Fixed And Growth Mindset And Language Learning
- Brainz Magazine
- Aug 29, 2022
- 5 min read
Written by: Sarah Henderson-Sharon, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I believe it is vital that language teachers train their learners to develop a wide range of positive learning habits. Without these, it is difficult for learners to make good progress, whatever the learning aim of the individual student.
Positive study habits include skills such as:
keeping organised records of new language
reviewing new language systematically
exploring and experimenting with language patterns
setting goals and making learning plans
Training learners to develop and independently use techniques like this not only facilitates faster language learning, it also fosters a growing sense of independence, achievement and control, all of which go a long way towards managing anxiety around the learning process. I have been supporting my clients in the use of positive study habits for years so I was fascinated when I recently learnt that a learner’s choice of how they study is a direct result of the mindset they have; until then, I had assumed that poor study habits were simply an indication of a knowledge gap about how to best learn. It seems, however, that the truth is deeper than that. I am sure that the terms ‘fixed mindset’ and ‘growth mindset’ are familiar to many people as they have become extremely well-known in many areas of human endeavour, from the arts to sport to business. To briefly summarise; people with a fixed mindset believe they have a certain amount of intelligence, skill, or ability and that these are unchangeable. Having this mindset means constantly needing to prove yourself to other people while making mistakes shows you are stupid or lacking in ability. You may fear other people will judge you negatively for your shortcomings and will do your best to cover them up.
On the other hand, those with a growth mindset believe that they can change their intelligence, skills and ability through application and experience. In other words, no matter where you start from, you have an infinite potential to grow with the correct education and experiences. People with this mindset constantly want to stretch themselves and tend not to give up when the going gets tough. They have a passion for learning which takes priority over their need to look good to other people and they are able to exploit their mistakes in order to learn and improve.
How the two mindsets connect to study habits
As a teacher and coach with almost two decades of experience, I have observed the learning habits of hundreds of students from all across the world. Some have had excellent study habits and are innovative and curious in their approach to learning; others set obstacles in their path by insisting on using poor techniques such as memorising lists of unconnected words. What's fascinating is that this choice depends on their mindset. Here's how it works:
Imagine a class of advanced business English learners. These students have a big event in English coming up soon, perhaps an important presentation or an interview for a promotion. As you can imagine, these learners are all highly motivated to succeed and they all take their studies seriously. However, they go about learning in radically different ways.
Half the students study by reading through their notes and materials. If they find something difficult, they read it repeatedly until they have understood it. They memorise their presentation or key phrases they want to use in the interview in case they forget what to say. Afterwards, if they feel they made too many mistakes during the presentation, they may be highly critical of themselves; similarly, if they failed to win the promotion, they may form a belief that they are not good at English and should stick to doing things in their first language as much as possible.
The other students learn by looking for themes and patterns and connecting ideas together. They practise the presentation and role-play the interview, then go back over all their mistakes and work on these areas until they completely understand them. Then they do more practice. Their focus is on learning rather than looking good on stage or impressing the interview panel. After the presentation or interview, they may consider the mistakes they made and seek to learn from them so that in the next presentation they will do better. And, should they fail to win the promotion, they will very likely pick themselves back up, reflect on what went wrong (maybe even asking for feedback) and treat the experience as a learning process rather than as a reflection on their English abilities. It should be clear that the second group are the ones with the growth mindset. It’s important to note that having a growth mindset doesn’t mean that you don’t feel disappointed when things don’t go your way; rather that you have the ability to take your failures and utilise them as learning tools instead of interpreting them as judgements on your intellect and ability.
Three simple ways you can ensure you approach language learning with a growth mindset
1. Focus on the process not the end goal
It’s very easy in our goal-orientated world to lose sight of the importance of the process that supports you on the way to your goals. For example, many language learners work towards exams and are fixated on achieving their desired scores. This is completely understandable, but in my experience, the candidates who tend to be most successful are the ones who:
a. Take ownership of their own learning
b. Seek to understand why something went wrong rather than beating themselves up for making mistakes
c. Are innovative and creative in their learning approach
In other words, treat the process as a huge learning opportunity rather than a painful inconvenience en route to your chose destination.
2. Invest time in learning how to learn
A great number of language learners at all ability levels simply do not know enough about how to learn efficiently. This is especially important given that many adult learners are what I call ‘time poor’; they have busy lives and although they wish to improve their language skills, their time is limited. Moreover, because of their time constraints, many learners wrongly believe that learning how to learn is a waste of time. It isn’t. Like any investment in upgrading one’s skills, learning how to learn pays dividends over time and is a skill set that can be extrapolated to other areas of life.
3. Treat mistakes as learning opportunities
Making mistakes is one of the biggest fears of anxious second language speakers. Second language speakers often view mistakes as showing them up or pointing out to others that they are not skilled or sophisticated in their language use. Now that we know a little about how the fixed mindset works, we can see that this way of looking at mistakes is an example of the way a fixed mindset is hooked on other people’s judgements. I have told my clients for years that mistakes are your best teachers; they are there to show you where you have room to expand, not highlight your weaknesses for all the world to see. Reframing the way you interpret your mistakes may be challenging, but it is a liberating exercise and one that can truly open you up to a growth mindset.
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Sarah Henderson-Sharon, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Sarah Henderson-Sharon is an expert in helping non-native English speakers overcome Second Language Anxiety: the fear, shame, and anxiety they experience when speaking English. A teacher with 17 years of experience, Sarah became aware of the damaging impact of Second Language Anxiety four years ago. Since then, Sarah has dedicated herself to helping her clients understand and move beyond their fears so that they can use English with confidence. She is the founder of Think Positive English where she offers 1-2-1 programs and a community speaking club empowering members to improve their spoken English.
Source:
Mindset – Changing the way you think to fulfill your potential ‒ Dr. Carol Dweck, Robinson 2017
