Tuesday's Tip for Language Learning #19: Affective Dissonance - Disqualifying the Positive
Excerpt from Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star
Disqualifying
the positive says a lot about your own self-esteem. It is a case where you are
always putting yourself down, and this probably happens in other areas, as
well, not just in language learning. When you do not understand how marvelous
you are (even if you are not the top student in the classroom—there are so many
other ways to be a good language learner and a good person than a high test
score), you start looking for what is wrong with you. When you do that, you
start seeing your negative qualities (c’mon, we all have them, and if we look
hard enough, we will see them, and if we are honest enough, we will admit
them), and overlook all your positive qualities, either personal or related to
study and performance even when the positive qualities outnumber the negative
qualities. When you do that, it becomes difficult to be a good learner.
Defining how learners disqualify the positive
Disqualifying
the positive happens when you say to yourself that your successes do not really
count because this is just the easy stuff; you will not do well on the hard
stuff. It happens when you focus on a negative aspect of something you do or
even your perception of who you are. It happens when you fear the future
because you know the future will reveal your incompetence no matter how well
you have done up until now.
Do
you think any of these things that indicate that you are disqualifying the
positive?
· My teacher thinks I ma
great, but she does not really know me; I know so much more about myself, and
it is not really all that good so I hope she does not find out.
· I have good
relationships with my classmates, but that is only because they don’t know
things about me that I know about me.
· Sure, I did okay on this
test, but that is because I lucked out and was only asked the things I did
know so the next test is likely to wipe me out.
not giving recognitive
to good things = disqualifying the positive
Finding ways to move from negative to positive
How
do you avoid this trap of disqualifying the positive and focusing on the
negative, which is no help at all to you in your studies? Well, remember those
metacognitive strategies? Now, is a good time to use them.
Here
are some strategies that might help:
· List all the positive
things you can think of about your performance, and, if you need affirmation,
discuss the list with your teacher.
· So, okay, you are not
perfect, and there are things you could improve (every one of us can say that);
so, take the time and objectively list what you think your weak areas are and
then discuss with your teacher or mentor what you can do to improve those weak
areas.
· Keep a list of your
progress; every time you really learn something new (deeply enough that you
will probably not forget it), mark it down in a notebook, and from week to
week, see how your list grows.
examining the negative
with a balanced approach = finding the positive
As soon as you think something negative about yourself, immediately find the positive—and smile! You are good!
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