Here are the nine attitudes of mindfulness and their implications for EFL classes, according to Kuru Gönen (2022).
Attitudes | Features | Implications for EFL Classrooms |
🪶 Non-judgement | Not labeling or categorizing the events, situations as good, bad, nice, awful, etc. Cultivating an ability to understand. | Approaching English language learning by leaving the judgments about learning FL and adopting an objective perspective. |
🪶 Acceptance | Accepting fear, anxiety, and sorrow as they are and not running away from them. | Accepting negative arousals related to FL learning and going through all with an open perspective. Being able to see solutions to language learning problems. |
🪶 Beginner's mind | Experiencing things like a child as if they are happening for the first time. | Going through everything as they are related to FL learning with curiosity regardless of the concerns of the past and future. |
🪶 Patience | Trying to control the plans of expectations of the future. Making negative consequences out of the things and situations that have not happened yet. | Being stuck in negative past experiences of learning English and jumping into conclusions. Language learning takes time, and it can only happen in the present moment. |
🪶 Non-striving | Observing the feelings and sensations as they rise and fall and being in full awareness of the experience. | Avoiding difficult situations and topics related to English, and expecting to learn everything at the end of a single lesson bring disappointment. |
🪶 Trust | Taking your own responsibility. Trusting in yourself and what the present moment offers. | Accepting everything as they are, awareness of one’s capacity and limits related to FL learning and directing attention to FL learning consciously. |
🪶 Letting go | Having an awareness of ‘everything shall pass’ by conscious observation of the internal states. | Letting go of negative FL learning experiences, choosing to focus on the present moment instead of living in the same worrisome story repeatedly. |
🪶 Compassion | Having a friendly attitude towards feelings, thoughts, and all internal states. | Building emotional resilience for learning FL by acknowledging the reasons for failure and downfalls. |
🪶 Gratitude | Not taking everything for granted. Appreciating even the simplest things. | Being able to say ‘I am here, I am healthy, and I am in the class. I am here for language learning, and I am putting my effort into this.’ |
Reference:
Kuru Gönen, S. İ. (2022). Mindfulness-based practices for EFL teachers: sample tasks and insights to cultivate mindfulness. Focus on ELT Journal, 4(3), 78–93. https://doi.org/10.14744/felt.2022.4.3.6
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