This might come as a surprise to you, but there might have been some amazing achievements in your life that you didn’t take seriously or didn’t even notice.
But how come we don’t notice our amazing achievements?
In fact, it has some connection with a red pen. Or, to be more exact, with the red-pen mentality.
What does an ordinary red pen have to do with us failing to notice our achievements? Let’s think about this.
What is the red-pen mentality? And why should we break out of it?
It is something that robs us of enthusiasm and joy when we are involved in some activity we want to become better at which in our case is learning a language. Here’s a real-life example.
When I was preparing for CAE a few years ago and doing some research I found myself on one language-learning forum. There was a thread that was rather curious. Сurious in terms of psychology and language learning.
There was a student who was asking for some tips on how she could improve some of her skills. She had just taken her CAE test and was extremely unsatisfied with her results. However, when she listed them off, everyone, reading the thread, was shocked: her accomplishments were impressive. The ones they thought she should actually be proud of herself for.
Was her level underestimated by her? Or was it rather overestimated by them?
In fact, I would agree with the second point. Her level was way more impressive than she thought it was.
But is it possible that sometimes (or oftentimes) we are also like her? Failing to recognise our achievements? Ignoring them? Discounting them? Taking them completely for granted? Only seeing our flaws and imperfections? Which we tend to exaggerate, don’t we?
Doesn’t this remind you of one tale called ‘The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish’?
Like one of the main characters from this story, many of us, whatever level we achieve, we never seem to recognise it. We never seem to really enjoy it.
If anything, there’s a tendency to self-deprecation among many students. Whatever level they are at, they never cease to criticise or make fun of themselves exaggerating their weaknesses.
So how did we end up seeing our accomplishments through such unresourceful and limiting lenses?
Do you know what the answer is?
The answer is ‘habit’.
But how did we end up having such a nasty habit?
Let’s remember our school days. How were our results evaluated by the school teachers in most cases? What instrument did they use to do that? Right, a red-ink pen. And what does the red-ink pen show? Exactly, it only shows our mistakes. Never does it show what we did right. Or never do they use a pen of a different colour to show that. As if it’s nothing special.
Let’s suppose you were assigned to write an essay and made 5 mistakes. In some schools (if not most) it’s enough to get the lowest mark. But what if you could have possibly made 50 mistakes. Yet out of 50 you only made 5. And you still get the lowest mark, even though the bits you got right vastly outnumber the ones you got wrong. For 45 correct bits vs. 5 incorrect ones, you get the lowest grade. For 45 vs. 5? Seriously??
No wonder then that as grown-ups we tend to evaluate our results similarly. Through these red-ink lenses. As a consequence, we fail to notice and appreciate small achievements and only see and exaggerate our mistakes and weaknesses despite the fact that those can be insignificant.
The red-pen mindset is something that prevents people from using the language they are learning. For example, students need to practise Speaking and they are ready for that, they already know some basic vocabulary and constructions. However, the learners still don’t try to communicate with anyone because they think they are not good enough yet.
Or the students know that having a pen pal would help them improve their Writing and their level allows them to, but again, the learners think they are not good enough yet and delay that until forever.
There’s also a tendency among some language learners to apologise for the mistakes they make while speaking or texting. And if you happen to have this habit, then consider breaking it because you don’t have to apologise for your mistakes, really (unless your mistake caused some terrible confusion). It’s natural for non-native speakers to make mistakes. Not to mention the fact that natives sometimes also slip up in their own language.
So what’s the solution? Is it to do quite the opposite? To only notice your strengths and achievements and ignore mistakes and weaknesses?
In fact, it would be the other extreme, wouldn’t it? You have probably met people who are completely satisfied with their intermediate level and don’t have any desire to advance any further. They also tend to overestimate their level as opposed to red-pen-mentality people who tend to underestimate it.
So, what do you think the solution is? Is it some balance between those two extremes? And yes, it is!
What has really helped me along my language-learning-and-teaching journey are 2 questions:
What was done well?
What can be done better?
Why do those questions work?
The first one draws your attention to your achievements and makes you feel happy that you have already made some steps forward (no matter how small those steps are because a big achievement consists of many small achievements, a big leap consists of small steps you do each at a time).
The second one doesn’t make you feel unhappy but gives you feedback you need to make some changes, some course corrections so that you could convert this feedback into new small achievements in the future.
Of course, the wording can be different. You can also say something along these lines:
What am I happy about?
What can be improved?
But the point is the same: you give yourself feedback which encourages you, not discourages.
Lexis
Now, let’s have a look at some useful lexis from this topic.
1)‘What is the red-pen mentality? And why should we break out of it?
break out of smth.
It’s a synonym to ‘escape’. Here we are talking about escaping an unpleasant situation (mentality, the daily routine, boredom, etc.).
Examples,
‘In order to escape the daily routine, he decided to go on a hike in the mountains.’
‘In order to break out of the daily routine, he decided to go on a hike in the mountains.’
‘Escaping the hard work will slow down your progress.’
‘To be successful you need to embrace challenges, not escape them.’
2)‘Was her level underestimated by her? Or was it rather overestimated by them?’
underestimate smth.
overestimate smth.
Those are 2 antonyms. The first means ‘to think that smth. is smaller in amount, size or cost than it really is’ and the other one just means the opposite.
Examples,
‘The cost of this book is greatly underestimated. It should cost more.’
‘She underestimated the time it would take to have enough sleep and overslept which led to her being late for work.’
‘He overestimated his level of Chinese and had a lot of difficulties understanding natives in China.’
3)‘But is it possible that sometimes (or oftentimes) we are also like her? Failing to recognise our achievements? Ignoring them? Discounting them? Taking them completely for granted?’ Only seeing our flaws and imperfections? Which we tend to exaggerate, don’t we?’
discount
When you discount something you think that it’s not important. And that’s a formal word. There’s a synonym which is more informal: ‘dismiss’.
Examples
‘She never discounts alternative points of view… if they all belong to her.’
‘Some dog barked at my cat, but he dismissed it. Because it was me pretending to be a dog.’
take smth. (or smb.) for granted
When you take something for granted you don’t feel grateful for this because it seems the norm for you. But when you lose it, you start recognising its true value for you. And you realise, ‘Gosh! I just took it for granted!’
Examples,
‘I never hugged and kissed my cat when I came home. So he left for another owner. However, now I am starting to realise that I actually love my cat. But back then I just took him completely for granted!’
‘When people started to see the impact plastic and carbon emissions have on the environment, they realised that they had taken clean water and air completely for granted.’
exaggerate
When your cat drank your cacao, but you say he ate all your Breakfast or when you have a cat, but you say you have a lion you exaggerate.
Examples,
-My parrot can speak 8 languages.
-Oh, come on! You’re just exaggerating!
-I am lazier than a slug.
-Oh, come on! Don’t exaggerate.
There’s also a synonymous expression which is ‘blow things out of proportion’.
Examples,
-Do you know that a comet is going to pass close to our planet? What if it’s enough to get attracted by Earth and hit it??
-Oh, come on! Don’t blow it out of proportion.
-Do you know that a massive crack had been found in an Antarctic ice shelf? What if it will cause a huge chunk of ice to break off which will lead to a global flood??
-Oh, come on! Don’t blow this out of proportion.
4)‘If anything, there’s a tendency to self-deprecation among many students.’
If anything
It’s used to say that the opposite is true. You can often see this phrase after a negative statement.
Examples,
‘This summer is not warm. If anything, it’s the coldest summer ever.’
‘My cat is not silly. If anything, he can speak 4 languages. But he doesn’t show it because wise cats are humble.’
‘You think that book is great? If anything, this is one of the most disgusting books I have ever… delayed reading.’
Sometimes non-natives, when they first come across this phrase, misunderstand it and use it to say, ‘If anything changes’ or something of that kind.
Those are two different expressions. If you want to express the second idea, then you can say phrases like these,
‘Let’s meet up at 8 a.m. If anything changes, I’ll text you.’
‘I’ll wait for you outside. (If there are) any problems, call me.’
5)‘Whatever level they are at, they never cease to criticise or make fun of themselves exaggerating their weaknesses as a learner.’
never cease to do smth.
It just means ‘never stop doing smth.’
Examples,
‘Would you believe it? Today my parrot spoke some Spanish. He never ceases to amaze me.’
6)‘And if you happen to have this habit, then consider breaking it…’
break the habit of doing smth.
If you don’t like some of your habits, you try to break them.
Examples,
‘It’s hard to break the habit of eating junk food, but it’s worth it in the end.’
‘She’s trying to break the habit of staying up late because she wants to feel awake in the morning.’
And what’s the opposite of ‘to break the habit’?
It’s ‘to install a habit’. Or ‘to develop a habit’.
Example,
‘Apart from reaching the goals, It’s important to develop the habit of enjoying the process when you learn a language.’
7)‘…it only shows our mistakes. Never does it show what we did right. Or never do they use a pen of a different colour to show that.’
Never + Verb + Subject
Now, this is an interesting construction called ‘Inversion’. What does it mean?
The point is that we invert the verb and the subject, that is, we put the verb first and the subject second which is not their usual placement: the subject first and the verb second. Why do we do that? Let’s compare 2 sentences: one is usual and the other one – with an inversion,
‘She never greets her cat when she comes home.’
‘Never does she greet her cat when she comes home.’
Which one sounds stronger? Obviously, the second because this word arrangement is unusual for our ears. We are more used to the way the first sentence is arranged.
The first sentence just gives a fact whereas the second one sounds like you are irritated by this fact (especially, if you are a cat).
And if you think about the Russian language (since most of you speak Russian here) there are also inversions in it. Just think of some sentence (‘I love you’ for example), then invert the subject and the verb. What do you feel? Do you feel any difference?
So, why do we need inversions? Right, for emphasis.
Here we used inversions with the word ‘never’. You can also use them with some other words, but we’ll leave it at that for now.
8)’But the point is the same. You give yourself feedback which encourages you, not discourages.’
encourage
discourage
If you encourage somebody or somebody encourages you, they support you. They say something like,
‘That’s an amazing song!’
‘I really love your drawings!’
‘I really enjoyed your performance!’
And ‘discourage’ just means the opposite.
Examples,
‘Don’t let obstacles discourage you.’
‘I played my new album and was greatly encouraged by my neighbours shouting outside. But then I looked at the clock and got freaked out: it was late at night.’
Alright, that’s about it. I’m signing off. This is Vadim, from ArtishEnglish.com
Have an artful day.