The Effect of a Mindset Intervention on Saudi Undergraduates' Language Learning Motivation

A number of studies have been conducted to improve learners’ motivation to learn a foreign language in the Saudi context. However, most of these studies were based on various motivational strategies to boost learner’ motivation rather target their core beliefs about themselves and their abilities in learning another language. The current study aims to achieve this by adopting Dweck’s Implicit Theories (Mindsets). Research on mindset showed how students with a tendency towards a growth mindset, are more motivated, set more learning goals and are more likely to react in a mastery way. On the contrary, those with a tendency towards a fixed mindset, have more performance goals and are more likely to react in a helpless manner which in turn decrease their motivation. However, there is lack of research on the mindset theory with regards to language learning and this is the first mindset intervention study focusing specifically on language learning.
The current study aims to examine the effectiveness of a mindset intervention on Saudi university L2 learners’ mindset beliefs and motivation. It seeks to explore whether a language mindset intervention would promote growth mindset beliefs among language learners and in turn improve their motivational characteristics. More specifically, it aims to find out whether adopting more growth mindset beliefs in language learning would promote a higher level of motivation, more mastery responses in failure situations, orientation towards learning rather than performance goals and process rather than person attributions.
A quasi-experimental design is implemented in this study which consist of two groups: the experimental group that receives the intervention (N=103) and the control group that attends regular classes (N=113). A mixed method approach is used in collecting data in which both questionnaire surveys with follow-up interviews are used in two phases to examine the immediate and delayed effect of the intervention. Results for one-way ANCOVA of the immediate post-intervention test reveal a significant difference in learners’ language mindset beliefs, attitudes toward learning English, L2 motivational intensity, goal orientation and responses to failure situations between the two groups.
This is supported by the results of repeated measures ANOVA showing a significant positive effect of the intervention on the same scales among the experimental group only, which is also supported in results of the first phase of the interviews. The positive effects of the intervention did not last in the longer-term (two months later), but the second phase of the qualitative data revealed that the majority of interview respondents had retained new beliefs, remained growth oriented and motivated, held positive attitudes, and reacted in a mastery manner. The findings indicate that language mindset interventions could be effective in altering learners’ language mindset beliefs and L2 motivation but need to be recurrent in order to have a more lasting effect.