Chapter 1
Mindset theory (Dweck, Chiu, & Hong, 1995; Dweck & Leggett, 1988) proposes that
individuals hold mindsets ranging from fixed, wherein intelligence is viewed as stable and
unchangeable, to growth, wherein intelligence is seen as malleable (Dweck, 1999; Dweck &
Grant, 2008). The extent to which students hold growth (vs. fixed) mindsets plays a role in
their academic achievements (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007; Rattan, Savani,
Chugh, & Dweck, 2015; see also Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002), as well as their successes
later in life in areas such as financial management (Abernethy, Anderson, Nair, & Jiang,
2021) and career progression (Caniëls, Semeijn, & Renders, 2018; Visser, 2013). Growth
mindsets are generally believed to have positive effects on motivation and resilience in the
face of failure, whereas fixed mindsets are believed to diminish motivation and, in turn,
impair performance (Carr & Dweck, 2011).
Students’ implicit beliefs about the nature of their intelligence (“mindsets”) are an important
factor in predicting school motivation and performance in all school subjects. Carol Dweck’s
(2006) theory of mindsets builds on positive psychology approach to the malleable nature of
human intelligence, which is in line with neuroscientific findings on the adaptive brain
(e.g., Kujala & Näätänen, 2010 ). According to Dweck’s (2006) definition, mindsets are
beliefs that individuals hold about their most basic qualities and abilities. People with a
growth mindset believe that intelligence, personality, and abilities can be developed,
whereas people with fixed mindsets believe that basic qualities, such as intelligence, are
static and unalterable.
Factors affecting school students' language learning achievement has been the concern of
socio-linguists and educationist since the last quarter of the twentieth century. Ramirez,
(1986) conducted a study on students in a small rural school taught by the same teacher. It
was found that the communicative abilities of students in the rural school were lower than
those in urban schools. Moreover, urban school students produced more descriptions and
speech acts. The issue has gained more interest with the beginning of the twenty first
century. Genc and Aydin (2011) examined some factors affecting the motivation level of the
preparatory school students in using a web-based computer-assisted language-learning
course. The sample group of the study consisted of 126 English-as-a-foreign-language
learners at a preparatory school of a state university. It was found that there were no
statistical differences between such selected demographic variables as learners' age, gender,
grades, compulsory and optional status, type of high school, parents' educational status, the
period of the participants' language-learning process, and experience of computer use. The
only variable found to be statistically significant was the degree of importance of learning
English for the participants; more than half the participants possess moderately high
motivation level. Jurkovic (2010) examined the effect of two factors on achievement test
scores in English as a foreign language for specific purposes in higher education: preexisting
linguistic competence and frequency of use of language learner strategies. The results of this
study indicated a statistically significant positive effect of general linguistic competence on
achievement test scores. Among the constructs of language learner strategies, however, the
only construct having a statistically significant effect on achievement test scores was
metacognitive strategies. Suh et al (2010) investigated the effectiveness of massive
multiplayer online role- playing game (MMORPG)-based (massive multiplayer online role-
playing game) instruction in elementary English education.
