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.
Cook, V. (1993). Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. Hampshire: Palgrave-Macmillan
Krashen, S. (1985). The Input
Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. London: Longman
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