The Mindful Lexicon: Weaving Eastern Contemplative Traditions into Attentive EFL Reading

Abstract

This conceptual paper discusses the adaptation of techniques used in the contemplation traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism for application in English as a foreign language, focusing on mindful reading. Drawing on the Bhagavad Gita’s principles of anāsakta karma (detached action) and samatva (equanimity), together with Buddhist teachings of Sati (mindfulness) and Vipassanā (insight meditation), this paper discusses methods for cultivating deep, focused, and reflective engagement with texts. A Mindful reading can be integrated to remind the students to direct both cognitive and emotional faculties towards learning by enhancing it and reducing stress and anxiety during performances. Guided meditation, reflective journaling, group discussion, creative assessment, affirmations, and individualized learning paths are some of the pedagogical applications designed to enhance a holistic approach that responds to moral, cognitive, and emotional development. This paper proposes a two-way shift in direction, whereby the result-oriented approach to reading will be discouraged and an active form of contemplative learning will be adopted by combining the best of traditional practices with the best of contemporary academic enquiry. It recommends further empirical studies to investigate the efficacy of mindfulnessbased pedagogy in classrooms across multiple contexts of EFL settings and to identify its possible contributions to promoting language proficiency, resilience, critical thinking, and humanistic growth.