Mindsets and Language Learning

Logan Fisher; Bibi Halima; Keli Yerian

Chapter 1 – The Secrets of Language Learning

Mindsets and Language Learning

Logan Fisher; Bibi Halima; and Keli Yerian

Preview Questions

What are growth and fixed mindsets?
How do they apply to language learning?

Maybe you’ve seen posters about mindsets in school or heard your teachers talk about them. What do you know about them? If you don’t have previous knowledge about them, what can you guess?

Growth and Fixed Mindsets

A growth mindset is defined by Rasmussen (2021) as “a belief that intelligence can be strengthened and expanded through dedication and hard work” (Chapter 8, para. 2). Seems obvious, right? People can learn new things. That much is intuitive. But what if we introduce a fixed mindset into the equation? Rasmussen defined a fixed mindset as “the idea that intelligence is on a linear scale, and people fall somewhere on that scale and cannot budge from it” (Chapter 8, para. 1).

So, what is the difference here?

First let’s look at the idea of intelligence itself. The Merriam-Webster dictionary ((n.d.). )defines intelligence as “the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations” (Definition 1). If you are a college student, you are likely starting to figure out how to file taxes, how to sign leases, and how to write an email to your professors. You are being confronted with many difficult situations that you are learning how to deal with right now. These are new and trying situations, just as Merriam-Webster states.

The other key part of this definition of intelligence is the ability to learn in these situations. 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 human intelligence (the ability to learn), but fixed mindsets essentially tell us that we can’t learn. How can our ability to learn just disappear? Newsflash, it doesn’t! It is not natural to stop learning.

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? This is what a growth mindset looks like. We are changing the narrative that our brains are not capable into something empowering – “I can do this”. In other words, we can either hold ourselves back or propel ourselves forward.

Pause and Reflect

After learning briefly about growth and fixed mindsets, where do you think you fall on the scale? It could vary from one aspect of your life to another, so if something pops into your head, think about that. This exercise is not to beat yourself up, but rather to dive into our brains and our thought processes so that hopefully we can change those habits to be more positive. You don’t have to be a grade-A student in every class or even in any class, but hopefully, you can believe in your ability to learn.

Growth Mindset and Language Learning

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 to language learning.

Ways to apply growth mindset to language learning

You can influence your mindset!

First, it is your mindset and you can make decisions about it. It is natural to feel motivated with your language lessons one day, go inconsistent on some days, and feel like quitting on other days. The good news is you can always readjust. You can shift or reverse your gears from a fixed or inconsistent mindset to a growth mindset, focusing on what you can change next instead of how you can never change. Instead of telling yourself it’s impossible to grow, you can choose to grow by reflecting on your progress or goals, managing your time, or finding more ways to have fun with the process of learning itself.

Allow mistakes

Do you feel distressed and anxious when you make a ‘mistake’ in verb conjugation, mispronounce a word, or mess up with sentence structure? When we feel anxious, we are more likely to overthink and not let ourselves use the language freely. Krashen (1982) uses the metaphor of an “affective filter” to describe how our emotions can either hinder or support our learning. Negative emotions like stress and anxiety raise the affective filter and ultimately prevent us from learning. But a growth mindset allows us to see ‘mistakes’ as chances to learn and lowers the affective filter.

Redefine your view of success

One major factor that causes language learning anxiety is when we have a linear view of the process. When we see language as climbing a mountain and reaching a summit, we might feel that the benefits of language learning are only at the summit, rather than being an intrinsic part of the path itself. In fact, every step on the path is part of your success, and every step leads to a new discovery. A growth mindset focuses on the value of the journey as well as whatever end goal you may have. In this way, we can replace our mental model of the process. Instead of imagining a long climb ever-upwards, we can see the journey as one of exploration and side-adventures that takes us uphill and sometimes even downhill along the way. As Larsen-Freeman (2017) puts it, “learning is not climbing a developmental ladder; it is not unidirectional. It is nonlinear. […] Language and its learning have no endpoints. Both are unbounded” (p. 27).

Reach out to people who can help you

It is natural to sometimes feel lonely and helpless in any learning venture! Just like if you were exploring a new city alone, feeling anxious, it’s important to remember there are other people around you who can guide you. In your language learning journey you can similarly seek help from many people around you too. Surround yourself with supportive people (mentors or peers who are also learning) who are or have been in your place and acknowledge your path. If you need feedback, don’t hesitate to reach out and seek advice from people in the profession. They want to see you grow! Having a growth mindset includes noticing these resources around you.

Speak your growth mindset out loud

Honor your efforts of learning a new language and speak positive words for yourself. Come up with your own affirmations and say them aloud. This will help you acknowledge your persistence and improvement. For example, “I am making progress”, “I can do this”, or “Every step counts”.

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 earlier in this chapter). Even if we don’t intend for 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.

At the end of this section, assess your understanding.