A new study of university language classes shows that our mindset—the idea that you can develop skills—is a more powerful weapon against negative emotions than you might think. And yes, growth mindset, made famous by Carol Dweck, is popping up again. Not as a buzzword or an explanation for learning more this time, but as a factor that is structurally linked to how students feel in class.

Students with a growth mindset felt less helpless, less frustrated and less anxious while learning a foreign language. They enjoyed the lessons more and experienced less boredom. Strikingly, it was not the case that they automatically got better grades because of this mindset. What did happen: they felt less powerless, and that turned out to be the key to better performance. Because the feeling of helplessness was the only emotion that really predicted their final result.

Helplessness turned out to be the crucial factor: students who feel helpless in class ultimately score lower. And what feeds that feeling of helplessness? Exactly: a fixed mindset. The idea that you can’t get better anyway, that it’s just not “in your nature”. On the other hand, those who believe that you can grow feel less at the mercy of their fate, and therefore perform better. No magic, but psychology.

Even when other important factors are taken into account, such as talent, gender, how often students use a language, or when they first started, the growth mindset still holds up as a predictor of positive emotions. And that is precisely where most students get stuck: not on grammar, but on the feeling that they will never be able to do it.

Note that the study shows correlations, not causation. While it shows that students with a growth mindset experience less negative emotions and ultimately perform better through less helplessness, these are statistical relationships in an observational study. The researchers used structural equation modelling (SEM) to model paths and indirect relationships, but they did not perform an experimental manipulation (such as a mindset intervention).

In our book More Urban Myths about Learning and Education, we already called the growth mindset a modern myth, although we were very nuanced. Not because the concept is nonsense, but because it is often used as a magic recipe without context. This research shows that such a mindset may work, but not directly. A growth mindset may make students less helpless. And that is exactly what you need to not give up.

Abstract of the study :

Achievement in foreign language (FL) classrooms depends on learners’ emotional states. A key individual difference factor that is linked to these experiences is growth mindset, which helps learners make positive meaning of their endeavors. However, uncertainties remain regarding the importance of mindsets when factoring in other learner characteristics (aptitude, age of acquisition, language-use experiences, year of learning, gender). This study ( N  = 342 university-level FL learners) comprehensively explores how mindsets and learner characteristics are related to multifaceted emotions (enjoyment, helplessness, frustration, boredom, anxiety), and end-of-semester performance. We found that prior language-use experience was the most notable learner characteristic in predicting emotions. Growth mindsets also incrementally predicted all learning emotions, even after controlling for learner characteristics. Although growth mindset was not directly related to performance, it indirectly predicted performance through a decrease in the feeling of helplessness. Altogether, growth mindsets matter for positive classroom experiences.