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10Well-BeinginLanguageEducation
Engagement
Tobeengagedinsomethingmeanstobedeeplyabsorbedinanactivitythatwefind
interestingandmeaningful.AstrongformofengagementisalsoknownasCflow’in
whichthepersonisabsorbedtosuchanextentthattheylosetrackoftimeandtheir
surroundings(Csikszentmihalyi,1990).Engagementstemsfromfeelingappropri-
atelychallenged,emotionallysafeandinterested,andhavingasenseofagency.
tActivity:Acorecontributortofeelingasenseofengagementisfeelingempow-
eredandcompetenttodosomething.Tefoundationofthisisabeliefthatyour
abilitiescanbedevelopedandenhanced-thisisreferredtoashavingagrowth
mindset(Dweck,2006).Teoppositeperspectiveiswhensomeonebelievesthat
theirabilitytolearnalanguageisfixed;agivennaturaltalentthatnoamountof
efortcanreallychange.Suchafixedmindsetleadstohelplessnessandstudents
feelingunabletoafecttheirlearning.Assuch,itisvitallyimportantthatwe
encouragelearnerstounderstandthattheirabilitytolearnalanguagecanbe
developedwiththerightstrategies,efort,motivation,andopportunities.One
waytoworkonmindsetsistohavelearnerssearchoutexamplesoffixedand
growthmindsetsinaction-lookingatnovels,films,TV
,historicalfigures,adver-
tisingandseekingpositiverolemodelsofthosewhopersevered,workedhard,
anddespitesetbackssucceeded.Sometypicalexamplesofpeoplewithgrowth
mindsetcharacteristicsareEinstein,J.K.Rowling,orMichaelJordan.
tActivity:Anotherwaytoboostengagementistobuildonlearners’intrinsicmoti-
vationstolearnandusealanguage.Studentscanbeencouragedtoseelearning
Englishasbuildinguplinguisticcapital-aresourcetheycanspendanduseinthe
future.TeycanreflectonwhatopportunitiesknowingEnglishwouldoferthem
suchasbybrainstormingallthewaysinwhichEnglishcanbevaluable,precious,
orsimplyuseful-possiblycreatingawallposterwiththewholeclassonthevalue
thatEnglishofers.Tisideaoflinguisticcapitalcanalsobeextendedtosupport
learnersinreflectingontheirfutureselvesusingthelanguageastheydescribe
theirEnglish-speakingselves10or20yearsintothefuture.
tProject:Learnerscanfeelespeciallyengagedwhendoingahobbytheylove.
Hobbiescanmakeavaluable,positivecontributiontowell-being(forexample
Burt&Atkinson,2012;Seidman&Zager,1991).Teyarealsoanopportunityto
getdeeplyengrossedinanactivitythatyoulove,engenderingdeepengagement
andasenseofflow.Learnerscanbeencouragedtocarryouttheirhobbiesand
reportontheminclassthroughprojects,presentations,show-and-telldemon-
strations,orbypersonalisingtaskswherepossibletoincludereferencestotheir
hobbies.Simplyeventhinkingaboutdoingsomethingyoulovecangenerate
positiveemotions.Allowinglearnersthechancetobringtheirhobbiesinto
theirEnglishclassesandpersonalisetaskswherepossibleisagoodwaytoboost