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.
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译者：Paulo Gomes 审稿人：David DeRuwe
你听说过吗？
“我多次尝试学习英语；
我就是做不到——我放弃了。”
或：“我需要很多东西来学习英语， 但我没有时间。”
嗯，这样的态度 很常见。
对于巴西人来说，英语作为一门 外语是基本的必需品，
尤其是对商务而言。
它已成为 生存和全球一体化的代名词。
你能想象压力吗？
不只是在巴西。 它是全球性的。
市场日益国际 化导致
各国采用第二语言。
掌握另一种语言 意味着成长、发展
，最重要的是，更好 地跟上
这个新技术世纪正在发生的快速变化。
学习一门外语 可能是一项非常冒险的任务。
犯了错误 -
缺乏理解或词汇， 特别是在口头交流中。
此外，合作伙伴之间的竞争
或害怕 在课堂上的其他学生面前犯错
可能会带来压力。
正如 Elaine、Michael Horwitz
和 Joann Cope 在 《外语课堂焦虑》一书中所描述的，所有这些压力都会导致 FLA，即外语焦虑。
焦虑 是恐惧情绪异常调节的结果
，表现为对
来自环境、身体和精神的特定刺激的反应。
在第二语言学习的更集中的环境中，
可以说，对失败的恐惧
，例如冒险犯错，
可能足以触发 生理反应，
例如心率加快
，甚至神经科学家 称之为“情感绑架”，
这对应于在高心理压力下暂时丧失
做出 有意识决定的能力
。
老师和学生都意识到，焦虑 是
学习说另一种语言时需要克服的一大障碍。
我们知道，个人的反应 可能会有很大差异。
焦虑程度较高的学生
可能会将学习另一种语言的时间 推迟到最后一刻。
具有中等焦虑强度的学生
可能会简单地拖延家庭作业 或避免在课堂上说话。
这是焦虑。
根据丹尼尔·戈尔曼 和理查德·戴维森
的说法，在学习第二语言时，追求 情绪的自我控制
并显着 降低焦虑状态
同时提高注意力的一种可能方法
是“正念”冥想。
冥想练习可以 集中注意力，
鼓励 认知和情绪过程的改善。
事实证明，冥想可以改善 工作记忆和有用的过程，
以及感知技能。
它还促进亲社会行为 和情绪调节。
有许多研究表明 我们大脑中冥想的力量。
其中一位来自 意大利罗马大学的
学生，他们于 2015 年对冥想练习进行了大脑图像的元分析 和共振研究
。
结果
显示，额叶中的枕叶区域网络 被高度激活。
冥想与 额叶灰质体积的增加有关。
正念冥想被 证明是许多国家公立学校的一种趋势
， 尤其是澳大利亚和加拿大。
所有人都
可以使用它，因为它只需要练习 冥想来控制焦虑。
我们知道，焦虑 是学习外语的主要困难因素
之一。
我们知道大脑 是如何解决这个问题的，而正念冥想
的练习
是控制焦虑的好帮手。
那么为什么不使用这个强大的
工具作为学习外语的学习工具 呢？
在土耳其的一所州立大学，
进行了一项研究，以 确定冥想在学习外语的情况下是否能
有效缓解焦虑 和词汇学习
。
结果表明，冥想 导致
焦虑和学习水平的巨大差异，
从而导致更好的学习。
另一项研究是蔡庆红 2017年在美国
新英格兰东北大学教育学院的博士论文。
这是一个
关于引导冥想 和放松音乐训练
对学习汉语 作为外语的好处的具体项目。
焦虑的减少是显着的。
学生成绩包括 更大的放松和安宁；
减轻压力和焦虑；
对汉语表现更有信心，
学习、发音、 言语和听力更好；
以及 在课堂上提高注意力的技能。
嗯，作为一名将近30年的老师，
我非常好奇能 找到帮助学生
在满足感中完成外语学习的方法。
在所有这些发现之后， 我开始在课堂上使用冥想。
我保证结果是令人难以置信的：
学生不会缺课，
他们脸上带着微笑来上课
，他们已经摆脱 了英语很难学的想法。
是的，许多人仍然努力工作，
但他们已经开始
相信学习一门新语言 可能比你想象的更愉快。
谢谢你。