Mindfulness and Learners’ Mistakes

Language Learning, Mindfulness, Reflective Teaching, Second Language Acquisition, Teaching 0 comments

Mindfulness and Learners’ Mistakes

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Twitter: @jonacuso

Post 173

How often –in the world of education- do we hear teachers that they need to be more mindful with their learners? I personally bet this is something that is scarcely heard in school halls, in staff meetings, or even in teachers’ rooms. But what seems to be the reason for this lack of mindfulness among the teaching staff at any level of education? Reasons may vary from individual to individual, but the fact is that mindful instructors are very often absent from the school/college rooms, and when this happens, teachers forget that mistakes are part of the learning process any single individual undergoes when involved in an educational process.

Teacher mindfulness in the educational process is a must for learning to take place; its absence can simply yield catastrophic results for teaching staff and for the students themselves. On the one hand, mindful instructors will try to put themselves in the shoes of their pupils and will try to see what kind of feedback is needed to motivate students to continue to face their comprehension of a topic and the construction of their knowledge. On the other hand, teacher mindfulness will trigger some backwash that can help instructors reflect on the reasons why their learners are making mistakes or why their learning goals are difficult to achieve by students. In conclusion, mindfulness is crucial for the understanding as to why mistakes take place and how learners may feel in the presence of their own mistakes.

Mindful instructors do worry about the importance of mistakes in the learning process. Teachers must comprehend the importance of mistakes since they become conscious attempts learners are making to use what is being explained to them by their instructors. In a language classroom arise when language trainees are playing and experimenting with the language, and the mindful instructors will see how their pupils are developing the interlanguage (Cook, 1993) needed to speak the target language. In a technology class, where the instructor is training students to use freeware to create interactive materials for their students, the teachers show their mindfulness when scaffolding the learning experiences that were programmed to facilitate learning. Additionally, though mistakes are bound to happen, mindful instructors will kindly assist learners to understand and achieve the learning goals that will help them develop their own skills and competencies.

Mindfulness is indeed a way of living and a way of teaching. The fact that teaching professionals understand why students make mistakes helps us visualize that they are aware of the importance of being mindful of what is happening inside the classroom walls and beyond them when learners are practicing on their own. And a great way to have learners approach their teachers and ask for help is by means of mindful community builders, which are simple but participatory activities that can be carried out before major learning experiences are going to take place. That is, learners are given the chance to connect with their instructor and other peers as well. Their affective filter (Krashen, 1985) will go undoubtfully down, and their disposition for learning can be more acute.