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What is “Growth Mindset"?

A growth mindset is the belief that our abilities, intelligence, and talents can be developed through effort, learning, and persistence. Carol Dweck, the psychologist who introduced this concept, explains that having a growth mindset means understanding that success comes from hard work and continuous improvement, not just natural talent.

"In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point." – Carol S. Dweck

Growth mindset is characterized by:

Being aware that intelligence can be developed

Looking for opportunities to learn

Being necessary for success

Embracing challenges

Sees failure as a learning opportunity

Perseverance

Collaboration

How does it work?

This mindset changes the way people approach challenges and learning. When someone with a growth mindset faces difficulty, they don’t give up easily. Instead, they see mistakes as part of the learning process. They believe effort leads to improvement, and that they can always get better with practice and the right strategies.

Advantages and disadvantages(or challenges) of Growth Mindset

People with a growth mindset are more motivated, resilient, and open to feedback. They tend to perform better in school, sports, and even relationships. This attitude helps reduce fear of failure and encourages people to take on new challenges, knowing that effort and learning will help them improve.

A possible challenge of this mindset is the time and conscious effort it takes to. It can also be misunderstood, for example, when people think that you just need to strive, and if you don’t succeed, then you’re simply not trying hard enough.

How to develop a Growth Mindset

Everyone can do it. We can start by changing the way we talk to ourselves, like stop using the phrase “I can’t do it” and change it for “How can i do it?”, “What can i do now?”.

We need to praise effort instead of intelligence, set realistic goals, be open to feedback as an opportunity to learn about our mistakes, reflecting on them, seeing them as valuable lessons and a chance to reinforce our mindset. We need to embrace failure, because without it, we can’t succeed.

When you are thinking about the concept of "Growth Mindset", you also associate it with the mindset of the students in a classroom, which can be from the more younger to the teenagers

Carol Dweck, in her interview called "You're not a growth mindset person (and here's why)" gives us a case where the workers of a company work a lot better while having a "Growth Mindset", because instead of having the mentality of needing to be superior to their coworkers, they feel like collaborating instead, and this makes them work more efficiently.

And all of this can be possible when the employer gives the workers the possibilities, showing them that the company actually cares for them.

This example can be used in a similar way inside a classroom, because when they give the students the possibility of being creative with their assignments and homework, the necessary material, and the option of working in groups with people they know, they can be much more interested in doing a good job, this because they can really get involved in the research they are doing, or in the subjects they are studying, resulting in a better understanding in the topics seen in class and in better grades overall.

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When a person firmly believes that they are born with a fixed intelligence, talents, and abilities, and these things can't be altered, so they don't make the effort of trying to grow their own minds, getting stuck in that mentality and avoiding the possibility of change because they don't think they can solve problems, and they don't like taking risks.

Fixed mindset is characterized by several features, like:

Avoiding challenges

Getting stuck in certain problems, thinking you can’t keep going

Not coming out of your comfort zone

Thinking you can’t keep growing

Thinking you can’t change yourself, that every ability is just a talent you’re born with and part of your innate intelligence

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Stereotyping is assuming that all the people inside certain "groups" are similar or even the same, generalizing in a bad way, which by itself can erase the personal traits and characteristics of a person just by assuming they act or are a determined way.

You can always think of stereotypes when you see different kinds of people, but ideally, you need to be aware of them and try to omit them, so it doesn't stop you from being nice to new people or from just being respectful to them.

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In the movie "Priscilla Queen of The Desert" we can see relevant, specific, and in some cases crude stereotypes, such as:

"Every drag/gay person is expressive and cheerful”

Two of the main characters, Adam and Anthony, are portrayed to be really expressive and cheerful almost all the time they appear on screen, always joking and messing around. This is part of these character’s personalities because they like to dress as drag queens. (The case of Bernadette is different, because even if she dresses as a drag, she is actually transgender).

"All gay/trans/ people are full of STDs"

In a fragment of the movie, we can see how people that saw the main characters, graffiti over the bus they were driving, with the sentence “STD f***** go home”, assuming they were carrying different infections or diseases just because of their sexualities, or more specifically, for the way they looked and acted, which makes them think they are all part of the same sexuallity group.

"Every gay/trans/ person has had a trauma, and that's where their sexuality comes from"

There is a somewhat explicit scene in the movie, where they show us the character named Adam as a kid, and how his uncle tried to make him touch his private parts, and how this stayed in this character’s mind many years later. Some people could assume that this encounter is the reason behind Adam’s sexuallity.

Also, we can infer that Bernadette’s past is also somehow traumatic, because she is really sensitive about people calling her by her birth name (Ralph).

Even if in some cases these different statements can be true for some people, you shouldn’t assume anything until you know them personally or even know a little about them, much less to tell them something related to that, because it can be disrespectful, hurt their feelings, and create bad relationships with other people.

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The English-Speaking World

The English Speaking World refers to all the countries that use English as a way to communicate, this means that not only the countries that have English as their mother language are part of the English-Speaking World, but it also includes countries like, for example, Chile, because even if we speak Spanish, we study English in the school.

This term is very important if we want to make visible the Enormous amount of varieties that English has and how all of them have the exact same value and need to be recognized as equals. British English is not better than India’s or USA’s one, even if the British English was the first one, that doesn’t mean it’s the “correct” one, because there’s no a single variety of English that are used by the entire English-Speaking World, that means the British variety could be less useful than the American variety for some people, for example. All varieties of English need to be recognized as equals, and that’s why The English-Speaking World term exists.

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What is World Englishes?

The term gained prominence in the late 20th century, specially through the work of scholars like Braj B. Kachru, who helped popularize the idea that English is no longer owned by just its native speakers like USA or UK.

It challenges the idea of a “standard” English, instead, it recognizes that English are being used as a global language, with many legitimate forms and variations.

Why it matters

It promotes linguistic diversity and inclusivity between the countries who are part of the English Speaking World. It also recognizes the global ownership of English, challenges the dominance of “Standard British” or “Standard American” English in education and media and supports language policy, education, and identity in multilingual societies

Braj B. Kachru and why he is imporant

As we said before, he popularized the idea that English is not owned by just USA or UK, but he also created the Kachru’s circles, in which we can say 3 circles: The inner circle in the center, the Outer circle in the mid, and the expanding circle as the last one. In the first circle, we have the native English speakers, like USA or UK and a population of 320-380 million people. In the Outer circle we have the countries who also speaks english as a mother language but they aren’t recognized as the countries of the Inner circle, like India or Singapore. Also it haves a population of 150-300 million people. In the Expanding circle, the last one, we have countries who speaks English as a second language, like China or Russia, and a population of 100-1,000 million people.

This circle is not a law, but it helps a lot to explain why is it important to recognize that English is not owned by any country, and here’s where The English Speaking World have its entrance.

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You need to have a "growth mindset" to be open-minded when thinking about the differences among groups of people, because if you stay in a "fixed mindset," you will keep seeing those individuals as just part of a larger group, instead of as unique individuals.

A part of this can also be seen when talking about the different "Englishes." Some people assume that one variety is better or superior to another — for example, British English versus American English.

One of the reasons why people might think that there’s some varieties of English that are better than others could be some stereotypes that people have about other countries and their way of speaking. When the accent is different, like the Indian one, for example,  most people assume that they don’t have the same level of English as a British or American citizen, when the reality is that they both speak the same language and their level would probably be the same, and going back to the first concept, the best way to avoid this stereotype is learning about how to be open-minded and abandon this prejudices, what will end up in a better comprehension of the languages as a way to unificate people instead of judging them because of their accent or the way they speak. Doing this, and adding it to a “growth mindset” we will be more conscious about the world we live in, and how we can be a person who adds instead of someone who takes.

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A really nice tip for when you feel you’re having a “Fixed Mindset”, is to give yourself some time to think and reflect about what you’re struggling with, and then slowly keep going with what you are doing without pressuring yourself excesively, and always make sure you avoid getting stuck in the same thing over and over. At all times you need to have in mind that everyone learns differently, and no one is born with knowledge about everything, so avoid comparing yourself with others, because everyone has different abilities and “talents”. Also, be understanding with people that might have the same problem, because it is completely valid to feel overwhelmed with complicated information, especially in difficult topics. The important thing is always trying to move back to a "Growth Mindset", and being aware that is normal to have a "Fixed Mindset" from time to time, but you can always keep improving, and helping others improve, even if that improvement is small, everything counts.

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A really nice tip about this is to keep your “stereotypical” thoughts to yourself when you are meeting someone new in a school or university context, being aware that you can make a lot of assumptions that will not be entirely true.

If you are still curious about their cultural traits, for instance, only ask them about themselves when you know them better and in a respectful way, and even in this situation you have to be careful, because someone can feel offended by your comments or questions if you are not sensitive enough. You also need to have in mind that you can’t touch the subject at all if you are not in a proper context for it, and you have to consider that the person you are talking to might need privacy to answer you and share the information you are curious about, so you can really see their reality and get to know them better.

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To improve your knowledge about the English-speaking world, you have to forget about frontiers in the language and embrace all the varieties of English as unique in their own way. Like this, you will appreciate all the differences and become more aware of them, valuing the diversity of language, because even if all the Englishes have the same base, every one of them is unique in its own way, and it's worth it to investigate more about them.

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Carol Dweck Video

https://youtu.be/S5Xr-8A2ziE?si=kaaaTsDSfxasRsM9

LCL 123 Week 2 Lesson 2 Growth Mindset

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wdga8v46Rhrgy91kf8DwoflSHQj2SB-GoietUDT0CcA/edit#slide=id.p

LCL 123 Week 2 Lesson 2 Growth Mindset (and intro to neuroplasticity)

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1x5Ih74-IIYWTxj9O9kw9t3ykfb8_PjbI4D8PBBQcb3M/edit#slide=id.gd206890b8a_0_81

LCL 123 Week 3 Class 3: "World Englishes"

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GM7_GkaAcW-rAJkR6UYN52cuZJTPxd616XimDzLhyjw/edit#slide=id.g2c39df8db31_0_57

LCL 123 Week 4 Introduction stereotypes + Priscilla, Queen of the desert

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16UXyRSIj6MLWw6hstbnMrc5tdBrA_I5UgblBN2GWFvE/edit#slide=id.g2c69c7853f4_1_0

LCL 123 Week 5 Stereotypes, bias and the media

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZlbMWhUTaeKDjSgY5F2dUdcVMz01Cps6WiSKfkZHfRs/edit#slide=id.g22b1f6cb3fa_0_104