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
Growth Mindset and Language Learning
Thou