Awareness of one’s own experiences as they occur, called mindfulness, can be an effective tool for treating physical and psychological symptoms of stress and trauma and has recently been rigorously tested in the medical and health fields. This presentation defines the meaning and role of experience as it pertains to education and language and introduces a mindfulness-based listening and pronunciation task employed in a college freshman EFL class over the course of one semester. Student feedback reported improved concentration, listening comprehension, and pronunciation ability. This type of approach in the EFL classroom can be an enlightening and effective tool for students by helping them concentrate on their subjective experiences of linguistic input, processing, and output.
At the end of the presentation, Barry will conduct a 40-minute meditation session. Bring your own cushion if
you so desire!
Barry Grossman was born in Brooklyn, New York. He has an MA in Linguistics and TESOL.
He currently teaches English full-time at Hachinohe University in Aomori-ken in addition to
teaching yoga in his own studio, which he opened in July 2006.
Hobbies include reading, travelling, hiking, golf, and ice hockey.
