Fixed vs. Agile mindset

[Jay Bazuzi]

I recently watched this video with the charming Linda Rising: http://www.agilealliance.org/resources/learning-center/keynote-the-power-of-an-agile-mindset

Consider:

"[Intelligence] is something very basic that you really can't change much. You're born with it or not. Yes, you can learn new things, but you can't really change how intelligent you are."

"No matter how intelligent you are, you can always get better; sometimes you can improve a lot."

Based on the work of Carol Dweck, she says that which one of this you believe has a dramatic impact on how you respond to a challenge. The second group is more likely to accept the risk of failure and admit their mistakes, and so is more open to learning.

I know we have been conscious of this effect in Language Hunting, for example in the power of "How Fascinating!", but I think we might benefit from giving it a little more attention. We often see new players who are so convinced that Language Hunting can't for for them that they never give it a chance. I wonder what else we can do to affect this mindset?

-J

[Joel Thomas]

My male line is Welsh, so a couple of years ago I did a few lessons from the superb Say Something In Welsh audio course. The one thing that really stuck in my mind was that they went to great lengths to emphasise that when it's your turn to speak you MUST say SOMETHING even if you know full well it's wrong. 

And you know what, it works. How many times when an audio narrator says "Repeat after me" have we just kept shtum because we've forgotten? But when you just say something, anything, you have something to compare the correct answer to, even if that something is utter gobbledygook.

So now when I get around to TQ Mumble I'm telling my students, "It's better if you try and get it wrong than if you don't try at all. When you get it wrong, you're still learning. If you're not trying you're not learning." After watching the presentation I realise that implicit in this is recognising the "failure" part of the learning process, and so it helps to engender the Agile mindset. 

Watching that presentation I was struck by how I can have both the Fixed and the Agile mindset in my head at the same time. At one point Linda said that when you stick a Fixed person in an MRI machine, their brain lights up when you tell them if they got it right or not, but ignores the explanation. She then said that the reverse is true of Agile people. I'm fairly sure if you stuck me in an MRI machine my brain would light up for both, but for different reasons. Deep down I have an Agile mindset no question, but self-confidence issues often result in perfectionism, and make me act like a Fixed. What Linda said toward the end about the cute little girls who are forced into Fixed mindsets because they keep being told they're perfect seems to be another example of this; it can often be an imposed idea and not an independent conclusion.

I think WAYK/LH is already headed in the right direction by emphasising that it's a game and not a lesson. I'm already selling the "game" aspect by saying, "Who learns language better than anyone? Children. And what do children do all day? Play games. Therefore, WAYK." 

But even when playing games, people get stressed about playing well and getting a good score (classic Fixed thinking). So I think now that I could take it a step further by saying, "You remember how we used to play games when we were little kids? There were no winners or losers, we just played. Did we worry about making mistakes? No, we just dived in and had fun. You know, although we didn't realise it at the time, that was part of our secret. So when you play WAYK just concentrate on enjoying the game."

--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Language Hunters group.
 
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to language-hunte...@googlegroups.com.
 
For more options, visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/language-hunters
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Language Hunters" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to language-hunte...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--

Joel Thomas

+90 (538) 547 1199

@joelthomastr

www.dragomanreview.com

@dragomanreview

facebook.com/dragomanreview

[Stefan]

short comment on the "learn like children": actually, adults can learn a language far faster than a child with the right training and tools. I think the commonity (not sure this word exists :) is that both children and adults have human brains, which work in a certain way. and if you try to teach a brain in a way it cannot process, progress will be slow. that's what teaching has been for a long time, assuming that the human mind is some kind of logical machine, instead of a piece of meat that is good at storing and learning from experiences. therefore, playing games! :) but adults have some very powerful additional techniques at hand that small children cannot use, such as using mnemonics. Also, I'm teaching English to 400 kindergarten children. I have a goodbye ritual for the K2/K3: "What day is it today? Today is Monday! See you on? See you on Wednesday!" And after half a year, very many still very emphatically say "Threeday!!" *, so I'm not so sure about the mythical language sponge of children ;)

on the fixed-vs-agile: I have some friends with a strong fixed mindset. I have found it next to impossible to help them come out of it, which of course makes perfect sense, because if you think you can't change, you won't even try. I've been lucky enough to go through at least two deep transformations in personality in the last 20 years, so I'm slowly learning that much is possible if only you start walking.

* in Chinese (and some other languages, such as Portuguese), the weekdays are numbered. Fascinatingly, there IS a rather strong correlation to numbers in English: Monday - "Oneday"; Tuesday - "Twoday", Thursday - "Fourday", Friday - "Fiveday". This gets even stronger with Cantonese speakers, which pronounce TH as F, and "five" as "fye" :) Also, Saturday and Sunday start with an S, just like six and seven. Coïncidence? METHINKS NOT!! ;) No, just kidding, but it's a nice phenomenon that had escaped me so far. We just need to work on Wednesday, this one does not fit any pattern.

[Joel Thomas]

I think we have to distinguish between "learning a language" and "picking up a language". In every single immigrant family I've ever heard of (including mine) the children "pick up" the language faster than the parents do, even when they try to "learn" it through conventional/classroom methods. It's almost a law of physics. The example you cite just goes to show that children don't "learn" a foreign language in a vacuum any more easily than adults. 

A Fixed viewpoint will say that children's brains must be wired for learning languages, and adults have no chance of emulating that so we're stuck with what we've got. But the Agile viewpoint will say, "What are children doing right and adults doing wrong?" 

Mnemonics and other tricks are only good for language as knowledge ("learning"), all they do is help the element in question last longer than its usual short-term memory shelf life so it has a better chance of still being available when needed in a real-life situation. After a few of those the word becomes part of a language skill ("picking up") and then the mnemonic or other crutch is no longer needed.

Part of what gets me so excited about WAYK is that instead of coming up with just another "learning" crutch it sets out to help adults "pick up" language straight off the bat. As a result, whether by coincidence or design, many of its elements ditch "adult" assumptions and prejudices in favour of "childish" approaches, thus reflecting an Agile mentality. 

For example, it takes TPR (which observes that small children tend to move around when they learn language, and assumes this is relevant) and takes it to the next level by combining it with sign language. 

Then there's the "fun" element. WAYK makes a language learning a game and not a class, going back to something children do automatically. 

It rejects stress and goal-oriented pressure, again, the mistake of adults. The carrot of success is preserved without the stick of failure, eg. How Fascinating.

Instead of giving students head knowledge about one language by "digitally" encoding it in another, it mimics real-life situations where language is actually needed, thus providing more natural, "analogue" information at the same time as replicating a scenario where that information is attached to words. Insert "fairies" talk here.

In its ideal form it's even better than immersion. Immersion leaves you to "pick up" the language by chance in the course of random situations where you need it. WAYK, on the other hand, aspires to take all those disparate learning moments and package them together.

So I think it's not wrong to start by saying, "Who learns language better than anyone? Children", because in practice this is true as things stand. But as you say, this must quickly be followed up with, "But with the right methods adults can actually learn language better than children. Its not because children are super smart, it's because adults are doing it wrong." 

We could continue with "WAYK seeks to rectify that. I'm telling you this because I know you're going to find some of these methods silly, embarrassing or even childish. But sometimes this is precisely why they work. So don't worry, we're all in this together. Forget about stressing and concentrating and memorising. Just let your hair down and enjoy the game."

[Benjamin Barrett]

That is an excellent synopsis of key points in WAYK!

[Stefan]

good insights! :)