Mindsets and Language Learning

Growth and Fixed Mindsets

Maybe you’ve seen posters about them in school or heard your teachers talk about them. What do you know about them? If you don’t have any previous knowledge about them, what can you guess? Growth mindsets are defined by Rasmussen, 2021 as “a belief that that intelligence can be strengthened and expanded through dedication and hard work”. Seems self-explanatory, right? People can learn new things. That much is intuitive. But what if we introduce fixed mindsets into the equation? Rasmussen also defined fixed mindsets as “The idea that intelligence is on a linear scale, and people fall somewhere on that scale and cannot budge from it”. So, what is the difference here? It comes down to the idea of intelligence itself. Merriam-Webster defines intelligence as “The ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations”. If you are a college student, you are likely now figuring out how to file taxes, how to sign loans and leases, etc… You are being confronted with many difficult situations that you are learning how to deal with right now. You are gaining knowledge even in new and trying situations, just as the official dictionary definition states.

Another key part of this definition of intelligence is the ability to learn. Have you ever said that you just aren’t good at math? Or whatever subject for that matter. That is an example of a fixed mindset because by stating that you aren’t good at something, you are stating that your ability to learn – your intelligence – is fixed and will never change. But that’s not true, right? 

Learning is a constant journey, and we do it all the time. From the moment we were born, we started to learn about the world, about language, about life. We are all born with immense intelligence (the ability to learn), but fixed mindsets say that some people don’t have a large intelligence. How can our ability to learn just disappear? Newsflash, it can’t! But by subscribing to a fixed mindset, learning can feel much more difficult.

Fixed mindsets can take over our learning when we become attached to a score or result such as a grade. If we don’t get our desired outcome, our attitudes may start to falter. We stop taking notes and start messing around. By giving in to our fixed mindset, we are limiting ourselves and our ability to learn. What if, instead, we took that bad test score and asked the teacher for help, or searched for resources that worked better for us? We are changing the narrative that our brains are not capable into something empowering – I can do this. We are the only ones holding us back. We are one of many people pushing ourselves forward. 

Though this book is about languages, the concept of growth mindsets can be applied to every aspect of your life, from fixing your broken phone screen to solving a chemistry problem. But this is a book about how to learn languages, so let’s see some growth mindset approaches language learning.

In sum, there might be common ideas out there that “kids just learn languages so much easier” or “the grammar is way too hard for me!” (some of the common misconceptions from before!). Even if we don’t intend these thoughts to impede our learning, they affect our attitude in a negative way. Anyone can learn a language. No matter how young or old. We are all humans. We are all capable of learning.