Hi Meral,

Look, this has happened a zillion times to me: From the very moment I teach students to organize speeches and writings in three parts, a Intro, b Body, and c Conclusion, they seem to shed off their insecurities, inhibitions and silly behaviors/speaking. And when told to use the correct word, or else give and example or a definition without using native language, they seemed to start being more talkative and smarter response giver. They even tend thereafter to assess their teachers' language and pedagogical abilities. These smartening-up techniques are almost always successful, say, 99%.

It's one of the most rewarding results of what I would call "inteligence transferring".

José Miguel Belisario Gavazut Thanks for your response! Yes, it is bidirectional, I may say. The teachers' motivation and attitude may reflect themselves on the students', or vice versa.

It all depends on the language the teacher is using to teach the students. If the teacher uses a native language in teaching the students when the students already have a mindset towards native languages. It would seem difficult to change the mindset.

Not necessarily, Gene. I'd say it rather depends on the teacher and the students. I as a teacher kind of "force" students to produce in the target language (in my case, Spanish, English or French). Students tend to get culture-shocked at first, but in the long run they end up being highly proficient. And to achieve that you have to serve as a model to be copied/benchmarked. People will always need references they can hold on to. And to be a model, you have to be proficient yourself. And proficiency requires both hard work and love to what you are doing.

Regards,

José

It's like having Ss think: "S/he can, therefore I can". Mindsets do exist, and do reveal limiting natures (say, dogs can't speak since they don't have adequate vocal tracts and the brain sector to process that) but that does not mean that "low-proficient students" might not extend his/her potential to an almost limitless human mindset boundary. Example, love, attitude, and professionalism tear down limitations. TRUST ME!

Genevive Osuji Providing a model in using the language is great! It may help students set goals and put more effort in studying to be as proficient as their teachers. And I agree with José Miguel Belisario Gavazut , "She can, therefore I can." type of thinking plays a big role. Reflecting on their performance, for example saying "Hmm.. they can do it, but I can't. What am I missing? How do they do this?", may contribute to developing a growth mindset, instead of saying "Damn it! I can't do it! I'm not capable of doing this."

Attached is a Growth Mindset Lesson Plan developed by Khan Academy and Perts. It is a document open to public so that I can share it here. It may not be possible to apply all the lesson plan by book, yet it gives an idea how we should approach the issue.

Hope it helps.

I believe, not only possible, but the teacher has to be competent in mindset management.

Gayane Hovhannisyan I agree.. There should be intervention programs offered by the school to make the teachers competent in mindset management.

Me too!

I would insert that component in the language teacher training programs (both in-service and pre-service). In my practice, there were numerous cases with language learning and performance failures caused by mindset and personality disorders. I could manage some forms of speech and personality disorders, by eliminating them through mindset change and specific corrective teaching techniques. Of course, it is better to headfirst set healthy foundations, instead of correcting the learner mindset with remedial patchwork.

What happens where the school is not able to provide intervention programmes? The teachers needs to be well equipped themselves and not necessarily depending on the school for proficiency programmes.

Thank you for your contribution Gayane Hovhannisyan I think teachers willing to improve their professional qualities not only benefit from intervention or in-service training programs developed in house but also look for other opportunities around them like this platform here or many online resources or conferences / seminar and the like. So I agree with your on that Genevive Osuji

Thanks for opening the informative discussion, Meral. Most in-service teachers are guided by own pedagogical intuition and experience. I would say they rather need regular prophylactic support and upgrade of competencies than intervention. So it's the care of ministries, universities, international and local training/consultancy organizations. There are examples and success stories of such programs in Armenia.Thanks again for the interesting exchange of ideas and best wishes.