analyze the relationship between task characteristics, class flow, and task value. Results First, as a result of correlation analysis between learning task characteristics, class flow, and task value, task difficulty and interest factors showed the highest correlation with class flow, and task evaluation and importance factors also showed high correlation. Second, learning task characteristics showed a significant impact on task value and class flow, and task value also appeared to have a positive effect on class flow, of which task difficulty level task evaluation and presentation method had the highest influence. Third, task value was found to play a partial mediating role in the relationship between task characteristics and class flow. Conclusions It was confirmed that task value perception plays a mediating role in the relationship between learning task characteristics and class flow. It suggests that careful and specific task design considering students' level and characteristics is important to increase class flow.