Mindfulness in English Language Teaching: Theoretical Foundations, Research Trends, and Future Directions

Abstract

Mindfulness has become a major topic in educational psychology and language teaching, largely because of its positive influence on learners' cognition, emotional stability and performance at school. This shift from a traditional, purely cognitive model to a learner-centered method, acknowledging the importance of attention, emotional regulation motivation resilience, and well-being, is well-reflected in the field of language education. Even if mindfulness research in ELT is increasing, a lot of the papers are still separated across various theories and environments, mainly concentrating on individual aspects such as anxiety, engagement, or teacher well-being. Such separation restricts the generation of a thorough comprehension of the nature of mindfulness as it pertains to language learning and teaching.
The conceptual review combines the main theoretical perspectives of educational psychology SLA positive psychology, applied linguistics, and neuroscience to shed light on the history of mindfulness and its different uses in ELT. It looks into the ways mindfulness and emotional regulation, foreign language anxiety motivation engagement, proficiency, and teacher well-being interact without neglecting contemporary trends like technology- enhanced mindfulness, AI-assisted learning, and digital mindfulness activities. Drawing on this analysis, the paper gives a comprehensive multidimensional model outlining the mental emotional behavioral, and pedagogical mechanisms through which mindfulness aids in the continual growth of the language learner. Also, it gives directions for teachers and curriculum creators and suggests new research lines.

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