Thoughts on Growth Mindset in Language Education

Abstract

The world today is facing trying times with democracy in crisis around the world, extreme weather events, and state fragility coming on the heels of a global pandemic. However, crises have been the driving force in the evolution of human society. The problems confronting us today cannot be resolved by one organization or one country alone. What is needed is effective communication among peoples, groups, and countries. Even with technological advances in machine translation and AI tools, we as language teachers have much that we can do. This talk will suggest the importance of building social capital through communication, present evidence-based education concepts for efficient teaching, and examine how to work with Gen Z students. Education for a VUCA world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014) must prepare students to learn how to take charge of their own learning experiences and thus develop a growth mindset to embark on a never-ending life-long adventure of learning. They can thus contribute to social capital and a better human society.