Meditao Para o Aprendizado de Lngua Estrangeira
Translator: Paulo Gomes
Reviewer: David DeRuwe
Have you heard this?
“I tried to learn English many times;
I just couldn’t do it - I gave up.”
or: “I need so much to learn English,
but I don’t have time.”
Well, attitudes like these
are very common.
For Brazilians, as a foreign language
English is a basic necessity,
especially for business.
It has become synonymous
with survival and global integration.
Can you imagine the stress?
It’s not just in Brazil; it’s global.
The growing internationalization
of markets has led nations
to adopt the use of second languages.
Mastery of another language
means growth, development
and, above all, better ability
to keep up with the rapid changes
that have been happening
in this new and technological century.
Learning a foreign language
can be a very risky task.
Mistakes are made -
lack of understanding or vocabulary,
especially in oral communication.
In addition, competition between partners
or the fear of making mistakes
in front of other students in a classroom
can be stressful.
All this stress can cause FLA,
foreign language anxiety,
as described by Elaine and Michael Horwitz
and Joann Cope in the book
“Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety.”
Anxiety is the result of the abnormal
regulation of the emotion of fear,
and it manifests itself in response
to specific stimuli
from the environment, body, and mind.
In more focused contexts
in second language learning,
it can be said that the fear of failure,
risking an error, for example,
may be enough to trigger
physiological responses,
such as an accelerating heart rate
and even what neuroscientists
call “emotional kidnapping,”
which corresponds to the temporary loss
of the ability to make
a conscious decision
under high psychological pressure.
Teachers and students realize that anxiety
is a big hurdle to be overcome
when learning to speak another language.
We know that individual reactions
can vary greatly.
Students with greater anxiety intensity
may postpone learning another language
until the last possible moment.
Students with moderate anxiety intensity
may simply procrastinate a homework task
or avoid talking in the classroom.
It’s anxiety.
According to Daniel Goleman
and Richard Davidson,
a possible way to pursue
the self-control of emotions
and significantly reduce
the state of anxiety
while improving attention focus
when learning a second language
is “mindfulness” meditation.
Meditation practices can be oriented
towards the concentration of attention,
encouraging improvement
in cognitive and emotional processes.
It turns out that meditation improves
working memory and useful processes,
as well as perception skills.
It also promotes prosocial behavior
and emotional regulation.
There are many studies that show
the power of meditation in our brain.
One of them is from students
at the University of Rome, Italy
who, in 2015, performed a meta-analysis
and resonanace of brain images study
about the practice of meditation.
The result revealed
a network of occipital lobe areas
in the frontal lobes was highly activated.
Meditation was associated with an increase
of gray matter volume in the frontal lobe.
Mindfulness meditation proved
to be a trend in public schools
in many countries,
particularly Australia and Canada.
It’s accessible to all
as it only requires practicing
meditation to control anxiety.
We know that anxiety
is one of the main difficulty factors
of learning a foreign language.
We know how the brain
acts on this problem,
and that the practice
of mindfulness meditation
is a great ally for anxiety control.
So why not use this powerful tool
as a learning tool
for learning a foreign language?
At a state university in Turkey,
a study was performed to find out
whether meditation can be effective
in terms of anxiety
and vocabulary learning
in the context of learning
foreign languages.
The results showed that meditation
led to a huge difference
in the levels of anxiety and learning,
leading to better learning.
Another study was Qinghong Ann Cai’s
2017 doctoral thesis in the United States
for the Northeastern University
School of Education in New England.
It was a specific program
about the benefits of guided meditation
and training with relaxing music
for learning Chinese
as a foreign language.
The reduction in anxiety was significant.
Student results included
greater relaxation and tranquility;
reduced stress and anxiety;
greater confidence
in performance in Chinese,
better learning, pronunciation,
speech, and hearing;
and greater concentration
skills during class.
Well, as a teacher for almost 30 years,
I am very curious to find
methods that help students
finish their foreign language studies
with a sense of satisfaction.
After all these discoveries,
I started using meditation in my classes.
I guarantee the results were incredible:
Students don’t miss classes,
they come to class
with a smile on their faces,
and they’ve gotten rid of the thought
that English is very difficult to learn.
Yes, many still work hard,
but they have started to believe
that learning a new language
can be more pleasurable than you think.
Thank you.