Promoting a growth mindset approach in foreign language students: motivational strategies for teachers and learners

• Main Authors: Lespinasse, Karine, Bech, Estelle
• Other Authors: School of Humanities
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2025
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities; Language learning motivation; Motivational strategies; Growth mindset; Fixed mindset; French; Second language acquisition; Task-based learning approach (TBLA)
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/182991; https://fass.nus.edu.sg/cls/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2020/10/lespinasse_karine.pdf
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

From a psychological perspective, the process of learning a foreign language follows these stages: willingness, excitement, discouragement, and final balance. In each phase, learning is driven by the volume of input/output/feedback, constant and/or renewed motivation, the focus of learners, the reinforcement from social interactions, the consolidation by repetitive reviewing and the commitment to long-term memory. Both students and teachers have a role to play in each of them. This paper will focus on theories and teaching methodologies supporting motivation throughout these phases applied to foreign language acquisition, following psychologist Dweck's exploration of “growth mindset”. Mindset and identity are established at a very young age. “Fixed mindsets”, a belief that intelligence and talent are predetermined, can prevent learners from exploring and trying. Moving from a fixed to a growth mindset can have a profound impact on students' learning ability and personal view, especially in learning a language in which attempting and being resilient are key in today’s teaching approaches, such as the Communicative Approach (CA) or the Task-Based Learning Approach (TBLA). The issue of how to test mindset, shift to and support growth mindset is currently of interest in the literature and will be explored as a state of the art in foreign language learning.