See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/384087483

Dissertation for Degree of Doctor Meditation and Mindfulness in University

EFL Classes: A Study of South Korean Student Experience

Thesis · August 2021

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.17382.02887

CITATIONS READS

0 30

1 author:

Anna Cybele Paschke

Korea National University of Transportation
5 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Anna Cybele Paschke on 18 September 2024.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Dissertation for Degree of Doctor

Supervisor: Professor Andrea Lee

Meditation and Mindfulness in University EFL

Classes: A Study of South Korean Student Experience

Submitted by

AnnA Cybele Paschke

August, 2021

Department of the Language and Culture

of Britain and America
Graduate School of Konkuk University
Meditation and Mindfulness in University EFL
Classes: A Study of South Korean Student Experience

A Dissertation

submitted to the Department of the Language and Culture

of Britain and America

and the Graduate School of Konkuk University

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Submitted by

AnnA Cybele Paschke

June, 2021

Department of the Language and Culture

of Britain and America
Graduate School of Konkuk University
This certifies that the Dissertation of

AnnA Cybele Paschke is approved.

Approved by Examination Committee

June, 2021

Graduate School of Konkuk University

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... iv
List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................... v
Abstract .................................................................................................................................................... vi

Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 Overview ..................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Background ..............................................................................................................................1
1.3 Situation to Self ........................................................................................................................5
1.3.1 Transformational Personal Experiences ..........................................................................6
1.3.2 Transformational Academic Experiences .......................................................................8
1.3.3 Experiential Understandings of SI .................................................................................12
1.3.4 Applying Lessons as a Teacher .....................................................................................13
1.4 Problem Statement ..................................................................................................................18
1.5 Purpose Statement ...................................................................................................................22
1.6 Significance of Study ..............................................................................................................22
1.7 Research Questions ................................................................................................................24
1.8 Keyword Definitions ...............................................................................................................24
1.9 Summary …............................................................................................................................26
Chapter 2. Literature Review
2.1 Overview ...............................................................................................................................28
2.2 Theoretical Framework .........................................................................................................28
2.2.1 Spiritual Intelligence Theory .......................................................................................30
2.2.2 Hierarchy of Needs Theory ..........................................................................................32
2.2.3 Affective Filter Hypothesis ..........................................................................................33
2.3 Review of Literature on Meditation and Mindfulness ...........................................................33
2.3.1 Meditation and Mindfulness in Education ...................................................................36
2.4 Review of Literature on Spiritual Intelligence .......................................................................41
2.4.1 Measuring Spiritual Intelligence ...................................................................................43
2.4.2 Connection & Spiritual Intelligence ..............................................................................44
2.4.3 Addressing Spirit in Education (Precursors to SI) ........................................................45
2.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................53

Chapter 3. Methods
3.1 Overview ….............................................................................................................................54
3.2 Design ....................................................................................................................................54
3.3 Research Questions ................................................................................................................57
3.4 Setting ....................................................................................................................................57
3.5 Participants ….........................................................................................................................58
3.6 Procedures …..........................................................................................................................59
3.7 Meditation and Mindfulness Activity (MMA) Protocol …………………….……..….........60
3.7.1 TOEIC Class MMA ........................................................................................................60
3.7.2 Conversation Class MMA ..............................................................................................62
3.8 Data Collection ……………………………………..………………………….……...…....62
3.8.1 TOEIC Class Data Sources …………………………….….………………..…..….…..62
3.8.2 Conversation Class Data Sources ………………………….………………..…...…….66
ii
3.9 Analysis ……………………………………………………….………………………….….76
3.10 Trustworthiness ………………………………………………………………………….…77
3.11 Ethical Considerations …………………………………………………………….…….….77
3.12 Summary …………………………….………………………………………………….…..77

Chapter 4. Findings
4.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................79
4.2 TOEIC Class Brief MMA Intervention Results ......................................................................79
4.2.1. Surveys ...........................................................................................................................80
4.2.2. Interview …………………….........................................................................................82
4.3 Conversation Class Connection-Oriented MMA Intervention Results …………………..….83
4.3.1 Surveys ……....................................................................................................................83
4.3.2 Homework Reports ….....................................................................................................86
4.3.3 Interview …………………….………………………………………………………..104
4.4 Summary ………………………………………………………………………………...…105

Chapter 5. Discussion
5.1 Positive Effects of MMA ......................................................................................................106
5.2 Desire and Ability to Connect …………………...................................................................112
5.3 Indications of Spiritual Intelligence …..................................................................................115
5.4 Summary …………………………………………………………………………...……....120

Chapter 6. Conclusion
6.1 Theoretical Implications........................................................................................................122
6.1.1 MMA has a Role in Higher Education …………..……............................................…122
6.1.2 Connection is a Measure of Active SI ..…….……………………………………....…123
6.2 Practical Implications ............................................................................................................124
6.2.1 MMA Improves Classroom Atmosphere …………..……………………………....…124
6.2.2 Improving Connection with MMA Improves Communication………………...……..124
6.2.3 Improving Focus with MMA Improves Chances for Academic Success ……………………....……..125
6.2.4 MMA Lends Itself to Integration in EFL . ………...…………………………....…….125
6.2.5 MMA are Adaptable for Broad Use in Higher Education….........................................125
6.2.6 MMA Use Transforms Life ……………………….……………………..……..….126
6.3 Limitations ............................................................................................................................126
6.4 Recommendations for Future Research ................................................................................128

References ....................................................................................................................................130
Appendix ......................................................................................................................................145
Abstract in Korean .......................................................................................................................150

iii
 List of Tables
< Table 1 > Number of Students by Class ……..…………………………………………...........58

< Table 2 > Data Collected by Source …………………………...................................................79

< Table 3 > Music Listening MMA (with Visualization) – Before/After Changes .......................81

< Table 4 > Breath Control MMA (Breath Bubble) – Before/After Changes ...............................81

< Table 5 > Sense of Connection ...................................................................................................84

< Table A1 > Specifics of Mood Change: Music Listening “Raven’s Wings” ............................146

< Table A2 > Specifics of Mood Change: Breathing – Counting ................................................146

< Table A3 > Specifics of Mood Change: Breathing – with Silent Affirmations ........................147

< Table B1 > People/Nature/Mindfulness Survey + Class Final Grade: Correlational Analysis..148

< Table C1 > Participants by Department ……………………....................................................149

iv
 List of Figures
< Figure 1 > Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Informed by Blackfoot Nation) ................................32

< Figure 2 > Average Mood Change for Two Sets of Brief MMA ………….................................80

< Figure 3 > Outro Survey Q7: After the in-class meditation, generally, I felt ___. …...................82

< Figure 4 > Reflective writing helped me look at my thoughts and better understand my emotions…85

< Figure A1 > 2019 Pilot: Average of 4 Brief MMA Before/After Mood Change …...................145

v
ABSTRACT

Meditation and Mindfulness in University EFL

Classes: A Study of South Korean Student
Experience
AnnA Cybele Paschke

Department of the Language and Culture of Britain and America

Graduate School of Konkuk University

A convergent parallel mixed-methods study was conducted in the 15-week fall semester of
2020 involving 200 mixed-major students enrolled in either TOEIC or Conversation classes at a rural
South Korean university. The study models how meditation and mindfulness activities (MMA) can be
integrated into existing structures to address spirit and support learning and in two different kinds of
university EFL classes. The theories of spiritual intelligence (SI), self-actualization/
transformation, and affective filter hypothesis were used to explore clues from the data in how
MMA may serve to help EFL students reach their full potential. TOEIC class interventions
consisted of two brief MMA, music listening and breath control. Surveys at the time of
intervention were used to collect students’ perceptions of the effects the MMA had on their
mood, plus shifts in focus, stress, peace, and helpfulness for study. Conversation class
interventions involved pre-/post- reflection on three mindful-connection MMA completed out
of designed to also fulfil the class pedagogical goals. Homework reports were analyzed for
recurrent and prescient themes related to MMA experiences. To triangulate results, outro-
surveys and interviews were conducted at the end of semester with both types of classes to
gather retrospective perceptions. All surveys used the addition of open-ended question to the
closed-ended format to yield both quantitative and qualitative data, so that both the extent and
nature of students’ perceptions could be explored. Findings show the majority of students
perceived positive effects of brief TOEIC class MMA in terms of mood, increase in
peacefulness and ability to focus, reduction in stress, and helpfulness for study. Results from
the Conversation class data showed shifts in students’ ability and desire to connect to others
and the natural world. Practical pedagogical implications for curricular enhancement and
improved classroom atmosphere aside benefits to students is discussed. Theoretical
implications regarding using connection as an SI measurement and conceptualizing the
overlap of self-actualization and SI theories are also discussed.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Keywords: meditation, mindfulness, EFL, connection, spiritual intelligence

vi
 Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1. Overview

This chapter introduces research about integrating simple meditation and mindfulness

activities (MMA) into two kinds of university EFL classes to more fully understand what positive

effects students experience primarily related to mood and the ability and desire to connect to others.

The reported perceptions give a lens through which to explore indications of spiritual intelligence (SI)

and the nature of its role in education. The research is set against the backdrop of contemporary

challenges posed to university students’ ability to be present and capacity to engage in communication,

both of which are necessary for education, particularly in the EFL field. Starting with describing the

author’s personal relation to the research topics, this chapter then discusses the problem which the

research intends to address, the purpose plus significance of the study, the three research questions that

define its course, and provides the working definitions of key words that are integral to understanding

the design and analysis of this research.

1.2. Background

In the tech-laden modern-day, people are on autopilot being led from one social media

distraction to the next, so there is growing concern about the desire and capacity to unplug and be

present to oneself and others, to connect and communicate in meaningful ways. Looking up from the

ubiquitous screens and devices to stop the flow of constant activity and related mental chatter to be

present to the situation of the moment and how one actually feels, reflect on what one feels and sees

around them, there is a silence and stillness which can lead to increased self-awareness and higher

states of consciousness that allow the capacity for greater focus, important reflection, and new

perspectives of how to change one’s behavior to solve problems, live better, and reach the success that

one hopes for. Meditation and mindfulness help one to be present, which allows intentional action

towards constructive goals to be possible. When silent reflection is mindful, attention improves

because people automatically become both more relaxed and more alert (Berto & Barbiero, 2014), the

perfect combination to facilitate learning. From silence, when the activity of the mind and outer action

is stilled, there is space to think deeply about life, to become more aware of what one is feeling and

1
doing, to question thoughts and actions, purpose, and life direction. University students are often

asking themselves: How can I get better grades and achieve future success? What is the purpose of

study and life? Am I studying in the right major? These are the big life questions that make their way

into students’ minds in the course of higher education, yet when they are too distracted to take time to

think about them, and do not have encouragement to be positive and self-compassionate, to quiet the

mind and reflect, the ability for self-awareness, self-compassion, and capacity to know how to

approach these questions and answer them is lacking. Yet the choices university students make are

some of the most important choices that will have the biggest influence on their lives. Connecting to

one’s higher mind, beyond the flurry of day-to-day thoughts of schedules and activities, allows a flux

in the state of consciousness where metacognition is possible, as intuition and supra-cognitive faculties

actively serve as a bridge of knowledge to the conscious mind. Meditation and mindfulness practices

aid in gifting this necessary pause of silence and its resultant clarity.

Among the biggest problems that all students face are the affective filters that block learning.

Nothing can be learned when a student is subconsciously blocking their own learning. Issues of self-

confidence are extremely prevalent during university life, as students have left the comfort and safety

net of home to enter environments where they must overcome shyness to connect with new peers and

create the friendships and community that can support them. Students potentially carry a world of

worries, from parents’ expectations and perceived social expectations to anxieties about grades and

finding a job. It is an unrealistic scenario that students can come into the classroom and instantly drop

all their worries. The mental states of stress, anxiety, and depression that students might be stuck in

often interfere with the ability to focus, acquire, and retain class information. One way to quickly shift

the focus of the mind by bringing students into the present moment from their thoughts about the past

and future, setting a mental atmosphere conducive for study, is to use MMA at the beginning of class.

Aside from clearing the mind, MMA can bring about higher states of consciousness which

lead one to a feeling of oneness with all (Heaton, 2016). This oneness experience indicates the ability

to connect oneself with the world around that could range from what eminent 20th century psychologist

Abraham Maslow (1943) conceived of as peak experience to mystical experience (Sosteric, 2018),

transcendence, and ultimately enlightenment. In the era of surface hyper-connection online, people are

2
now more than ever feeling a longing for deep connection to themselves and others, the natural world

around them, and some greater power that is a mysterious creative source that flows through

everything. Forging connection is one way to engage with life and feel a sense of meaning, purpose,

and joy, as well as the associated prosocial effects that allow for deeper connection with others,

compassion and empathy (Kreplin et al., 2018).

The classroom is a natural place to encourage connection. For conversation classes, the very

purpose is to guide students to use imparted knowledge and skills to communicate with others. The

classroom also has the potential to be a place where not just a student’s mind and IQ can be addressed,

but also their spirit and SI. This can happen with simple adjustments to classroom procedure or

homework assignments to seamlessly incorporate meditation and mindfulness into the study subject at

hand without needing to change the teaching method or diverge from the curriculum. EFL classes

particularly lend themselves to customization, and the subject areas that can be used for speaking,

listening, and writing are endless. Standard EFL textbooks often set up a structure for practice and

homework that may help students to practice linguistic skills without considering the potential for SI

development that is possible when an assignment is structured to include deep reflection and involve

intentional mindful connection that can make the process of learning more meaningful. Discussions,

writing, and out of class assignments can be centered around things that reflect students’ actual daily

life. With a little extra direction on mindfulness for students, everyday experiences that may otherwise

seem mundane can take on a new meaning and importance when there is a dedicated opportunity for

reflection.

Exploring interventions to address and infuse spirit into curriculum is a current trend

undertaken in hopes of countering the new kinds of detrimental cognitive and social side-effects of the

quick-paced technologically advanced modern times, including mindless learning (Langer &

Moldoveanu, 2000). Meditation and mindfulness techniques are being applied successfully in

mainstream education around the world (Archuleta et., 2019; Jenkins, 2019; Waters et al., 2014),

including in the USA. A Contemplative Practice Fellowship program was designed in the mid-1990's

to promote contemplative arts, including meditation and mindfulness, in higher education and resulted

in the adoption of formal programs by more than 75 colleges and universities (Sarath, 2003). The

3
University of Michigan School of Music created a four-year BA degree in Jazz and Contemplative

Studies that requires students early on to choose not only a main instrument but a main contemplative

practice which is also supported in the curriculum (Sarath, 2003).

Meditation and mindfulness techniques have proven effective tools as part of higher education

to increase knowledge retention (Ramsburg & Youmans, 2014), academic performance (Fiebert &

Mead, 1981), resilience to stress (Galante et al., 2018), focus, calm, and overall well-being (Schwind

et al., 2017) and emotional regulation - mitigating adverse effects of stress, low mood, and anxiety

(Van Gordon et al., 2014).

Perhaps due to a lack of curricular-level integration of meditation and mindfulness practices in

the classroom (Hart, 2004), relatively little has yet been done to explore the application of meditation

and mindfulness specifically in the area of ESL/EFL. The 2014 study by Ramsburg & Youmans

mentioned to have resulted in increased knowledge retention, also provided evidence that meditation

could be integrated into university courses without causing disruption to the classroom environment.

That MMA used in that controlled study was a very brief method students learned to do by written

instructions at the time of the intervention which involving an easy breath counting method to

mindfully focus the mind and subsequently regulate breathing. Use of that method at the beginning of

class resulted in higher post-lecture quiz grades. Surprisingly, as meditation and mindfulness are often

used to promote positive mood change and relaxation, the Ramsburg & Youmans (2014) results

indicated no effect on mood and relaxation due to the brief meditation activity. A recent study on

language acquisition proved meditation techniques were effective in reducing the affective filter

(Garcia, 2018) that limits a students’ capacity to feel comfortable and succeed in language acquisition

by affecting motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety (Krashen, 1982). Suggestopedia (Lozanov, 1978)

is a system used to enhance foreign language acquisition (FLA) that works on the premise that

students typically use less than 10% of their mental capacity because of affective influences, so

learning is quicker if students are relaxed and de-suggested to overcome anxiety. The Suggestopedia

method of foreign language teaching uses guided meditation and music along with positive suggestion.

Aside from the general effects of improved well-being, it works to improve recall and hasten the

language learning process by “tapping the reserves of students’ minds by unifying the conscious and

4
subconscious” (Cai, 2017, p. 18). Suggestopedia was used with undergraduate Chinese language

learners, and results proved significant stress and anxiety reduction, increased relaxation and calm,

greater confidence, enhanced learning and concentration, as well as higher gains in acquired language

skills (Cai, 2017).

Supporting students at the level of spirit fulfills true education, which at its highest, helps

students transform intellectually and emotionally (Duerr et al., 2003) to achieve their fullest potential

academically as well as personally. Connecting to one’s inner core or spirit, a process enhanced by

meditation and mindfulness that can activate spiritual intelligence, is recognized as imperative to

facilitate self-actualization and transformation (Johnson, 2014). The world’s major holistic and

alternative educational movements from the ancient Greeks to those of the 20th century, such as

Montessori (1917), Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, and Sarkar’s (1982) Neohumanist movement, have all

sprung around the premise that it is deeply necessary to support the connection to one’s own spirit and

the interconnectedness to others and the environment (Rudge, 2008). These movements have all

incorporated mind-body-soul practices and nature seamlessly into the academic development strategy.

While there have been educational movements to encourage the full potential of human learning, there

has been little done to research ways meditation and mindfulness can be used in standard

contemporary higher education classrooms to activate, encourage, and support the capacity for SI as it

intertwines with cognitive wisdom development to improve students’ capacity for successfully

advancing their studies.

1.3. Situation to Self

There are four main areas of personal transformative life experience which have attuned the

author to the qualities of spirit, which include exposure to nature, music & the arts, Sufism & spiritual

traditions, and India. In elaborating on these influences, through pertinent examples of

transformational personal and academic experiences that involve meditation and mindfulness, along

with the author’s experiential understandings of SI through music and intuition, the focus will shift to

how these experiences have informed the author’s personal teaching practice and the development of

5
this research. The narrative will shift to first-person for the remainder of this section to relate the

author’s self-reflection on pertinent areas of personal background.

1.3.1. Transformational Personal Experiences

A. Exposure to nature.

Growing up in the countryside of upstate New York, I was constantly uplifted and refined by

the fortifying power of nature. My house was set far back from the road next to a hillside where deer

would come to eat from the old apple trees, rabbits would hop to nibble on grass, squirrels would run

through trees, and red cardinals would fly up to the windows. Every season had a new magical garb in

the forest, streams, and fields around my house, and I spent a lot of my childhood both seeking refuge

from my problems there and growing wonder. I learned to be silent and connect with the animals and

the trees as living, sacred beings that seemed there to empathize, console, and teach me the secrets of

the universe. Additionally, to the emotional and spiritual balance that being in nature brings, the very

act of being in physical contact with the Earth, as well as the technique to electrically ground known

as grounding or Earthing, has been scientifically proven to improve physical health and prevent

disease (Oschman et al., 2015).

B. Exposure to live music and the arts.

Throughout my childhood, I was constantly amidst live music and the arts, as my mother

continually took me along to events at community art centers where she worked. I had very powerful

experiences of expanding perspective through this exposure to modern art. Being mostly among adults

who would talk for hours, I had plenty of time to silently take in the art and reflect about meaning. I

consider it a blessing to have been able to hear so many different kinds of music performed, from

Celtic to jazz to classical, and I can definitely say that the music induced emotions, awakened energy,

moved me into alternate levels of consciousness, and expanded my overall awareness. There is an

intimate connection formed between a musician and the audience at a live concert in a small setting

where you can see the performer breathing and moving as they play, and the musicians’ creative

impulse is drawn from the mood of the audience. The premise of the power of this connection between

performer and listener is what inspired me to restore a traditional Korean lord’s house (hanok) as a

sacred place to experience the strength and wonder of connection through the conduit of music.

6
Experiencing the instantaneous power of music to lift one into a heightened state of awareness and

conscious presence first-hand, has made music seem natural as an aid applied to serving the learning

process in the classroom.

C. Exposure to spirituality & Sufism.

My own personal religious exposure was vast as a child, one week I might be singing in choir

at church and the next with a group of women performing a Goddess ritual in the forest. Perhaps the

earliest poignant experience was when I was nine years old during a Hindu ceremony where hundreds,

if not thousands, of people were gathered in a large room at an ashram in Liberty, NY sitting on the

floor, chanting and clapping in the dark. With my eyes closed, the clapping of hundreds of hands all

happened within the clapping of my own hands, and I suddenly felt no separation from anyone in the

room or in the universe.

Starting from my junior year in high school, when I was 16, I spent summers at an intentional

spiritual community in the Berkshires, the Abode, where I was able to delve into the experience of a

range of Sufic practices and meditation techniques involving breath, deep reflection in nature,

chanting, music, and dance. Above and beyond learning the meditations, to be a part of a loving and

accepting community of people had a very powerfully stabilizing effect on my well-being at the

typically precarious time of adolescence. At the Abode I met esteemed musicians from all over the

world, and began performing professionally in New York City. With the support of members of the

Abode community I went to India during my college break to study classical raga music, which

beyond music is a meditative practice developed to mirror the energy and vibrations of the natural

world and cosmos.

D. Exposure to “another world” — India.

India further strongly kindled my spirit, as it is a culture of many religions where spiritual

depths are visible everywhere, from a taxi dashboard proudly displaying mantras or images of Gods

and Goddesses, to the steps leading from cities down to holy rivers where people are literally

immersing in prayer. I lived in a small ancient labyrinth directly surrounding the Sufi tomb of Hazrat

Nizamuddin Auliya in New Delhi, where the call to prayer would ring out before sunrise and all-day

long throngs of people would flow through the inner part of the basti (a typically overcrowded area

7
where economically disadvantaged people live), walking barefoot over marble pathways to place fresh

roses on ancient saints’ tombs. The scenes were as disparate as imaginable between that basti, where

homeless people without arms and legs would call out for money as people passed by, and my quiet

hometown in pastoral upstate New York, Clinton, that my mom always described as having more

cows than people. To experience such extremes of human ways of life opened my mind and heart in

great ways towards fuller compassion, understanding, and acceptance of human interconnectedness

and the multitudes of ways to seek and experience divine presence.

1.3.2. Transformational Academic Experiences

During my own education there were pivotal experiences related to meditation and

mindfulness that sparked my spirit’s development: a guided visualization in high school French class,

a course called Influence of Music at Bennington College where it was taught which notes could be

played to alter someone’s physical strength based on their star sign, a Chinese poem about bamboo,

and a calm walk through the chaos of Old Delhi that taught me the essence of music.

A. First introduction to visualization meditation.

The first memory of doing a visualization meditation was in 10th grade. I had been studying

French for 6 years and absolutely loved it. I relished the excitement of imagining other cultures, and

feeling the differences that using words and accents created internally and emotionally. That year, I

was in a rather raucous French class with about 20 students. One day we arrived at class, and there was

a substitute teacher, Monsieur “H” (osh) who said he was going to be with us for some time. His initial

verve to teach us quickly turned to hopelessness as the unruly students disregarded his attempts at

maintaining a viable learning atmosphere. After what might have been a month our teacher had

returned. She was very quiet on that day, but our attention was rendered, and she said she had been

somewhere that she experienced something that she wanted to share with us. She directed us to close

our eyes and listen. In the course of about 10 minutes, after having us focus on our breath to relax our

bodies, she guided us through a visualization in which we used our imagination to picture we were

walking and visualize what we saw, heard, and smelled as we walked, until finally we arrived

somewhere and saw a gift with a message on it for us. Then we were directed to open our eyes. What

happened next was thrilling, students were bubbling and eager to share what they had seen, and tell the

8
message they saw at the end. We were suddenly connected as a class, and with her, and there was a

flow that hadn’t been present in the past. The idea of visualization helped us reach into our

subconscious mind and knowing, to access intuition and quick insights that might not otherwise come

to our conscious thought. Intuition and mindfulness are two components that make it possible for

people to know themselves and heighten their awareness to reach higher states of consciousness

(Drigas & Mitsea, 2020). Amram (2007), one of the first to ground a theory on SI, thoroughly

discusses the link between intuition and SI development, even connecting it to ideas on genetic

evolution. So, while the visualization wasn’t specifically French-related, it prepared us to concentrate

by exciting and connecting us through interacting about a shared experience, and the sparks of that

atmosphere created the conditions far more conducive for study than anything we had ever done in

class before.

It was brave of Madame, socially and academically, to return from a long absence and share

what had helped her recover from a difficult situation in her life, by applying meditation to our class.

To this day, I am in awe of how, in the course of a simple brief meditation, the students who had been

so unruly and unmotivated, miraculously shifted to being receptive, appreciative, and awakened. It

gives me a sense of hope when I encounter classroom situations that seem wrought with impassable

attitudes of listlessness, distraction, or closed energy. Whenever I reflect on doing this visualization

meditation in a high school class, I still feel a sort of wonder and gratitude. Twenty years later, in my

own classes, I went on to share this kind of visualization meditation with students, and develop related

meditations that have been insightful and exciting for me and students. Many of the meditations and

visualization exercises I have used in various classes and workshops have had the same power,

exciting participants to open up to interaction, share creative insights, and revel in the wonder that

learning and connecting with others can be.

B. Bennington College & bamboo, passions beyond the subjects.

The next spirit-moving highlight of my educational background was during my undergraduate

study at Bennington College. Bennington in general was influential because there were no grades, and

studies were completely inter-disciplinary. Students could take classes from any discipline and

combine interests that might seem disparate, like Architecture and Psychology, to create cutting-edge

9
projects uniquely applicable to the real world. I feel so fortunate that a Bennington education gave me

the opportunity to pursue and inter-relate a broad range of personal interests without the albatross of

grades, which have long been acknowledged as actual deterrents from learning (Doak, 1962;

Mannello, 1964), anti-intellectual (Romanowski, 2012), and a main source of student anxiety

(Barrows et al., 2013).

At Bennington I had access to professors who were very deeply involved in their lifelong

creative pursuits and obviously tapped into other dimensions of consciousness not necessarily

common in academia, such as Professor Milford Graves who ushered in the musical genre of free jazz

and combined traditional oriental medicine theory, global rhythms, and astrology and cosmic

understandings to teach students how music is used to influence life, and the late Mary Oliver who

won both a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for poetry which reflected the intense beauty

of nature and our intense human need for it. My mentor Willie Finckel would receive a tiny flower I

had picked for her from the field on the way to the music building, look thoroughly at it then use the

insights of the flower to guide how a piano piece we were working on could be played.

The most important lesson of my education, other than my 10th grade art teacher Mr.

Cittadino imparting the most profound life lesson of his education, “Make your darks darker, and your

lights lighter,” came during Chinese class in my sophomore year of college. Interestingly enough, the

college at that time had restructured its foreign language system, and fired almost everybody,

replacing native speaking coaches with computers and high-tech learning labs. When the new semester

came and I was put into a classroom with a tape player, I decided to quit the class and go for private

lessons with my former professor who was still living on campus.

CC Huang, named after the Great Wall of China, had long white eyebrows that extended far

off his face, making him seem to me like an ancient mythical being. At his home there was a gorgeous

white cat with the same eyebrows, that seemed like his ancient mythical teacher in disguise. The class

was no longer for credit, so instead of using the former textbook, my professor found interesting

stories for me to read. The one that changed my perspective on the world was about an artist who

wanted to paint bamboo. He took out a brush and started painting, but his teacher stopped him and

took away his brush, suggesting he lock his gaze on the bamboo. It took an entire year before he was

10
allowed to paint, because the artist had to see the bamboo in every season, so he would know not just

what bamboo looked like, but what it felt like to be bamboo. When he could internalize the experience

of being bamboo over time, only then could he paint bamboo that truly resembled bamboo. With this

story of the bamboo, it became clear that I was not simply studying Chinese, I was studying the

philosophy of life. It was then that I realized not only was I studying the philosophy of life with Huang

Laoshi, I was studying the philosophy of life from every professor, learning from the stories of their

teachers and their education, their experiences. Their knowledge became my knowledge to carry,

experiment with, and embody in my own way as I went through the day-to-day activities of my life.

This completely changed how I conceive of teaching a “subject,” as basically there are no

subjects divided into separate boxes. Everything is a part of everything, and for a lesson to have value

the subject has to be alive in tenable ways in students’ lives, so it has personal meaning for them and

they are excited and moved by it, motivated to know more about things and how to apply them. Not

only do meaningful activities increase motivation, they also have a positive correlation with well-

being (Hooker et al., 2019).

C. Learning mindfulness in the streets of Old Delhi.

The first lesson to teach me the most about being fully present in a relaxed non-judgmental

state of heightened awareness, the basic definition of mindfulness, was when I unexpectedly learned

how to cross the street from my late Indian music teacher in Old Delhi. It was the most extreme “aha”

moment of my life. My teacher and I had gone to the market to buy a color TV, the first color TV his

family would ever own. Ustad Hafizullah Khan worked for All India Radio and lived in a very calm

government workers housing complex. However, to buy the TV we had to travel out to the total chaos

that is the massive winding maze of “Dilli.” If you can imagine huge brightly painted trucks weighing

tons weaving haphazardly through traffic on a street that at any moment could contain a mix of

elephants, horses, motorcycles (sometimes with a family of 5 piled onto a single bike), 3-wheel

bicycles, and people carrying things on their head of every imaginable size and shape. And then

picture there are 10 rows of these various “vehicles” which all function at different speeds, but only

one lane, with vehicles going both ways. This was the street we had to walk along and cross to get to

the narrow lanes of the heart of Old Delhi. I was scared to death. I was looking left and right, dodging

11
and gasping, my heart pounding as I prayed my feet wouldn’t get run over by massive rubber wheels

or goat hooves. And then, I looked ahead to my teacher. I thought I saw the Messiah walking on water.

There was my teacher, the epitome of calm coolness, almost floating through the crowds. He didn’t

look left or right, he didn’t gulp his heart in his throat, he didn’t flinch as bicycles and cars and cows

swerved constantly in front of him. His complete connection to the moment, with total calm, was so

powerful, so consistent, that others simply went around him, and he didn’t have to look left and right

to avoid being hit. I was amazed, flabbergasted.

In Khan Sahib’s simple yet utter confidence I learned the greatest lesson about how to carry

myself. In music, in business, in anything where you have to express something to someone else, how

you “carry yourself” can make or break your career, as well as your connections with others. If you are

too shy, then people walk over you, not putting in effort to notice or listen to you, yet if you are too

strong and show too much ego, people are repelled or offended. My teacher had no pride getting in his

way as a musician, yet he was the son of a man recognized as one of the greatest musicians of the

century in India so could have easily taken on an air of righteousness…but he didn’t need to. He

commanded respect by drawing people in silently, not changing to appease anyone. He didn’t play

faster or fancier to impress anyone. He seemed to stop time altogether as he played the music of his

heart exactly as his heart dictated, and people fell spellbound at every note. I learned if you move with

confidence on your own path, aware of what is around yet not letting it disturb or take away your

focus, then the impact of your expression will be solid, strong, and deep.

1.3.3. Experiential Understandings of SI

A. Orientation to SI as a musician.

While the allegories shared form a general volume of personal pivotal experiences, and give a

sense of the influences in life that have led me personally on the path of interest in the topics of

meditation and spirituality, the one thing that continually gives me an experiential understanding of SI

is music. There are some incomplete conceptions about music, which to clarify may shed light on the

parts of this research that involve music and consciousness. Firstly, is the concept that for a musician

music is about playing. While music is about playing, it’s true, it is actually just as much about

listening. In this sense, the experience of creating music can be the ultimate mindfulness activity.

12
Further, the listening is not a physical listening, but a kind of intuitive listening as something is filtered

in the energy of the present moment through one’s core as what is a sort of spiritual-physio-emotional

experience. Music provides an experience that is not spatial-temporal, in which the potential quality of

cerebral activity allows for clarity of thought, insight, and emotional resolution that is not otherwise

operational in normal states of consciousness.

B. Intuition.

Intuition is a form of inner knowing that may seem to arise from nowhere. Sufi mystic Hazrat

Inayat Khan describes this wisdom as a light from one’s inner self that is imparted by divine grace. If

intelligence can be considered a cosmic pool, then it follows that we may access it at any time by dipping

into it through intuition. Intuition has played a massive and precious role in my life. Once, after having

a dream of a longhaired artist that I was in love with, I had the intuitive impulse to actively seek out that

artist from the dream. Within three days I had found him in a café celebrating his art gallery opening,

and we instantly fell in love. When there is any kind of decision to make, intuition is that perpetual quiet

guiding voice that says, “yes, this is right” or “no, this isn’t for you.” An even more extreme example of

intuition arising is the circumstance by which I came to live in Korea in the very spot where the ancient

6th century founding father of Korean music, Ureuk, used music to harmonize the three ancient kingdoms

of Korea. Soon after learning of Master Ureuk, I came upon an abandoned traditional lord’s house buried

at the foot of a hill amidst rice fields and apple orchards. I felt a strong intuitive sense that I had to save

the house and restore it as a stage for music, as a way to preserve tradition and foster connection through

meaningful experience of music and the arts. Intuition is a force greater than individual will, which often

has one take illogical financial and social risks to fulfil an inner directive to do something for the greater

good. As a harbinger of dreams that motivate and give one a sense of purpose, intuition seems imperative

as a capacity to develop in life. My own experiences with it have certainly proven that to be so personally

and lead me to esteem to open and encourage others to tap into their own intuitive capabilities as well.

1.3.4. Applying my lessons as a teacher.

My own personal experiences with having spirit addressed and receiving insights that were not

mentally oriented or knowledge-based, as part of my formal and informal education, include several

pivotal moments that were extremely exciting, gratifying, and highly influential to my understanding

13
of both the subject at hand and the process of learning. My own experience with learning has me

conceive of the honor and power of being an educator, as a sacred duty. Teachers have the opportunity

to potentially add to the awakening of a student’s spirit as they help students make connections

between what is being studied and the experiences and sparkling joys of their own lives. While I

realize my students may have never encountered this orientation towards education, and school may

have dulled their senses in affronting them with endless chores and tests, it is all the more reason to

figure out how to go about addressing spirit with my students so they have more exposure to other

routes of intelligence and opportunities to develop the aspects of presence, reflection, and connection

that relate to SI and self-actualization/transformation.

In 2002, I started teaching university EFL classes in South Korea. My university students had

already been studying English for 10 to 15 years, yet few had obtained fluency. It became apparent to

me relatively early on that the actual English teaching of grammar and vocabulary was entirely

secondary to skills such as confidence, creative thinking, courage, and an understanding of how to

connect and relate to others. Regarding second language acquisition (SLA), since Hymes in 1971,

theorists have been positing that communicative competence requires the understanding of both

grammatical and linguistic aspects of language plus an understanding of context and cultural

appropriateness (Park, 2001).

In deeply talking with students, several things really surprised me and began to inform a

notion that incorporating certain aspects of holistic/contemplative education might serve the student

population I was teaching. The first surprise was how often students spoke of pursuing majors they

had no interest in, simply because they thought it was the way to make money. When students aren’t

actually interested in their major, they may feel an overall lack of purpose in study and life. One

common effect that lack of purpose can lead to is attrition (Sharma & Yukhymenko, 2018), basically

giving up and leaving school. It had me deeply think about what causes people to try to attain

something they don’t actually desire, based on a societal construct that they may not even agree with,

which is actually far from their ideal. The second surprise was, though the university is in a rural area

with breathtaking rivers and hills, the majority of students said they never walked along the river or

into the gladed parts of campus. A third surprise was when I gave a simple assignment for students to

14
ask a question to their grandparents, and was shocked that several students reported that the homework

assignment facilitated their first deep conversation with their grandparents; some students had not even

realized until talking to their grandparents for the assignment that they had lived through the Korean

War and experienced severe poverty growing up.

A. Forging connection with meaningful assignments.

The theme of connection started to resound when I thought about what supported me in my

life, and what might help my students. Connection has multiple branches, connection to oneself and

others, to non-human beings and the environment, and to a greater mystery or divine force. The most

primary of these, connecting to one’s own core, is echoed in the classic guidance of the Greek maxim

“know thyself” which places ultimate value on self-reflection. We often come to know ourselves

through our own emotional reactions and experiences of connecting with others and the environment

around us, as well as brushes with the mysteries of existence that are beyond human understanding.

Rather than starting class with opening text books, I shifted to a 10-minute period of what I

call “dreamy time” where we might do a visualization with music or watch a video related to

emotional intelligence that palpably displays kindness or forgiveness and connection, then have a

period of free writing where students could reflect on their reactions to the brief experience of

meditating or watching a video. In addition to integrating meditation, mindfulness, and reflection

activities aimed at quieting the mind to reach higher levels of thought and perspective that would

unveil a deeper understanding of spirit, I started to devise ways to create more connection for students

both in and outside of class. Creating groups was one way to give students the aspect of support and

group intention that are the trademarks of community. Interacting with others is known to be a way to

facilitate spiritual growth (Astin et al., 2011). As students began to feel comfortable talking to their

group members, they would naturally discuss deeper and more personal topics. Further, as a way to

raise students’ awareness of their capacity to add positively to society, I created group missions that

involved going into the local community and doing small acts of kindness for strangers. Another way

to increase the level of connection was to alter homework assignments for conversation classes in

ways that provided meaningful connection experiences, such as using nature walks to inspire writing,

and having students make good use of the major holidays when extended families gather together to

15
interview a range of family members of different generations. One semester, every single homework

paper submitted said, “Thank you for giving this assignment,” and it became clear that something

important was happening with students that warranted exploring and understanding more deeply.

B. Using meditation for TOEIC test training.

In recent years in Korea there has been a heavy emphasis, regardless of students’ major,

placed on the English proficiency test, TOEIC, and achieving a high score on it. Over the past several

years, most of my lively conversation classes have been replaced by difficult and dull TOEIC classes

pack with 40 students of mixed levels from a total mix of majors. The majority of students in these

classes are not able to carry on a basic conversation in English. Beginning level students are being

required to memorize high level vocabulary, read long complex comprehension passages, and endure

lessons mediated in English. The amount of stress and anxiety students face in trying to raise their

TOEIC test grades is intense, as potential employers require TOEIC grades, whether or not the job

would ever require using English. In fact, a recent Korean study has proven that the more stress

students feel regarding finding a job, the greater their TOEIC test anxiety is, and the greater likelihood

of burnout (Hong & Bae, 2018).

After a visit to Anand Ashram in Bali several years ago, where I heard about local school

initiatives to include meditation in the curriculum, I started to introduce relaxation and

meditation/mindfulness techniques into my own classes. It seemed obvious to me that if students could

learn to control the physical and mental patterns of stress that get set into motion automatically when

they walk in the classroom for TOEIC study, there is viable hope for them to improve their test scores.

I discuss the logic with students that controlling the mind is at least equally important to scholastic

goals such as memorizing and acquiring vocabulary. If students are nervous and cannot focus, the

mind does not work effectively to recall the meaning of words. In fact, meditation has been proven to

improve knowledge retention (Ramsburg & Youmans, 2014). It has been exciting to come upon

strategies that positively change the atmosphere in the classroom and awaken spiritual intelligence in

context with cognitively heavy subject areas that are typically devoid of room for creativity, such as

test preparation classes.

16
 C. The impetus for research.

As a teacher, I care about my students’ learning, but most immediate is the desire for my

students to be happy in the classroom, because that makes me happy and able to teach effectively. The

positive results of my early experiments with addressing spirit in the classroom, using non-traditional

approaches to create an atmosphere for learning and incite deep reflection not just about the subject

area but about life, has led me to an interest in more scientifically studying the impact on students. It

has been exciting to get students’ perspectives on the meditation and connection activities, and often

surprising to know the level of impact on students. In more deeply exploring SI and how to help

students develop their capacity for deeply engaging with studies and life, I hope to share simple

methods that might be immediately useful and results that are inspiring, particularly educators.

Regardless of which methods are developed to address spirit in the classroom, I hope that other

educators may be even more aware of the great opportunity they have to deeply awaken students’

spirits by approaching pedagogy from a holistic standpoint that can serve to magnify the overall effect

of education, letting it support students beyond scholastic goals to ideally enrich the entirety of their

lives in meaningful ways by enhancing connectedness, positive mood, and the inner peace that creates

outer peace.

D. Situating myself as professor-researcher.

The nature of most professors’ dual responsibility to publish research and teach lends itself out

of convenience to professors orienting classes in ways that can provide data. Not having had that dual

responsibility, research pursuits never being required, let alone encouraged or even mentioned, in my

university position as a visiting professor, this was my first opportunity to wear the two hats of

professor and researcher. The orientation became a bit different. I had introduce activities with a

carefully neutral attitude so as not to bias students to have the same feelings I do about the effects of

MMA. I also felt the greediness quality of research, how it uses people’s time and experiences for its

own purposes, even if, in this case, those purposes are benevolent and aimed at improving future

students’ educational experiences. Reflecting deeply about the potential benefits of the brief MMA

mediated in class which I also took part in, helped me to also more deeply note my own experiences

with the effects. While meditating alone at home can be comfortable and easy for me, leading a class

17
in meditation often felt neither, and there was an underlying sense of concern whether students were

participating and how they perceived me for introducing the practices. Luckily, the process of

meditation also worked personally on lessening my affective barriers as the teacher. I noticed that

starting a TOEIC class with a meditation greatly improved my own relaxation and readiness to teach,

particularly music listening.

1.4. Problem Statement

Spirit is not being specifically addressed in higher education. Though university students are

facing the most important decisions of their life, the over-saturated focus on cognitive aspects of

education is providing surface meaning but not necessarily deeply fulfilling and expanding at a soul

level or helpful in day-to-day life. In the span of four years, university students take on the task of

directing their life path to enter the proverbial “real world” in which their studies will have ostensibly

led to a job that sustains them. The magnitude of this task can be undermined by feelings of

disconnection and loneliness, fear, anxiety, negative self-beliefs, uncertainty, and confusion. The

school-to-job function of contemporary education has led to focus on grades and earning-capacity, at

the detriment of mindful engagement, connection, and enjoyment. Many university students,

particularly in South Korea, lack interest or excitement in their area of study, and may not find ways to

connect meaningfully with others. To develop a sense of purpose in life students need to actively

engage (Molasso, 2006), yet the energy required and finding the way to do so can be nebulous.

A lack of feeling deep meaning and purpose to one’s life adds to depression and overall

emotional distress (Van Gordon et al., 2013). Foremost, students suffer from immense anxiety and

stress (Ebrahimi et al., 2015; Parsons et al., 2017; Suparman & Hadi, 2017; Van Gordon et al., 2013)

that hinders their ability both to fully participate and learn at school, and function in life. With excess

stress and anxiety students can develop negative self-attitudes that lead to underestimating their own

ability and, in turn, limiting life experiences and life satisfaction (Park, 2014). Meditation and

mindfulness techniques have been proven to counteract the negative challenges to well-being students

face (Seligman et al., 2009; Van Gordon et al., 2013), and increase factors of academic achievement

(Seligman et al., 2009; Waters et al., 2014) and personal success by calming the mind (Cotter-

18
Lockard, 2008; Perry-Parrish et al., 2016) and increasing self-compassion (Van der Velden et al.,

2015). University students who presented with high levels of self-compassion experienced less

university life stress and demonstrated less avoidance focused coping strategies (Park, 2014).

The clear benefits of addressing spirit through incorporating meditation, mindful reflection,

and other methods aimed at tapping into students’ spirit have been known, yet it has been challenging

for educators and educational systems to incorporate their use into the average classroom (Sarath,

2003). A particularly successful model of forging through the challenge to reap the benefits for

students is the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Jazz and Contemplative Studies curriculum at the University

of Michigan School of Music. The designer of the program and advocate for the use of meditation as a

natural part of higher education, Sarath (2003), feels that meditation extends “the continuum of what

constitutes education from more quantifiable, external kinds of knowledge to those which are more

interior and abstract but no less important to students’ overall development” (p. 231).

In Korea, there is an extremely strong ethos of competition in school. Sometimes starting as

early as elementary school, students receive a weekly class ranking. Education in Korea is highly

achievement oriented, which perpetuates the drive to focus on cognitive knowledge and performance,

causing students to lose touch with their creative spirit, intuitive knowing, and ability to dream the

changes they wish to see in their lives (So et al., 2017). Research points to the potential of reversing

recidivism through strengthening students’ sense of personal goals and understanding of their potential

for an altruistic-oriented societal purpose, painting the picture that a person’s ability to see their place

in the world is an important indicator of academic motivation and goal-commitment (Sharma &

Yukhymenko-Lescroart, 2018). Education research skews concern towards cognitive outcomes and

achievement (Kiaei, 2014), as grades are the traditional gold standard, so research hasn’t fully

explored the role of supporting spiritual intelligence in helping students engage meaningfully with

their studies as part of the greater context of their lives and, in that, reach their full potential.

Specific to Korean EFL higher education there are two issues this research relates to specific

to the potential for students to achieve success, the first is the ability to control the mind, and the

second is the ability to communicate effectively. The MMA integrations used for this research involve

two kinds of classes in which students may encounter uniquely different challenges to overcome.

19
Students studying for the TOEIC test are expected to understand the structures of high-level grammar,

absorb advanced grammar that they may never need to use themselves. Further, students are aware that

their peers, family members, and society can readily judge them by their TOEIC score, and the score

can make or break their eligibility for certain jobs that may not even require English use. at a job. This

is a lot of pressure to walk into the classroom with, aside from the other stressors already common to

university students. Anyone who has been in a room of people about to take a test knows that tests

cause palpable tension. In a testing situation there may be no way to prove a percentage of how much

success deals with knowledge and skills and how much deals with keeping the mind calm enough to

use it, but the two parts are both essential. Controlling the mind is extremely important to test-taking,

yet TOEIC test prep books and curriculums totally lack any mention of this. This simple truth of the

importance of mind control in testing is never pointed out, it is the proverbial white elephant in the

room that students may not consciously consider and are never informed about. In the course of higher

education, students may never be encouraged to try to improve and master control over their minds,

and they are not formally taught any methods to do so.

Related to English conversation classes, students deal with the problem of what could be seen

as altered-reality (AR) communication common to the modern-day technology ubiquitously used.

Emoticons and acronyms are used to augment expression so that words and sentences are not needed

for basic conversations anymore. People tend to send text messages more than call, and generally

people are having brief trite interchanges throughout the day on social media. These modern

modifications give the illusion of constant connection, however when people encounter each other in

person it can be hard to know how to connect. It may even be hard to know why to connect.

Compounding this problem, specifically for Korean students, is the hierarchical systems traditionally

built into the culture. A younger student may typically not feel it is appropriate to show that they speak

more fluently than an older student, and an older student may commonly feel it is boasting if they

show how well they speak. The natural course of language learning and experimenting to gain

proficiency is to make mistakes. In order to avoid losing face publicly due to that inevitability,

students may stay as quiet as possible. This results in a very dull teacher-centered classroom

environment. In fact, this quiet classroom effect often leads foreign teachers to misinterpret students’

20
level as being very low, when in fact it is affective factors that are keeping students from speaking and

participating in class.

The underlying broader problem at hand is that while the holistic mind-body-spirit of students

may be addressed in early childhood education, with physical and artistic activities, these extra-

cognitive aspects of learning have not been part of conventional university curricula. Typically, it has

to be proposed by individual professors then supported at the administrative level, as with the formal

program for Jazz and Contemplative Studies at the University of Michigan (Sarath, 2003). Yet, it is

just as important for adults, if not more so because cognitive understandings expand to their highest

level in adulthood, to include activities that address the spirit. At its highest, education helps students

to fully know themselves, which allows for the ultimate unfolding of human potential. This can be

done by guiding their ability to access higher levels of consciousness, which is parallel to the fine-

tuning and development of SI. The effect is not just integral to the students themselves, but to society,

cultural perpetuation, and evolution.

Rather than just an issue of heightening an individual’s growth and achievement in the

classroom, the effect of individual development of SI ripples into the world and is essential for the

very stability of society (Grasmane, 2020). One need look no further for a concrete example of this

than the recent attempted coup in the USA, where civilians set an attack on democracy, ostensibly in

the name of democracy, storming the capitol as a mob incited by a force lacking in all the indicators of

IQ or SQ such as logic, compassion, and unified sense of connection to humanity (Fuchs, 2021). Zohar

and Marshall (2000) decry that the “further evolution of society depends upon” people raising their SQ

to transcend the current global modern truth that “we live in a spiritually dumb culture characterized

by materialism, expediency, narrow self-centeredness, lack of meaning and dearth of commitment” (p.

16). Many heralded academics and researchers hint that raising consciousness is a necessary aspect for

improving current global society, and as such is a strong undercurrent propelling the work of SI

(Noble, 2000; Singh & Sinha, 2013; Srivastava, 2016; Thanissaro, 2018). Meditation and mindfulness

are ways to tap into and develop this essential higher consciousness.

21
1.5. Purpose Statement

The aim of this study is to explore the effects of integrating MMA in university EFL by

determining if students perceive positive effects from brief MMA activities in terms of mood, focus,

and peace, if their desire and ability to connect to others and nature is enhanced by connection-

oriented MMA, and how these outcomes, based on students’ reported experiences, indicate that

integrating MMA into university EFL addresses SI in academically relevant ways.

1.6. Significance of the Study

In the age of mega-connectivity through instantaneous internet technology, there has been a

tendency towards mindlessness (Hyland, 2011) that limits self-awareness and creates a growing

inability to connect meaningfully with other people and the surrounding environment. Mindlessness

lends a hand in the incapacity to calmly or objectively look at problems from a higher perspective to

make adjustments to the thinking and behaviors necessary to maintain an ability to function at school

and in life. Panic in the face of problems, instead of systematically stopping to reflect on the

underlying causes and how best to address them is the fertile ground upon which anxiety, stress, and

hopelessness fester. Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health issues affecting people all over

the world (Baxter et al., 2013). In Korea, the academic focus on grades and outcomes has kept a great

majority of students in a state of anxiety and stress that deleteriously serves to increase a lack of

engagement and compound confusion about the purpose of study and life (Jarvis et al., 2020). Part of

the culprit at the level of higher education, is the structure that erroneously departmentalizes subjects

as separate entities that don’t interrelate and sets priority only on cognitive displays of knowledge

development. As a global norm, grade school incorporates physical activity and the creative arts, yet

university curriculum restricts focus to cognitive development; it usually allows for only one subject

area to be pursued, and is completely devoid of even non-credit offerings that relate to physical

movement or artistic exploration. It is fascinating that the obsession with cognitive achievement still

remains the only predominant focus in higher education, when studies have found that “IQ, a measure

of cognitive intelligence abilities, only accounts for about 20 to 30 percent of professional success”

(Amram & Dryer, 2008, p. 4).

22
 Recognizing the need to address students’ body-mind-spirit (Hyland, 2011), there is a

widespread effort in many places throughout the world to offer students movement-based classes, such

as yoga and qigong, and meditation classes that focus on spirit and accessing supra-cognitive levels of

the mind (Albrecht, 2014; Smith et al., 2020). Gardner’s 1983 theory of multiple intelligence touts 8

intelligences, one of which is bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. There is a bi-directionality to the process

of knowing between the mind and body in that the body has its own kind of control over the mind

(Duerr et al., 2003). Yoga is being used as an intervention with university students in many places

around the world, including Asia, and has been effective with student populations at reducing

depression (Bao et al., 2015), lowering stress (J.-S. Kim, 2015; Lemay et al., 2019) and decreasing

sympathetic nervous system activity (J.-S.

Kim, 2015).

In South Korea, a trend towards holistic well-being that embraces the acknowledgement and

exploration of these connections between the body mind and spirit may be slowly spreading beyond

realms of the plethora of yoga studios and into the standard education system (Kim, 2019). South

Korea has been rated well above average globally in academic outcomes for reading, mathematics, and

science, as listed in the OECD most recent PISA results from 2018. This advanced level may have

been reached through mass education and strict uniform curriculum. The same study, however,

mentions that students’ satisfaction with their lives was reported at only 57%, substantially below the

global average (OECD, 2019). Perhaps in recognition of this contrast, there is now a wellness

paradigm spurring the Korean government’s design of education towards supporting creativity,

collaboration over competition, and nurturing students’ individual talents through new teaching

methods and programs geared for the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Park, 2020). In South

Korea, spiritual well-being is also being considered as integral to countering the life stress that makes

it so hard to adjust to college (So et al., 2017). Research studies worldwide, in the context of higher

education, have been showing the potential of meditation and mindfulness to positively affect student

well-being (Van Gordon et al., 2014), increase resilience to stress (Dolan, 2007; Galante et al., 2018),

decrease anxiety (Lemay et al., 2019; Schwind et al., 2017), and improve student academic excellence

23
in areas such as knowledge retention (Ramsburg & Youmans, 2014) and test performance (Fiebert &

Mead, 1981).

Meditation and mindfulness activities (MMA) address the spirit to develop spiritual intelligence

(Gheorghita, 2014) by expanding consciousness in ways that allow for expanding metacognition, and

deepening students’ sense of connection; having a place in the world, and belonging to a community

(Dolan, 2007). MMA have been proven to increase students’ level of joy, peace of mind (Ferreira &

Schulze, 2015), and equanimity (Schwind et al., 2017).

Exploring simple ways to incorporate MMA into university ESL/EFL classes may offer

educators a way to address spirit to help students overcome the affective blocks to learning, and

improve their mood, ability to focus, peace, well-being, and sense of connection. Implications may

also apply to curricular development, as MMA may be applied in any subject area to improve

students’ sense of connectedness to themselves and the world around them, plus raise their levels of

joy and peace in the throes of turbulent transition that higher education can be as it bridges one from

life as a student to life in the workforce. Following are the research questions used to guide this study.

1.7. Research Questions

1. Do university EFL students perceive positive effects from brief

meditation and mindfulness

activities (MMA)?

2. Do connection-oriented MMA affect university EFL student’s ability and

desire to connect to

others and nature?

3. In what ways are students reported experiences with MMA indicative of

spiritual intelligence?

1.8. Keyword Definitions

Meditation: Meditation is a system of focusing attention on certain things, such as breathing or

visualization, while releasing attachment to the constant flow of mental peregrinations and distracting

physical sensations (Vieten et al., 2018). Meditation can incorporate a wide range of activities,

24
involving stillness or movement, sound or silence, and structure or no structure. It is “something that

deals with our daily life” (Hanh, 2013, p. 26). Meditation may be undertaken with specific intentions

that can include relaxing, stress reducing, improving the capacity for decision-making, receiving

guidance, and connecting (to oneself, others, and a greater power). Meditation, in all of its varied

forms, is used as a secular practice as well as a core aspect of religious practice in all traditions. The

meditations used in the course of this research, mostly structured, will be outlined further in detail in

the third chapter.

Mindfulness: Conscious awareness, or alertness to the present moment, through the course of

perceived potential shifts as time passes, is what mindfulness basically entails (Vieten et al., 2018).

Mindfulness can be considered an attribute of consciousness, and in that the practice of it can be

considered as meditation or meditative practice. Many established mindfulness practices are delineated

as meditations, and the two words are often used interchangeably. In the words of prominent

proponent of mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn (2013), who created the Stress Reduction Clinic and the

Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts

Medical School, and developed the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program that is used

worldwide in a multitude of contexts including education:

Mindfulness is not merely a concept or a good idea. It is a way of being...its synonym,

awareness, is a kind of knowing that is simply bigger than thought and gives us many more

options for how we might choose to be in relationship to whatever arises in our minds and

hearts, our bodies and our lives. (p. 52)

EFL/ESL: English as a foreign language, and English as a second language, are subjects aimed at

promoting knowledge and ability with the use of the English language. The differentiating feature is

that ESL is taught to students in a geographical location where English and the English language

culture is a presence in daily life (Krieger, 2005), thus competency is required to navigate everyday

situations and fuller integration into the culture. In the case of South Korea, an EFL learning

environment, English is a required subject throughout a student’s academic life and vestiges of its use

are common, yet the country officially runs as a monolingual nation and classrooms tend to be entirely

25
Korean L1 students. The research here has been conducted in the EFL environment, but it lends itself

with equal relevance to the ESL milieu.

Spirit: Spirit is the life force of a living being. The word spirit is derived from the Latin “spiritus”

which means “breath,” as in the literal inspiration which is synonymous with life itself. In Merriam-

Webster’s dictionary, spirit is defined as “an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical

organisms” and “the immaterial intelligent or sentient part of a person.” The human spirit has been

described as the “part of us that feels a deep connection with something larger than ourselves and that

seeks meaning and purpose in life” (Buie, 2014, p. 1).

Connection: Connection refers to a bond that involves a sense of affinity, familiarity, and, at its apex,

oneness (Andringa & Angyal, 2019; Sosteric, 2018). There is a trinity of connection being looked at

(human, nature, and divine) which can be referred to as tri-connection. Innate to the ability to connect

to something outside of oneself, is the ability to sense and know oneself. When that connection is

formed, is possible to more deeply connect outside of oneself to others, the natural world, and the

higher ubiquitous energy, in sacred context associated with God and or in secular context with the

universe and mystery. Divine connection can also be considered an all-pervading essence that is

already within these very connections to self, others, and the natural world. To elucidate with a

parallel, as spirit is infused with the body, so is divinity infused with connection.

Spiritual Intelligence (SI): SI is an intelligence that incorporates knowledge and skills from all other

intelligences to form a new adaptive, whole-brain wisdom that involves higher consciousness. SI is a

term indicating a specific theory by Zohar (1997) which is defined and discussed in Chapter Two.

1.9. Summary

This first chapter has looked at the proposed research into activating spiritual intelligence in

higher education EFL against the backdrop of a contemporary tech-laden society skewed towards

mindlessness, and the challenges posed for students’ well-being and engagement as they aim to

develop and pursue knowledge. The theory of multiple intelligences and the value of meditation and

mindfulness as a means for clarity and joy, as well as to mitigate the stress and anxiety that threaten

well-being while expanding the capacity for knowledge through expanded consciousness, have been

26
touched upon. There has been discussion on how the proposed research might be significant for

educators looking to address spirit in education. The key terms that will be used throughout this work

have been defined per their use in this research. The keywords have also been looked at in relation to

the underlying theories, and the three research questions pertaining to how university EFL students

perceive MMA, how they describe their sense of connection to themselves, others, and their

environment, and how MMA affect their well-being.

27
 Chapter 2. Literature Review

2.1. Overview

In considering how education can help students tap into their capacity for growth of

intelligences, inclusive of and beyond the IQ academia is weighted towards, there are major theories in

the realm of human development that form a strong foundation for the proposition of using meditation

and mindfulness strategies to address spirit and incite SI growth in spurring the development of

students’ full potential in higher education. Spiritual Intelligence is the main theory being considered,

yet Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs theory and Krashen’s (1982) affective filter hypothesis are

two highly important theories to consider within the SI construct, as they shed light on the factors that

can serve to enhance or block the capacity for SI.

This chapter begins with a discussion of the theoretical framework within which the research

was undertaken. The theory of spiritual intelligence is explored in context of the hierarchy of needs

and self-actualization. The chapter then progresses looking at relevant literature on the effects of

meditation and mindfulness, along with their application in education. Literature on Spiritual

Intelligence is then thoroughly explored, including the debate and results of the search to quantify it,

and how connection plays into the conceptualization of a major aspect of it. Finally, the empirical

understandings of alternative education movements, such as contemplative and holistic education, and

reflective learning, are drawn as a historical reference to how visionaries have expanded and re-

envisioned education in ways that address spirit. Set within academic history, the essential role that

spiritual intelligence has the capacity to play in higher education shall become clarion.

2.2. Theoretical Framework

This research on addressing spirit in higher education by using activities related to meditation

and mindfulness that cultivate aspects of SI in order to help students transform, is set within two main

interacting theories: Zohar’s (1997) theory of SI, the highest order of all intelligences, and the theory

of self-actualization/self-transformation which are part of Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs. A

tertiary theoretical consideration to keep in sight on the periphery along with the main two theories, as

it is particularly crucial to consider in foreign language teaching, is Krashen’s (1982) affective filter

28
hypothesis. Removing the interference of the emotion-regulated filter allows the capacity for learning

and the active development of intelligence. To gain a fuller understanding of how unblocking inner

constraints allows for the natural flow and development of SI, the research expounding upon the

aforementioned theories will be discussed. Related implications to academia will also be covered, to

lay the foundation for understanding how the present research can be applied in higher education, and

make a case for the beneficial role meditation and mindfulness can play in EFL.

2.2.1. Spiritual Intelligence Theory (Zohar, 1997)

Spiritual intelligence is a term coined and formed into a construct by Zohar in the 1997 book

Rewiring the Corporate Brain, and further developed in Zohar and Marshall’s 2000 book SQ Spiritual

Intelligence: The Ultimate Intelligence. Building upon the idea that cognitive intelligence (IQ) is not

the only intelligence, per Gardner’s 1983 theory of multiple intelligences (TMI) and Goleman’s 1995

emotional intelligence (EI) construct, SI is considered the ultimate intelligence, above yet reliant upon

all others (Zohar & Marshall, 2000).

SI is the main theory propelling the need for research in addressing spirit in education by

integrating meditation and mindfulness activities. In 2020, researchers stated outright, “the scientific

community recognizes spirituality as a fundamental factor of human intelligence” (Drigas & Mitsea,

2020, p. 4). The scientific community came to this conclusion based on a wide range of research

upholding and expanding upon the seminal work of Zohar and Marshall (2000) and their construct of

spiritual intelligence as the ultimate intelligence. SI is a construct that builds upon Gardner’s (1983)

proposed multiple intelligences, and Goleman’s (1995) addition of emotional intelligence. SI is a

bottom-up phenomenon that does not involve beliefs to be imposed from external sources, as religion

tends to, but rather is explained as an inner knowing that unfolds through awareness and shifts in

consciousness (Zohar & Marshall, 2000). If the hallmark of education is to impart knowledge and help

students grow intelligence, then it is clear in light of an extra-cognitive aspect to intelligence and

wisdom, that teachers have to address students’ spirits as well as minds. Doing so changes the

orientation of learning from a one-way process that flows from all-knowing teacher to blank student,

to a two-way process that acknowledges students have an active role in developing their knowledge

29
which can be activated by empowering them to recognize the value of connecting with their own

insights, experience, and innate knowing.

In Spiritual Capital (2004), Zohar and Marshall discuss 10 defining characteristic ways SQ

(aka SI) function “as a complex adaptive system in the mind.” They elucidate that these principles,

such as holism and adaptivity, help manifest twelve specific qualities of SI: self-awareness,

spontaneity, being vision and value led, holism, compassion, celebration of diversity, field

independence, tendency to ask fundamental why? questions, ability to reframe, positive use of

adversity, humility, and sense of vocation (pp. 78-79).

To tap into deeper capacities of the mind, certain metacognitive capacities are needed, such as

reflection and an objective observation of the self through mindfulness that takes place from alternate

levels of consciousness. In fact, research on consciousness reveals that “what you can know depends

on the state of consciousness you are in” (Tart, 1986, p. 169). Drigas and Mitsea (2020), in

considering Jung’s work (1959) on spirituality and self-transformation, as well as Rogers’ (1980)

actualizing tendency and Maslow’s (1954) self-actualization, along with the models of prominent SI

researchers Vaughan (2002), King & DeCicco (2009), Amram (2007), and Wigglesworth (2011)

among others, conceive of a layered model of Knowledge-Intelligence-Consciousness with results

showing “spiritual intelligence constitutes the backbone of every subsystem of human intelligence as it

integrates, matures and transforms every physical, intellectual, and emotional ability and leads to the

highest forms of self-awareness, self-knowledge and consciousness…” (p. 4). Basically, it is being

conceived that SI adds such a layer of depth to IQ and other human capacities that it is the very thing

that avails a person of their full potential, their full Maslovian actualization and transformation. SI

adds a wondrous almost super-human facility, which could parallel for intelligence what happened

visually when color was added to transform black and white TV.

2.2.2. Hierarchy of Needs Theory (Maslow, 1943)

When considering students’ capacity to reach their full potential, a second and naturally

overlapping theoretical construct to tie in with SI is Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs. His theory is

expressed as a pyramid and explains the needs which must be met for human success and self-

actualization to be possible. At the wide base level is physiological need. If a student does not have

30
food to eat, or a home to live in, it may not be possible for them to function scholastically at all, let

alone get good grades. The next level in the pyramid of needs relates to safety, and includes aspects

such as employment, finances, and health. The third level of Maslow’s hierarchical system is about the

very prosocial need for love and belonging which relates to connectedness with others. The fourth

level is linked to esteem and can include the sense of accomplishment of reaching goals. The original

pinnacle of the pyramid was self-actualization where, when all lower levels are met, one can function

creatively to solve the problems of life and therein reach their full glorious potential. Interestingly, at

the end of his life Maslow decided to expand the needs hierarchy to include another level above self-

actualization, self-transcendence. At this ultimate stage, which Drigas & Mitsea (2020) explain

involves “intuition, an increased sense of meaning, relevance to others and to the world, exchange of

wisdom, finding spiritual significance in life” (p. 8), one fosters the self-actualization of other people.

In order for this super level to be achieved, certain aspects of emotional and spiritual development

need to be attained in one’s character. If one cannot forgive a friend for a past mistake, for instance,

that lack of forgiveness is an impediment to truly being free in one’s own spirit and is likely to block

the desire to be fully receptive or helpful to others.

It is important and insightful to mention that Maslow’s theory was highly informed by the

cultural practices of the Siksika Blackfoot Nation indigenous culture he lived amongst for six weeks in

1938. In Figure 1, a side-by-side representation of Maslow’s pyramid and the Blackfoot tipi, shows a

perspective that is vital to remember for anyone considering applying Maslow’s theory, namely that

his theory is born from experience within an individualistic society, and bears most relevance to those

whose lives are bound within the workings and expectations of individualism. Universal applicability

of Maslow’s theory as a model to explain possible educational achievement or motivation has been

discredited as irrelevant to societies that function at a more collectivist level, such as South Africa

where Ubuntu philosophy works as a community driven force of behavior and progress over

individual (Mawere et al., 2016). In Figure 1, the original top of the Maslow pyramid, self-

actualization, is actually the base point of the First Nations’ model. The Blackfoot perspective, is that

“we are each born into the world as a spark of divinity, with a great purpose embedded in us. That

means that we arrive on earth self-actualized” (Ravilochan, 2021, para. 4). It follows that it is in

31
connection to the tribe that needs are taken care of and love and belonging are expressed, so that

communally there is actualization that leads to the continuity and evolution of the collective. The First

Nations perspective bears two areas of significance to the research herein. Firstly, the participants in

this study are Korean and, in that, are part of a collectivist culture where societal accord ranks above

individual (Ladner, 2020). Secondly, if a person is already born self-actualized, then it can parallel that

one is innately imbued with spiritual intelligence. Therefore, through support and tri-connection, a

person’s latent SI can be activated and blossom.

< Figure 1 >

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Informed by Blackfoot Nation)

Note: This slide shows basic differences between Western and First Nations perspectives, as presented by Dr. Cindy
Blackstock (Professor in the School of Social Work at McGill University, Executive Director of First Nations Child and
Family Caring Society of Canada) at the 2014 conference of the National Indian Child Welfare Association. Reprinted with
the kind permission of Dr. Blackstock.

To further situate the research in context of the conditions during which it has been conducted,

it is also worth discussing that the 2020 academic semesters have posed unique challenges for students

related to Maslow’s second level. The COVID-19 global pandemic has caused actual health problems

for some students and enhanced the fear and anxiety of potential health problems for others. Studies

are starting to emerge from around the world to document the psychological effects of COVID-19 on

university students. In a study out of Bangladesh, 97% of students were found to experience moderate

32
to severe levels of anxiety during the pandemic related to severe health and economic effects (Dhar et

al., 2020). In South Korea, the economic impact may not be causing severe destabilization to students,

nonetheless the level of fear and anxiety is higher than normal as nearly 50% of the overall population

have reported experiencing anxiety and depression due specifically to COVID-19 (Park & Yu, 2020).

Most poignantly, as the majority of classes have been conducted online throughout the year, the

likelihood of students suffering from depressive symptoms is higher than usual due to the lack of

socialization. The breakdown of social support structure that exists on-campus causes an increase in

isolation which can provoke additional adverse health problems such as acute stress disorder, general

irritability, and emotional exhaustion (Jung & Jun, 2020). Under these conditions of duress academic

success is greatly disadvantaged, yet it is also a time when the benefits of meditation, mindfulness, and

connection activities have even more of a role to play in recovering and enhancing student well-being

and potential for scholastic progress.

2.2.3. Affective Filter Hypothesis (Krashen, 1982)

Knowing that accessing and activating other layers of intelligence and consciousness is helpful

for the growth of intelligence is one thing, knowing how to access and activate those layers is another.

That quandary is what propels the explorations of this research. Krashen’s (1982) theory on the

affective filter has great relevance to the study of how meditation practices might serve to enhance

student success, particularly in the field of foreign language acquisition (FLA) where self-confidence

plays more of a role in output than other subject areas. Students not only enter the classroom with

different scholastic levels, but also with differing capacities for focus, different levels of receptivity,

and great variance in levels of confidence. Students’ affective capabilities can shift depending on

emotions that came up earlier in the day, or even what was eaten for breakfast, causing them to present

with increased or decreased focus and courage.

Emotion-based factors such as lack of self-confidence, as well as larger impediments like

stress, anxiety, and the pressure of education are commonly known to block the full capacity to study.

Memory is affected by many things, including emotional states, as studies in mood-dependent retrieval

effect have proven (Chepenik et al., 2007; Mecklenbräuker & Hager, 1984). The incidence of

depression, an already common condition among university students experiencing high levels of stress

33
and uncertainty about the future, has increased alongside the social isolation and fear that has

accompanied the COVID-19 era. Depression has been known to affect cognition and executive

functions that allow for intake, memory, and recall of information (Chepenik et al., 2007). Luckily,

negative emotional detractors have also shown to be reversible using meditation and mindfulness

techniques.

Having looked at the theories which are on the foreground of this research, SI, self-

actualization, and the affective filter, the following section will gather relevant literature related to

meditation and mindfulness as well as spiritual intelligence, with particular focus on related research

conducted in academic settings.

2.3. Review of Literature on Meditation and Mindfulness

After first more fully examining the overlapping definitions of meditation and mindfulness,

general benefits that have been proven through research will be examined. In also considering the

relationship to consciousness and cognition, in concert with the three theories, specific research on the

application of meditation and mindfulness in education will be discussed. In particular, literature on

how students have perceived the influence of meditation and mindfulness in academia, including their

sense of connection and well-being, in terms of feeling at peace, will be examined. Then the core

empirical conceptualizations of spiritual intelligence, including a contrast of scholastic understandings,

in-depth look at some core aspects of SI, and the variety in attempts to measure it, will be explored.

Alternative education movements of the past century which have incorporated aspects of meditation

and mindfulness that address the spirit, along with research specific to their influence in the realm of

education and the classroom, will also be examined.

Though exact definitions vary, mindful attention and meditation are commonly used as

equivalent terms (Jayawardene et al., 2017). From the perspective of the Dalai Lama (2001)

meditation is “a spiritual and introspective practice involving elements of both concentration and

analysis as part of a process of becoming aware of and of training the mind” (as cited in Van Gordon

et al, 2014, p. 381). The general consensus in research is that mindfulness relates to the control of

attention and purposeful focus in the present moment. Brown and Ryan (2003) elucidate that this focus

is not merely on external stimuli, but also internal. Mindfulness involves continually noticing what is

34
happening to one physically, mentally, and emotionally as sensations filter through the mind

(Gunaratana, 2011), with an openness and curiosity (Perry-Parrish et al., 2016). Further, there is the

idea, particularly as it relates to Buddhist roots of the practice of mindfulness, that what is noticed

through attention is accepted without judgement, reaction, or attempt to change what is perceived.

Educator Dawna Markova (2008) describes this as natural learning, how giving awareness without

attempting to change, fix, or judge, creates “a feedback loop with our own experience that enables us

to choose the most natural direction in which to change” (p. 46). Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh

elaborates that the quality of the attention is both inclusive and loving (1987). Creator of the Center for

Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society in 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn (2005) believes the mode

of consciousness that is the keystone of mindfulness is intrinsic to everyone, and can be achieved

through a systemized strategy involving aligning with the seven key attitudinal aspects of mindfulness:

“non-judging, patience, beginner’s mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance, and letting go” (p. 32).

Langer and Moldoveanu (2000) point out that mindfulness involves more than merely the cognitive

aspects of a person. In earlier work they define it, somewhat uniquely, as the process of drawing novel

distinctions, and contrast the term mindfulness with its opposite - mindlessness.

It does not matter whether what is noticed is important or trivial, as long as it is new to the

viewer. Actively drawing these distinctions keeps us situated in the present. It also makes us more

aware of the context and perspective of our actions than if we rely upon distinctions and categories

drawn in the past. Under this latter situation, rules and routines are more likely to govern our behavior,

irrespective of the current circumstances, and this can be construed as mindless behavior (Langer &

Moldoveanu, 2000, pp. 1-2).

An aspect that differentiates an ordinary attentive state from mindfulness or meditation is

intention, the purposeful desire to be in a particular mental state where the slowing of thoughts or

dedicated focus on something specific is propelling a physical activity (or inactivity) and state of

being. In explaining how to use mindfulness to improve learning, Krstovic (2020) clears the common

misperception that meditation is the act of doing nothing, explaining that “it is doing something, just

not something useful to anyone else, except the person who is doing it” (p. 17).

35
 Vast research into the field of meditation and mindfulness, in contexts from medicine to

education exists with a plethora of empirical results proving how helpful meditation and mindfulness

can be to body, mind, and spirit. Empirical studies have proven positive effects in clinical and non-

clinical trials that reflect outcomes ranging from physically altered brain structures and increased

neuroplasticity (Thanissaro, 2018) with correlating implications for mental activity and capacity, to

enhanced personality characteristics and well-being that are linked not only to student success, but

ultimately to the success of society at large (Schmidt-Wilk et al., 2000).

2.3.1. Meditation and Mindfulness in Education

The reasons for researching and implementing activities, such as meditation and mindfulness,

that address spirit in education and help people become aware of their interconnectedness, are clear

when one considers the ecological crisis humanity is confronting (Collins, 2010). Modern life, skewed

towards egocentrism and consumerism, is making people richer at the expense of disconnection with

the very Earth which supports human life. The modern world is experiencing what has been

considered a crisis of evolution, fueled by the disassociation that comes from automation and so-called

smart technology and the bent towards mindless materialism. The trajectory of the day points towards

obvious potential environmental and social disaster. To rebalance the catastrophic effects humanity is

on the verge of causing, and reclaim humanity’s place as keepers of the earth and rather than

destroyers, requires education which teaches students how to be more fully aware of themselves and

their effect on the environment and those around them, to know their power and potential, and how to

access their “inner teacher” through intuition and holistic learning (Marshak, 2003, p. 21).

Meditative practices including mindfulness have been proven successful to deal with a wide-

range of mental health and well-being factors affecting the ability to study, such as depression (Perry-

Parish et al., 2016; Thanissaro, 2018), anxiety (Perry-Parish et al., 2016; Waters et al., 2015), anger

management (Waters et al., 2015), reduced memory retention (Ramsburg & Youmans, 2014),

listlessness (Langer & Moldoveanu, 2000), low engagement, low motivation (Fiebert & Mead, 1981;

Ramsburg & Youmans, 2014), and boredom (Langer & Moldoveanu, 2000).

There have been successful interventions in academic settings that have been proven to

influence student success as indicated through academic achievement (Waters et al., 2015),

36
performance (Fiebert & Mead, 1981), self-esteem (Hyland, 2009), social competence, and overall

well-being (Waters et al., 2015). Hall’s (1999) results on the effect of meditation on academic

performance of African American college showed the meditation group students having significantly

higher GPAs.

There is a wide-awake capacity that the focus of mindfulness practice brings that is not often

present in the classroom, but with its faculty of tuning attention “holds possibilities for deepening

learning and thereby improving contemporary education” (Hall et al., 2015, p. 50). A study conducted

among Thai university students showed that those with higher state and trait levels of mindfulness

reported less anxiety during EFL class presentations in English, and those same students reporting less

anxiety also obtained higher scores on the presentation than those reporting high levels of anxiety

(Charoensukmongkol, 2016).

Mindfulness and meditation practices are a power that can help teachers and learners because

they “enhance and support self-knowledge, self-regulation, and the freedom to co-create with others

internal states and interpersonal relationships that are coherent and emotionally regulated” (Bai et al.,

2009, p. 332).

Meditation (Jenkins, 2015) and mindfulness (Garcia, 2018) have been proven to have mediating

effects on the affective filter specifically as it applies to English learning. One element of meditation,

which can change, slow, or stop the free flow of mindless mental chatter that is distracting at best and

debilitating at worst, is the generalized result of relaxation and positive mood that forms a basis for the

cognitive receptivity that is conducive to successful study. Once the cognitive stage has been set for

learning, multiple intelligences can take on the role of increasing the capacity for extra-cognitive

knowledge. This can help students achieve not only their greatest possible scholastic success, but also

enable the self-transformation that ripples beyond the individual to family and friends, the

environment, and society (Noble, 2000; Singh & Sinha, 2013; Srivastava, 2016; Thanissaro, 2018).

One possible limiting issue for student success, particularly pertinent in language learning, is the

self-critical judgment that arises from fear of negative evaluation from the teacher and others in the

class (Suparman & Hadi, 2017). Often students hesitate mid-sentence wondering if their grammar is

correct before the subject or context of their statement has even emerged. This kind of self-deprecation

37
is part of the affective filter that blocks learning. Affirmations are one mindfulness technique to work

with the subconscious to rebalance the damaging effects of self-judgment including the negative mood

it can create, and have been incorporated as an intervention to develop spiritual intelligence

(Gheorghita, 2014). Mindfulness relates to focus, and because focus is not binary, for the duration of

the positive focus there is a lack of negative focus. In The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle (2004), who is

acclaimed as a modern-day mindfulness guru, speaks to this:

All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the

present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are caused by too much

future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and

all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence. Most

people find it difficult to believe that a state of consciousness totally free of all negativity is

possible. And yet this is the liberated state to which all spiritual teachings point. It is the

promise of salvation, not in an illusory future but right here and now. (p. 42)

Perry-Parrish et al. (2016) similarly purport that mindfulness training is meant to help people specifically

focus on the present moment, and that this releases one from the misery and blockage of self-criticism:

Mindfulness instruction is intended to enhance an individual’s innate ability to be aware of

what is happening internally and externally with open curiosity and without judgement.

Mindfulness interventions are theorized to target regulation of emotion and coping processes

associated with stress, and may represent a helpful branch of psychotherapies to address the

suffering experienced by stressed youth. Formal mindfulness instruction entails a range of

techniques that help foster an intentional focusing of attention on one’s present-moment

experience while letting go of negative, self-critical judgments. (p. 172)

It is not a far leap to conceive that less self-criticism leads to greater confidence, which then

spurs the self-efficacy and self-activation that leads to success. In discussing mindless qualities of

learning regarding education as an institution, Langer and Moldoveanu (2000) question who is

deciding what gets studied and why, maintaining that:

many of us believe that we should learn the basics of a task so well that they become second

nature to us. Having mindlessly accepted this information, it rarely occurs to us to question

38
 who determined what the basics are…Once we learnt the basics mindlessly so that we no

longer have to think about them, we are not in a position to vary them readily as we get more

information about the task. (p. 3)

This points to the importance of flexibility, the ability to see things from multiple perspectives, which

mindfulness practices teach, particularly in light of how technology is rapidly changing the amount of

information we need to process to keep up with the updates to many digital devices and systems used

as part of contemporary daily life and work.

As a nod to the validity and long-standing importance of mindfulness in education, celebrated

19th century philosopher and psychologist William James (1890) elaborated its value professing,

“voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again is the very root of judgement,

character, and will…An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par

excellence” (as cited in Ramsburg & Youmans, 2014, p. 3).

While there are varying theories about what the purpose of education should be regarding the

balance of focus on cognitive versus character, these weighted sides are certainly both inherent to the

objective of systematically imparting knowledge. Hyland (2009) discusses how mindfulness has impact

on both sides of the scale, saying it is “integrally connected with the centrally transformative and

developmental nature of learning and education activity at all levels” (p. 119). In modern education this

relates to the therapeutic turn theory; highly criticized, particularly in higher learning, as social

objectives for confidence and self-esteem are a departure from the standard aim of knowledge and

understanding (Hyland, 2009). Using meditation in education aligns with the new 21st century notion

of education that Waters et al. (2015) envision, based on sentiments in the work of Clonan, as a “holistic

process that seeks to educate students academically, emotionally, socially, ethically and spiritually” (p.

105).

Langer and Moldoveanu (2000) talk about their construct of mindfulness describing how adding

“mindful manipulations” (p. 4) in the classroom environment resulted in students utilizing information

more creatively, which made the material more meaningful and easier to retain, and the whole process

of learning more enjoyable. The manipulations also involved a Socratic questioning that made space

for ambiguity and possibility, which helped students develop a habit of questioning facts and taking on

39
alternate perspectives which also led to better performance. One classroom intervention involved a

simple grammatical change to the conditional, so teachers shifted from citing things as facts (apples

are red), to possibilities (apples could be red or green or brown ~ not only are there different colors of

apples in different places, but through time the colors change as well). Langer and Moldoveanu (2000)

go on to consider views of mindfulness and cognitive styles, discussing the Simon-Newell 1990

paradigm comparing mind to computer concluding that mindlessness is a social issue that can breed

prejudice and perpetuate a plethora of negative qualities such as anxiety and listlessness, but that

mindlessness can be transformed by breaking out of the mold of a typical mindless computer

interaction form of thinking and relating.

Waters et al.’s (2015) meta review of the effect of meditation interventions in schools covered

15 studies showing positive effects of meditation on well-being, social competence, and academic

achievement. A two-pronged conceptual model was put forth pointing to how an increase in cognitive

functioning and emotional regulation positively influences student success. While history has steered

the course of education in accordance with ever-shifting aims, now is a time when spirituality is rife to

be added back into the roadmap of education, as research in the past two decades clearly points to the

timeliness of doing so.

Music can also be considered a meditative practice, both the art of listening and creating.

Within music is the power to change mood and take people out of time and space into a different level

of consciousness. Music is being used in this research to explore its possible role in removing

students’ affective filter, thereby improving focus, relaxation, and well-being by restoring a balance to

the spirit. In Music: Physician for Times to Come, Gordon Limbrick (2006) writes about the hidden

significance of sound and asserts that in order to know oneself there has to be an awareness of one’s

constant oneness with “primordial sound...which not only reverberates throughout the entirety of

existence, but which resonates in every cell of the human body to give life and consciousness...” (p.

307). Additionally, to this great silent hum of the cosmos, there are subtle vibrations within music that

are beyond the range of what humans can sense, yet these unheard vibrations also have an effect on us.

In discussing affective listening and embodied experience in sacred Sikh chanting, Kaur (2016) talks

40
about the effect of these unheard sounds and how the experience of listening to the sacred chanting

brings about an intensity in “feelings of affection… awe, and the experience of aura” (p. 1).

Meditation, in its various forms, serves to alter normal active consciousness which students tend

to enter the classroom with. Consciousness was earlier described as the “mediating force of

spirituality” (Buttery & Roberson, 2005, p. 37). Drigas & Mitsea (2020) draw a relation to the theory

of intelligences saying “consciousness encompasses every aspect of intelligence. Consciousness is the

cause of existence of intelligence…Spiritual intelligence integrates and transforms all the others…” (p.

5).

2.4 Review of Literature on Spiritual Intelligence

To get a fuller sense of what SI is, the brief definition given earlier will be expanded with key

elements that various experts are using to amalgamate a systematic understanding and measurement of

SI. A brief look will be taken at some of the instruments being used to measure SI, and how

connection, specifically, is being measured. Finally, this section will look at how SI research is being

applied in education.

Intelligence has been defined as “a capacity to process a certain kind of information - that

originates in the human biology and human psychology” enabling one’s “ability to solve problems”

(Gardner, 2006, p. 6). This indicates that SI is something that doesn’t necessarily come through the

mind, but is an experiential kind of intelligence that could very well come from the heart. It follows

that spiritual intelligence is the ability to process a deeper kind of information that relates to more

existential problems of existence itself; about life’s meaning and purpose (Kumar & Mehta, 2011).

More than just cogitate mentally about metaphysical quandaries, it is about “the ability to act with

wisdom and compassion, while maintaining inner and outer peace regardless of the circumstances”

(Wigglesworth, 2011, p. 1). Further, it is about also applying spiritual understandings to specific things

in life and work, what Neal et al. (1999) term spiritual integration.

Zohar and Marshall (2000), the initial researchers to propose SI and the idea of a spiritual

quotient (SQ), believe that IQ and EQ (Emotional Intelligence) are essential aspects of SQ. In

comparison with other intelligences, SI can be considered the “central and most fundamental of all the

intelligences because it becomes the source of guidance...” for the others (Covey, 2004, p. 53).

41
Themes that are common in the understanding of SI are meaning and purpose in life, faculty for

decision making and solving problems, and connection. Nathawat (2001) contrasts intelligences

saying, “IQ is important for entrance in educational institutions, EQ is essential for success in life and

SQ is useful for meaningful life” (p. 159). Peerzadah et al. (2018) go further to say SI is “strongly

linked to the fulfillment of a human being’s esoteric need - to perceive that everything has a meaning,

a purpose…it is the intelligence of the soul…the intelligence that makes us ask ourselves fundamental,

existential questions and conquer the boundaries we were used to” (p. 309). SI is the intelligence of the

deep self (Zohar & Marshall, 2004), that has us asking the primordial questions about our lives that

deal with meaning and purpose. This inner self is what helps us to make important choices that

determine our unique life path, and it is the through asking of deep questions from that place of

intelligence which then opens space within the mind for the forming of the answers. Choices about life

path is one of the things most important for students in higher education, as they go about making the

important decisions about study concentrations that will lead to their desired careers. When university

students head to college, they usually have to choose their majors before starting, or within their first

year or two of school. The choice is often met with confusion, and highly influenced by family and

friends, or potentially faulty preconceptions about job possibilities post-degree. It is essential that

students develop a capacity for making meaningful choices at the very time in their life when they

definitively choose their major, as it puts them on to a track towards a specific kind of job, and the

general trajectory of their life path. Amram (2007), Nasel (2004), and Emmons (2000) concur in their

understandings that SI is the ability to use spiritual information or resources to resolve both practical

and existential issues in solving day to day questions to achieving one's goals and maintain balanced

wellbeing.

Wolman’s (2001) concept of SI strongly includes connectedness, and they conceive of SI as a

human capacity to “experience simultaneously the seamless connection between each of us and the

world in which we live” (p. 1). Vaughan (2002) echoes this relation between SI and connection, saying

SI “implies awareness of our relationship to the transcendent, to each other, to the earth and all beings”

(p. 19). This is a way of understanding of SI as connection at multiple levels, tri-connection, sensing

oneness with others, the earth, and the divine. One need not question the purpose of developing SI in

42
education when considering that, aside from helping to solve problems, aiding in life decisions, and

giving a sense of meaning, SI affects overall well-being, motivation, goal attainment, and, in turn,

success in life. Peerzadeh et al. (2018) echo this sentiment saying, “spiritual intelligence gives humans

the analytical, creative, and practical abilities to live successfully by solving problems and delivering

outcomes…” (p. 309). Vaughan (2002) conceives the expression of SI as how people show “love,

wisdom, and service” (p. 20). It is also seen as the “wealth we gain through drawing upon our deepest

meanings, deepest values, most fundamental purposes, and highest motivations, and by finding a way

to embed these in our lives and work” (Zohar & Marshall, 2004, p. 3).

2.4.1. Measuring Spiritual Intelligence

It has been just over 20 years since Zohar (1997) coined the term spiritual intelligence. Just four

years prior, Cloninger was measuring spirituality as a trait in terms of self-transcendence with the

Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) instrument. Research involved with investigating and

accurately measuring what came to be known as spiritual intelligence has been as varied as the

definitions of the term itself. Though Zohar and other early researchers into spiritual intelligence

believe that it can’t actually be measured, the past decade has seen many solid attempts at codifying

and measuring the aspects that make up the spiritual quotient (SQ), particularly King’s 2008 SISRI-24

(Spiritual Intelligence Self Report Inventory), Amram and Dryer’s 2008 ISIS (Integrated Spiritual

Intelligence Scale), Kumar and Mehta’s 2011 SSI (Scale for Spiritual Intelligence), and

Wigglesworth’s (2011) SQ21 assessment instrument. Wolman’s (2001) Psychomatrix Spirituality

Inventory (PSI) is perhaps a precursor to any attempt at directly measuring SI. It is a survey with 80

statements divided into seven factors (divinity, mindfulness, extrasensory perception, community,

intellectuality, trauma, and childhood spirituality), and the frequency indicating how often one thinks

or feels what each sentence indicates rated on a scale of four (never, seldom, often, almost always).

The variance in understanding what SI is and how SQ can be calibrated has necessitated a variety of

measurement scales, and several researchers into this topic have accordingly created their own scales

which correlate to their unique definition and relevant outcome variables. This slightly digressive

approach to measuring SI is logical in light of the ambiguous nature what spirituality itself is. A

beneficial point of so many different understandings and approaches is that specific components can

43
now be empirically measured and various relationships proven. Unfortunately, a great negative effect

is the poignant difficulty of universal applicability.

It is worth bearing in mind that Zohar and Marshall (2000) did not believe SI is measurable,

despite the many valid systems devised to measure different aspects that are believed to make up SI.

Pascal’s quote can again be brought back to the foreground, “The heart has its reason which reason

knows nothing of...” If SI is being measured through an instrument that is mental, the indices are going

to be mental constructs, not spiritual. In light of that, the measurement systems ought to be accepted

with a proverbial grain of salt remembering that the deepest aspects of SI are experiential and cannot

be expressed adequately through words. Perhaps at the stage where SI is fully experienced, any need

to measure it may well be rendered inconsequential. Rather than go into the divergent minutiae of

what makes up each of the various SI conceptualizations and matching instruments, this research

chooses one strong commonality among them that is both intriguing and pertinent to use in exploring

the SI wilds of the university EFL landscape, connection.

2.4.2. Connection and Spiritual Intelligence

Connection is being conceived of here as having three parts. As mentioned earlier, tri-

connection is the relationship that is sparked from within oneself to bridge a communion with others,

nature, and the universe. That connection could be imagined as a flame in the heart that is kindled by

the act of self-reflection and contemplation, as well as mindful and intentional outward interaction

with others and the world around. Human connection has been proven to have a multitude of positive

benefits, including promoting strength, courage, and psychological well-being (Gillham & Seligman,

1999), so it is in line to consider it a part of SI that can be activated and enhanced for the benefit of

student well-being and success. In the various instruments created to measure SI, connection has

consistently arisen as a central feature. The ways in which connection has been explored and measured

within the framework of SI will be discussed, including insights from the work of Zohar and Marshall

(2000), Wolman (2001), Amram and Dryer (2008), Vaughan (2002), and Nisbet et al. (2009), and

others.

Even though Zohar and Marshall (2000) haven’t put forth a measurement scale, and believe it is

not quantifiable, they still list a means of assessing personal SQ through the exploration of personality

44
types. The assessment process is done not to prove a high or low score, but to point out areas of

potential growth for an individual related to six paths (duty, nurturing, understanding, personal

transformation, and brotherhood) leading to one’s center, that correlate with the six personality types

conceived of as petals of a lotus. The assessment is less like a survey instrument, and more of a means

for deep reflection through questions and scenarios. Most of the six sections pertain to connection. For

example, under the first path of duty, three of the four sets of questions relate to belonging to groups

and how that has affected a person’s identity; emotionally, morally, and spiritually. All of the question

sets for path 2, nurturing, relate to connections with other people. To give a direct idea, question one is

“Are there now (or have there been in the past) any people to whom you would happily give more than

you receive? Are there any people (now or in the past) from whom you happily receive more than you

give?” (p. 281). Similarly, path 5, brotherhood, and path 6, servant leadership, very much relate to

connectedness with other. The seventh section, the center, starts with a question involving connection

to a higher source, “1. Have you ever felt yourself to be in the presence of a powerful spiritual force

that goes beyond your everyday self? If so, did it include a sense of love for or unity with all things?

Did it include a sense of an intelligent and sacred source of energy from beyond yourself? Was the

experience beyond time, space and form — an indescribable void of which you were yet consciously

aware? Have any of these experiences remained important to you?” (p. 281).

Many of Wolman’s (2001) PSI statements relate to connection, including the obvious factors of

divinity and community. Examples of specific statements in the PSI related to connection are “I

volunteer time with the needy, the homeless, etc.” (p. 147) and “I am aware of a transcendent energy

source” (p. 145).

Amram and Dryer’s (2008) ISIS is an 83-item survey (the short version has 45 items) with 22

subscales: beauty, discernment, agelessness, equanimity, freedom, gratitude, higher-self, holism,

immanence, inner-wholeness, intuition, joy, mindfulness, openness, practice, presence, purpose,

relatedness, sacredness, service, synthesis, and trust. An example involving mindfulness and

connection with oneself is “52. I am mindful of my body's five senses during my daily tasks” (p. 44).

The following three items bear relation to connection as well: “49. Even in the midst of conflict, I look

for and find connection and common ground,” “70. To solve problems, I draw on my ability to hold,

45
accept and go beyond paradoxes,” and “36. I can hold as true and integrate seemingly conflicting or

contradictory points of view” (pp. 29-30). Relatedness, a form of connection with others, was assessed

with the following three items: “56. I work toward expanding other peoples' awareness and

perspectives,” “25. I draw on my compassion in my encounters with others,” (p. 32) and “48. I

enhance my effectiveness through my connections and receptivity to others” (p. 43). Amram & Dryer

(2008) assessed level of connection with something greater, or sacredness, with the following five

items: “64. Experiences of ecstasy, grace, or awe give me insights or direction in dealing with daily

problems,” “8. In my daily life, I feel the source of life immanent and present within the physical

world,” “57. I live in harmony with a force greater than myself-a universal life force, the divine, or

nature--to act spontaneously and effortlessly,” “34. In my day-to-day tasks, I pay attention to that

which cannot be put into words, such as indescribable sensual or spiritual experiences,” (p. 43) and

“61. I feel like part of a larger cosmic organism or greater whole” (p. 44).

Other SI-related measurement instruments have also featured connection measurement such as

Nisbet et al.’s (2009) Nature Spirituality Index section on feelings “2. I feel a deep sense of wonder

when I experience nature;” “3. I feel connected to all living things and the earth;” “5. I am concerned

about the suffering of animals;” in the section on beliefs “5. I am not separate from nature, but a part

of nature;” “6. My connection to nature and the environment is a part of my spirituality,” and in the

section on behaviors “1. I make decisions based on how they could impact the environment.”

Underwood’s (2001) 16-item Daily Spiritual Experience Scale also features self-reported measures

about connection with others and a greater force, such as “2. I experience a connection to all of life.”

While connection is a key concept in SI that is commonly used as a point of reference to

measure spirituality, connection is also a key component of education. Classrooms function as a unit

involving a teacher and students, and the level of connectedness can predict the level of successful

learning. It follows that when students are able to open up to each other and feel comfortable together,

the conversations will delve into vaster and more personal subjects, making it easier for students to

engage meaningfully and start to forge parallels between the material and their own lives. This was

certainly reflected in Sun’s (2019) result where students that experienced guided meditation and

mindfulness relaxation techniques became “more aware of themselves [and] more open to their peers

46
with patience...students began to share more private events and emotional feelings, which were

indicators that they felt safe, accepted, and nonjudgmental toward each other” (p. 49). Buttery and

Roberson (2005), in referring to teachers’ power to “evoke the spirituality of academia” by helping

students to connect their own lives to the material being studied, quote Palmer’s (1999) sentiment that

“the human quest for connectedness is at the heart of nearly every aspect of the curriculum” (p. 41). If

indeed it can be, there are a myriad of ways to intentionally develop connections in the classroom,

between the subjects and students’ lives and between students themselves, as a way to address spirit

and spark the unfoldment of students’ innate spiritual intelligence.

2.4.3. Addressing Spirit in Education

A. Precursors to SI

Spirit interventions used in educational practice in intentional ways result in a practiced and

enhanced capacity for reflection and contemplation which serves to deepen the classroom experience.

A long history of alternative education movements, from contemplative education, reflective learning,

transformative learning to holistic education, reflects the continual striving to cultivate the inclusion of

spirit in education. These fringe movements have repeatedly surfaced through time as they recognize

the inherent importance of addressing spirit in education. The movements arose in great hope that

lawmakers and curriculum setters would not destroy the heart of education by orienting only towards

scholastic achievement outcomes that come replete with encouraging competition (between students,

between schools, and between countries) and policies plugging quantity over quality.

Though spiritual intelligence was not named as a unique intelligence until 1997, it is an

element deeply embedded in the alternative study movements of the USA’s higher education in the

late 1800’s and again in the latter part of the 20th century. The holistic-minded education systems that

blossomed are indeed part of the life education promulgated through all of the major religious

teachings throughout history, from the Bible (Beardsley, 2004) to the Qu’aran (Bensaid et al., 2014),

involving the development of SI capacities. Alternative education systems have certainly kept

appearing through time because of the consistent belief that including spirit in education can foster

transcendence which “leads to a greater nurturing of self, others, and the environment” (Johnson,

2011, p. 7). In making a case for the importance of self-actualization in education, Johnson (2011)

47
discusses Maslow’s idea that the foundational purpose of schooling is “the creation of better human

beings which occurs through self-actualization and self-transcendence” (p. 7).

In developing compassion and a sense of connectedness, by learning how to shift how the

others are viewed in relation to oneself, students naturally turn their energy from fueling competition

to expanding creativity. This is the course of a “healthy ego,” to step out of the cycle of comparing, so

the ego can “drop notions of both superiority and inferiority. It remains confident and teachable”

(Beckwith, Facebook, 2019). In this assertion, spiritual teacher Michael Beckwith contends that the

competitive nature of standard education is damaging, and actually results in making students less

capable of learning. In the 1950’s spiritual guru Krishnamurti (1953) felt similarly in deeming

standard education a force to make people “subservient, mechanical and deeply thoughtless,” leaving

people “incomplete, stultified and uncreative” (p. 10). Acclaimed hugging guru, Amma, promoter and

advocate of mass education in India, invokes this unfortunate notion in declaiming that the education

for living, taught in the language of machines, has replaced the education for life, which is taught in

the language of the heart (Kapur, 2016).

Paolo Freire of Brazil was an education reformist in the 1970’s who believed in the

emancipatory power of education, and contended that the world could be fairer for all if people could

be viewed as “subjects, not objects, who are constantly reflecting and acting on the transformation of

their world” (Taylor, 2008, p. 8). Reflection and transformation are the key words here. With

reflection as a part of education, individual, and in turn societal, transformation is possible. Reflective

learning has sometimes come under the name of mindfulness as, similarly, it is a cognitive process of

experiencing emotion and actively engaging in nonjudgmental examination of one’s thoughts and

beliefs in context, to integrate the resultant insights into new understandings that increase knowledge.

The benefits can be improved effectiveness due to the greater flexibility, productivity, creativity that

arise from the ability to take on new perspectives and change behavior in positive ways (Rogers,

2001).

Another reason for the promulgation of alternative approaches to education that address spirit

and support transformation, is the understanding that they unleash the power to transcend the

limitations of belief systems. Beliefs work through the subconscious habitually and, when they are

48
negative or limited, can sabotage one’s true potential, or even the ability to consider if one has

potential beyond their current state. True learning can happen for anyone, but foremost “one must

transcend one’s culture, biases, values, ego, past experience, and sense of self in order to see things as

they really are” (Johnson, 2011, p. 7). This is where a practice such as reflection can aid students in

noticing and questioning their conditioned beliefs, and where affirmations come in to help one

recondition the mind to believe in positive things that raise one’s confidence and overall vibration.

Affirmations have been proven to go beyond temporary positive mood enhancement, to improve

motivation and long-term academic performance (Sherman et al., 2013).

To understand the role of spiritual intelligence in broadening the aims and potentials of

education, it is helpful to take a closer look at holistic theory. Holistic education sprang as an

alternative to conventional education and laid the foundation for spiritual intelligence to be recognized

as a concrete and unique intelligence. The holistic approach to education allowed students to be seen

not just as minds, but bodies-minds-souls; and education not solely as the compiling of mental

knowledge, but a complex process of creating understandings informed by aspects of the spirit such as

emotion, deep reflection, and intuition (Johnson, 2011).

Holism is the guiding principle of holistic education, and purports that a whole cannot be

separated into parts, for if we do isolate segments of reality, we can never come to fully understand

what the whole is (Johnson, 2011). In terms of academics, this implies that outer knowledge of the

intellect must interact with aspects such as emotion, deep reflection, and intuition to be truly known

and activated (Johnson, 2011). Holistic education, accordingly, dismisses the push for “basic

knowledge and skills acquisition,” and is rather “primarily concerned with the overall development

(physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual) of the individual” (Rudge, 2008, p. 13).

The prime element that differentiates holistic education from other educational approaches is

spirituality. It is what permeates the entire holistic approach which encompasses eight principles, four

innately spiritual and four humanistic. The four spiritual components are spirituality, reverence for

life/nature, interconnectedness, and human wholeness (Rudge, 2008).

Holistic education arose to fulfill the greatest purpose of education, which is to “nourish the

inherent possibilities of human development” (GATE, 2000, p. 2). One of the main principles of

49
holistic education is connection, which could also be called innate interconnectedness. As alternatives

to standard education, numerous schools have been formed around educational philosophies that seek

to enhance the activating potential holism affords students. Holistic-based constructs of schooling

from Montessori to Waldorf to Reggio Emilia, in transcending common notions of how learning

happens, create greater potentials for individual and societal growth. This is accomplished through the

primary focus of helping students experience interconnectedness and their own harmonious place

within the strata of humanity and the environment around them. A parallel could be drawn between the

holistic focus of innate connection and the Blackfoot tipi model shown earlier in Figure 1, where one

is considered to be imbued with qualities from the time of birth, and they come to the fore in

symphony with community, a process that then uplifts the community as well.

For many education theorists, the primary aim of holistic education is self-transformation

(Nakagaw, as cited in Rudge, 2008). Mezirow’s transformative learning theory of the late 1970’s was

built on the premise that people can transform their perspective to free themselves from “previously

held beliefs, attitudes, values, and feelings that have constricted and distorted their lives” (Yang, 2004,

p. 254). Transformative learning and contemplative education are among many approaches that utilize

holistic perspective. Transformative learning is a system that helps to shift consciousness so fully that

the very base of thoughts, feelings, and actions are re-informed; resulting in a permanent alteration of

self-understanding and, therein, relationships with others and the world around (O’Sullivan, 2005).

Robert Boyd (1988), whose model of transformation was based on the Jungian understandings of

individuation, sees fostering transformative education as a way to help students realize the power of

their own spirit. The model presupposes “that abiding within the person is a truth, a knowledge, which

is not separate from socio-economic, political, and other cultural influences, but transcends them” (Boyd

& Myers, 1988, p. 282). Transformational learning requires one to be receptive, a process which

reflection facilitates, to discern areas where change is necessary in one’s own thinking. One then must

actively integrate the new knowledge and behavior shifts into their life. This is a process that a teacher

can guide, yet it is the actual work of the student, as part of their own growth, and springs from their

own innate wisdom. Learning, in general, is giving information to students so they can develop skills

under guidance that they will later be competent to use on their own.

50
 Contemplative education uses practices such as meditation and mindfulness to infuse higher

consciousness, awareness, and insight into the process of learning, and to “prepare the mind to process

information in new and perhaps unexpected ways,” and involves infusing learning “with the

experience of awareness, insight and compassion for oneself and others” (Chano, 2012, p. 106). It

involves a way of teaching that is “designed to cultivate conscious awareness in an ethical-relational

context in which the values of personal growth, learning, moral living and caring for others are

nurtured” (Chanto, 2012, p. 106). The ancient practices of contemplative education were influenced by

noetic mysticism of many cultures and spiritual paths from around the world, including Sufi, Christian,

and Buddhist, among others known and unknown. Sacred training of the contemplative arts, involving

mindfulness, interconnection, and a plethora of meditation styles, amalgamated anew through time to

fit the period and place they arose in. Contemplative education experienced a resurgence in the United

States prior to the mid-1800’s amidst a wave of Buddhist Chinese immigrants, then again in the late

1960’s/early 1970’s when Naropa University and two similarly avant-garde colleges with spirit-

oriented outlooks were started, and in 1995 with the Centre for Contemplative Mind in Society

(Morgan, 2014).

Clearly, both holistic-minded educational theories and spiritual intelligence have at their core

the recognition of spirit, as it is interconnected with others and the environment, and its role in

transforming understanding by creating the personal meaning and purpose which frees one from the

overwhelming burden of attaining achievement per societal norms. With a look at the makeup and

aims of holistic alternative theories of education, the impetus for, and importance of, supporting

spiritual intelligence in education is clear. Seeing the immense potential of education, not just for an

individual but for humanity, through the lens of holism, the importance of encouraging spirit in the

classroom is glaring. In fact, if students are not engaged at the level of spirit, human evolution is far

from assured. The beginning sense of potential disaster is evident in the trajectory of modern industrial

society, which contemporary education is orientated to sustain, where overwhelming materialism and

economic competition has left the planet literally gasping for air. Fostering compassionate

understanding and connection creates an equanimity intra-personally, and a harmony supra-personally

within the greater environment in which we live. Holistic and spiritual approaches to education have

51
raised the appreciation for the role spirit plays in learning to such an extent that spiritual intelligence is

now starting to be considered an integral facet to develop within the context of education.

B. Alternative Education in South Korea - History and Trends

While meditation, mindfulness practice, and spirit interventions are becoming a common part

of curriculum and classroom lessons in the West, with many schools in the US using yoga and

meditation as a replacement for typical detention halls in response to student behavior issues, it may

seem like a new paradigm for education in South Korea. There is little known research available in

English about the use of spirit interventions, or the efficacy of teaching meditation and mindfulness as

part of academics in Korea. However, it is far from being a new concept in Korea, as there is a famous

scholar of the 7th century whose theory about One Heart-Mind (OHM) dominated the psyche of

education for so long that vestiges of his practice can still be found as inspiration for a new movement

of alternative holistic education on the peninsula (Park & Song, 2005). In the 7th century, at the

beginning of the Unified Shilla dynasty, Won Hyo harmonized different Buddhist sects into a unified

tradition and strove to bring enlightenment to the common masses. He developed a theory about the

interconnectedness of all things, and the relationship between attitude and thoughts with perception

and experience of reality (Park & Song, 2005). In more recent times, alternative primary schools have

been an emerging trend in Korea (Kim & Lim, 2007) to address the imbalance in public education that

inordinately stresses academic success measured by grades and incites intense competition between

students. At the government level, the Ministry of Education first decreed a Character Education

Promotion Act in 2015 that details the intention for an approach to education that endeavors to

develop students’ “well-balanced and good inner state therein and to nurture the personalities and

competencies of human beings needed for harmoniously living together with other people, in

communities, and with nature” (Article 2 – 1).

Alternative schools have had the freedom to put more of a focus on interaction with nature and

self-development which involve aspects of SI. One example was the emergence in the early 1990’s of

an “Eco-early childhood education” which emphasized a spirit-centered approach to education. It was

a collective movement spurred by university professors as well as elementary and preschool teachers.

Meditation, interaction with elders and rural communities, traditional exercise, food education, and

52
immersion in nature are all integral parts of the system (Kim & Lim, 2007). There have been two

research studies of note in Korea, the first in 1990 related to increasing productivity through

mindfulness (as cited in Langer & Moldoveanu, 2000), and a trial that correlated with a course for

personality development (promoting character education) at Kwangju Women’s University in which

the objective of the course was “mind sharing through mindfulness, SMART human resources

development,” and showed a positive effect on students in the area of connectedness as evidenced by

“mind sharing” (Kim, J.-W., 2015, p. 481).

2.5. Conclusion

This second chapter has laid out the theories and interrelations of spiritual intelligence, self-

actualization and self-transformation, and affective filter. The working definitions of meditation and

mindfulness were established, followed by a thorough look into the many ways the practice of these

has been proven beneficial for students through education research. Next the concept and development

of SI was presented along with a contrasting of researchers’ ideas about how to measure it. The

common SI aspect of connection was uniquely discussed, as one of the main themes of this research.

This chapter then looked at how SI has been addressed in education in former iterations, such as

alternative education systems including reflective learning, contemplative and holistic education

movements. The final part of this chapter specifically focused on the history of addressing spirit in

South Korea, as well as current trends, to give a deeper insight into the cultural context in which this

research was conducted within.

53
 Chapter 3. Methods

3.1. Overview

This study looks at how university EFL students perceive meditation and mindfulness activities

introduced into their class. A mixed-method approach was taken to better explore the prevalence and

relevance of students’ subjective experiences of two brief fixed-concentration MMA used in TOEIC

test preparation classes and three open connection-based MMA assigned to conversation class students

outside of class. Based on survey responses about before/after effects of the brief MMA, written

reflections about the open connection-based MMA, and interviews, data was analyzed for frequency of

common experiences of benefits and thematic relevance to connection and other aspects of SI. A

convergent parallel mixed methods design allowed qualitative and quantitative data to be collected

simultaneously, and cross-analyzed for deeper understanding of the results. This section discusses the

design, reviews the research questions, and elucidates the setting, participants, procedures, data types,

and collection. Brief descriptions of each type of data, such as homework analysis and interviews,

along with the procedure of creating it including consideration of aims, are organized into two subsets:

TOEIC class and Conversation class. This chapter ends with additional information about the analysis

techniques, and touches upon the validating factors of credibility, dependability, confirmability, and

transferability as well as pertinent ethical considerations.

3.2. Design

This mixed-methods study uses various methods for data collection. Specific protocol sets were

integrated into two different kinds of university EFL classes. The two brief TOEIC class MMA

protocol were fixed, meaning that everyone used the same four-minute techniques at the same time in

class, whereas the three-conversation class MMA protocol were open and students were able to make

choices about when, where, how, and for how long they wanted to experience the MMA based on

certain guidelines. The TOEIC class protocol was designed to collect mostly quantitative data about

students’ perceptions of the effect of MMA mediated in class using a multi-phase method of surveys

immediately at the time of the MMA and retrospectively at the end of semester. The conversation

protocol was designed to collect mostly qualitative data through structured homework assignments

54
involving pre-/post-reflection questions that gathered students’ perceptions on self-awareness and their

sense of connection to others, and nature. The conversation classes were also given surveys about

connection to spark their reflection process and get them thinking about the MMA assigned to be

completed outside of class. Conversation classes also received outro surveys to retrospectively

consider the effects of the MMA on their ability and desire to connect with others and with nature.

This research used a convergent parallel mixed methods approach. Mixed methods studies

include a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods (Kumar,

2014). The aim of mixed methods is to explore both the extent and nature of an issue, in this case

students’ experiences with MMA as part of their regular university EFL classes. The convergent

parallel design allows for diverse data sets to be collected simultaneously using both quantitative and

qualitative methods, rather than a single method at each sequential stage of the research. The collected

data is then analyzed separately, and the results of the analysis are compared and contrasted to see if

the findings of one confirm the other (Creswell, 2013). The data can be further analyzed using side-by-

side comparison (Creswell, 2013). With the convergent parallel approach there is also the option of

merging the two data sets, quantitative and qualitative, by changing qualitative codes into quantitative

variables (Creswell, 2013). Quantitative and qualitative modes of research are rooted in varying

intents, the former aiming to capture a generalization and the latter aiming to get various perspectives

(Creswell, 2013).

Using a quantitative angle, it is possible to get an idea of the prevalence of commonality in

individuals’ experiences and quantify the variation, in this case the variables of most interest are

positive changes related to mood, focus, peace, stress level, and connectedness. The before-after How

Am I, Now? surveys were used to gather quantitative data about changes in mood, focus, peace, stress,

and about helpfulness for study related to the two brief four-minute MMA used in the TOEIC class.

The quantitative data addresses an aspect of the research question on how students perceive the

influence of MMA and may give insights into the other two research questions related to connection to

oneself and as self-awareness, and its usefulness for study. Other quantitative applications were the

outro survey, and the connection surveys given for the purposes of self-reflection before the

conversation class assigned MMA. Some of the reports used to collect quantitative data were also

55
analyzed with quantitative perspectives, such as keyword count, to note frequency within the data

sample.

To reach fuller levels of understanding, though, such as the impetus for students’ responses to

the fixed closed-ended questions and predefined descriptions, the quality of data can be enhanced by

introducing qualitative footing. Qualitative approaches are used when there are variables which are not

conducive to being measured relating to the problem or issue needing exploration (Creswell & Poth,

2018). In this research, given the diverse pedagogical aims of the classes and how they influenced

what kind of technique would be used, as well as variation in ideas about what SI is and how or if to

measure it, the design warrants using a mix of approaches. The qualitative approach offers the benefit

of the flexibility which is necessary to more fully explore the phenomena and offer deeper levels of

insight into students’ lived experience and feelings. The main qualitative aspects used in this research

are interviews, focus groups, and written homework reports. These data sets serve to add the

participants’ expression and reflections which paint full color vistas shining with voices of actual

people in what would otherwise be stoic dots on a gray landscape of numbers.

Qualitative research was used in part as a follow-up to quantitative research, by adding open-

ended questions or comment areas to several of the closed-ended surveys, and by talking further about

the results of closed-ended surveys during the interviews. In this way there could be something beyond

“a general picture of trends, associations, and relationships” that could give a fuller explanation of the

process the participants experience, the context for their responses, and the underlying thoughts and

behaviors that led to them (Creswell & Poth, 2018, p. 194). In explaining how mixed-method research

is par for the course in social science research that looks at human thinking and behavior, Kumar

(2014) explains that it is based on a philosophy that “for certain situations, to enhance the accuracy

and meaningfulness of your conclusions, to have a complete picture of a situation, and to reconfirm

your findings, you need to use more than one method belonging to one or both of the paradigms” (p.

19).

Mixed-methods approaches have been particularly useful in research as an accurate means of

triangulation that serves to get richer, more complete data which can further validate and confirm

results. This study has used both method-triangulation (qualitative and quantitative) and data

56
triangulation, as data was collected at multiple times using different sources such as surveys,

homework reports, and interviews.

The design was informed by a similar brief MMA pilot project in 2019 where the single variable

of mood was measured using before/after surveys to rate mood changes as a result of two music

listening and to breath control MMA. Information about the results of this pilot is included in the

Appendix.

3.3. Research Questions

1. Do university EFL students perceive positive effects from brief

meditation and mindfulness

activities (MMA)?

2. Do connection-oriented MMA affect university EFL student’s ability and

desire to connect to others and nature?

3. In what ways are students reported experiences with MMA indicative of

spiritual intelligence?

3.4. Setting

The research was undertaken at a rural national university in South Korea where a variety of

English-mediated EFL classes are being offered. The 2020 academic year involved a fluctuation

between online and offline classes. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic safety-precautions, many of the fall

2020 classes were meditated online with real-time Zoom classes during which students could

communicate with the teacher to ask questions and work collaboratively with group members in

breakout rooms, and weekly teaching VODs that students could access and watch at any time. The

university’s foreign professors use set textbooks for TOEIC preparatory classes, which are compulsory

for students of all majors, and there is only slight flexibility in how the courses are designed. The

conversation classes are not required, but open to students of all majors, the textbook is chosen by the

professors, and the format is very open. All classes by foreign professors are mediated entirely in

English. The MMA of this research design were appropriate to formally integrate into existing classes

structures where MMA had already been used sporadically and informally. The TOEIC class data was

57
collected during the beginning of English-mediated classes directly following the MMA, as the

opportunity was ideal for gathering students’ immediate impressions. Longer inter-active and

assignments involving before/after reflection and connection-oriented MMA were done after school at

the students’ convenience. Interviews were conducted outside of regular class time at the end of

semester as a means to get students’ cumulative retrospective thoughts on the experiences of the

semester.

3.5. Participants

Through convenience sampling, a total of 200 students enrolled in four TOEIC classes and

two English Conversation classes were given the opportunity to participate in this study. Participants

were both female and male, between 18 and 26 years old, with a typical class median age of 21.5;

males tended to be older than females in the case of sophomores, juniors, and seniors due to a

mandatory two-year military service that men commonly begin following their freshman year of

college. Participants were from a variety of majors yielding from all departments, humanities to

engineering to music and sports. Some classes contained a majority of students from a single major,

and some classes were mixed in terms of students’ majors. Students were not level-tested so each class

contained students with a wide range of levels from high beginner to low advanced. The average class

size was roughly 33 students. Interviews were conducted via Zoom at the end of the fall semester 2020

with 1 student from the TOEIC class and 1 student from a conversation class. More information about

participants is given in Table 1. A listing of students by department is listed in the Appendix.

< Table 1 >

Number of Students by Class

Class Type Number of Students Total Number of Students

TOEIC Class 1 33 131

TOEIC Class 3 38
TOEIC Class 4 37

Conversation Class 1 35 69
Conversation Class 2 34

58
3.6. Procedures

In terms of the ethical procedural process, at the start of the semester students were informed

that the professor intended to do research related to meditation and mindfulness activities being used

in the class and gave written permission for data to be used. Students were assured that the answers to

surveys had no effect on their grades, including no point reduction for not submitting surveys, and

students were encouraged to discuss any concerns about the research and related activities with the

professor directly or indirectly and anonymously through the class leader. Student data was kept

secure and on file for the requisite time per Korean ethical standards in social science research. Due to

the non-experimental nature of the study, that the activities were part of the regular course of study for

classes, the IRB determined that an approval application was not required, and no special permission

was necessary from the university to conduct research as part of the course of regular classes.

The term MMA is used throughout this work to refer to the experimental meditation and

mindfulness interventions specifically chosen to use in this research, rather than all possible related

activities many of which also could fall under the umbrella term of either mindfulness or meditation,

or both (Ching et al., 2015). Within this research there were two sets of MMA protocol, the set used

with TOEIC classes were two brief four-minute fixed-attention MMA mediated at the beginning of

class, and the set used for Conversation classes involved longer more open connection-oriented MMA

that students could decide how they wanted to do based on guidelines. The TOEIC class MMA were

very brief activities aimed helping students transition into study, ideally allowing them to clear mental

chatter and negative self-talk in hopes that it could improve mood, focus and peace by bringing

students mindfully into the present moment. Connection-based MMA assignments required advance

reflective thinking, an extended mindful active intentional connection experience, plus a written

homework assignment that served the dual purpose of confirming students’ competence with grammar

points from the textbook and providing rich data reporting results and reflections about the experience.

Following are specific step-by-step procedures for the TOEIC class and conversation class subsets of

MMA protocols. The explication may provide a model of two different kinds of activities that can be

59
adjusted as needed to easily be integrated into the existing format of university classes. The steps may

also be used for exact replication.

3.7. Meditation and Mindfulness Activity Protocol

3.7.1. TOEIC Class MMA

A. Brief MMA #1. Music Listening (with Visualization)

This MMA involved a non-guided visualization while listening to a piece of instrumental

music. The music of Peter Kater was chosen as ideal for music meditation. Peter Kater has won two

Grammy awards in the New Age category; this is a testament to the universal appeal of his music for

its aesthetically beautiful and relaxing characteristics. New Age music is a genre widely used for

meditation, and it is considered ideal for relaxation. The piece titled “Initiation” from the album

“Migration,” featuring Peter Kater (piano), Carlos Nakai (Native American flute), and David Darling

(cello), was chosen for this MMA. Visualization cues were created specifically for this piece to match

the character, flow, and sounds of the music. This song can be found via the composer’s website

www.peterkater.com or through a search on google or YouTube. Following are the steps in the MMA

itself, including an introduction to what visualization is and advance cues about how students can

focus their attention while listening to the music.

1. Briefly explain what visualization is.

2. Give in-depth visualization cues.

3. Review a summary of the cues.

4. Close eyes as the lights are turned off and the music is turned on.

5. Listen to the music and visualize.

Before starting the music there was a brief explanation of what visualization is. “To visualize means to

see images, colors, or impressions like movies in your mind. If you do not see anything, there is no

need to worry. It is easy for some people to visualize, but some people have trouble when they try to

visualize for the first time. If you do not see anything in your mind, you can just keep your eyes closed

and enjoy the music.” Students were then given the following cues to structure their listening and

visualization process.

60
 When you listen to the music, imagine you are walking. See yourself walking in your mind

and notice what you see around you. Notice what you hear, and even smell or touch in your

mind. You might see yourself walking in a forest, or by the ocean, or even a place you have

never seen before. Notice how you feel as you walk. Is it warm or cold? Are you happy or

sad? You might think about a destination, or you might just be content walking. This is a four-

minute piece, and you will notice near the end that the music gets softer. When you feel that

happening, even if you are wrong and it is not near the end, take the opportunity to imagine

you stop walking and look down. Notice what you see when you look down.

The cues were quickly summarized and reviewed before turning off the lights and putting the music

on: “So first, walk, look and use your senses, notice feelings, think of a destination, near the end look

down.”

B. Brief MMA #2. Breath Control (Breath Bubble):

This was a four-minute mindful breathing practice to control the pace of breath. A video from

the Breath Bubble video series, findable on YouTube through a keyword search for “Breath Bubble,”

was used. The video series has various lengths of short videos with either a blue background or a

moving nature image or video. The main feature of the video series is a circle with a dot moving

repeatedly clockwise around it. The word “inhale” appears on the screen and the dot starts to move

around the circle. Then the word “exhale” appears, and the dot continues to move around the second

half of the circle. Some of the videos have pauses where the dot stops moving between the inhale and

the exhale. The bubble grows during the inhale and shrinks during the exhale, and a there are two

alternating musical tones indicating the inbreath and the outbreath. Before playing the video, students

are informed that they will be guided in a breathing practice, and they can follow the instructions on

the video. The lights are turned off and the video is played. There are only two steps to mediate this

MMA.

1. Briefly explain the MMA, what the video is, and how to follow it.

2. Turn off the lights and start the video.

61
 3.7.2. Conversation Class MMA

The three conversation class MMA were self-directed activities done outside of class based on

guidelines which given during class. The family interview MMA entailed mindful interaction with

family members, the nature meditation involved mindful Each MMA entailed some preparation

through reflection based on questions given in class, a connection-based interactive activity, and post-

reflection. The MMA were designed to be part of homework assignments and provided material for

students to use in their assignments. There were generally three stages to the MMA.

1. Pre-MMA reflection questions and connection survey.

2. MMA per student design outside-of-class.

3. Post-MMA reflection writing as part of the homework report.

More specific information related to each MMA is given in the section on data collection.

3.8. Data Collection

Qualitative and quantitative data was collected from four TOEIC test preparation classes and

two intermediate English conversation classes. The quantitative data includes surveys, and the

qualitative data includes homework reports and interviews. Data sources from the TOEIC class

include two surveys, How Am I, Now? and the end of semester outro survey, and one interview. Data

sources from the conversation class include four surveys, nature connection, mindfulness, people

connection, and outro survey, three homework reports, and one interview. The outro surveys were

given electronically at the end of semester using Google quiz forms, the other surveys were given in

class and collected directly. Preliminary analysis was done on the reports and surveys prior to the

interviews which were conducted at the very end of the semester online using Zoom. Detailed

information about the data sources, instruments used and intended purpose, and data administration

procedure will be divided into two subsections, TOEIC class data sources and conversation class data

sources.

3.8.1. TOEIC Class Data Sources

The main form of data gathered from the TOEIC class participants was surveys. There were

62
wwo kinds of surveys that involved primarily, though not exclusively, quantitative questions. An

interview was also conducted as a way to explore the trends noticed in the surveys.

A. Surveys

Among the two surveys used with the TOEIC class students, there is one that gathers

immediate perceptions of the effects of the MMA, and another that gathers retrospective perceptions.

i. How Am I, Now? Survey

This survey aimed to help students become mindful about how they are feeling at the

beginning of class, and whether they felt an immediate change in mood from the MMA, any effects

related to ability to focus, level of stress and peace, and whether they found the MMA helpful for

preparing their mind for study. The survey and MMA were administered by the teacher at the

beginning of in-person classes. There were three parts to the intervention:

1. Pre-MMA (Write before number on the survey paper.)

2. MMA (The meditation/mindfulness protocol.)

3. Post-MMA (Write after number on the survey paper, and circle answers to the four

questions.)

The MMA intervention was given at the very beginning of class, before any announcements or

discussion with the teacher. For the pre-MMA, students were asked to take a moment to “check in”

with themselves and see how they feel, then rate their mood on a scale from 1 to 10 (where 1 is awful,

5 is not good/not bad, and 10 is amazing). As the variation in students’ subjective understanding of the

level of each number is great, the variable being considered is less the chosen number and more the

amount of change in numbers from before to after the activity. In other words, whether the student

chose 3 as the before number or 5 is irrelevant compared to the perception of change. For example, a

before/after: 3/10 indicates a substantial change, whereas 3/3 indicates no perceived change. Students

wrote the before number on the survey paper. When it appeared that students had finished assessing

their mood and writing a number down, students were then requested to put down their writing utensils

and remain silent. For the music listening MMA students were requested to close their eyes, but for the

breath control MMA it was necessary to keep eyes open to watch the video projected on the screen at

the front of the classroom. The lights were turned off during the MMA. The teacher to also did the

63
meditation with the students, to model participation and encourage students to feel comfortable. The

MMA lasted about 4 minutes. At the end, the lights were turned on again and the directive was given

for students to again be mindful of how they feel and then assign a number to their mood between 1

and 10, writing it on the survey paper. Students were invited to write comments about the change in

number if they wanted to. The “How am I, Now?” survey included the following four quantitatively

modeled follow-up questions to gauge changes in 3 dependent variables: focus, stress, peace and

assess helpfulness for study.

1. Do you feel better able to focus after this activity?

2. Do you feel less stress after this activity?

3. Do you feel more at peace after this activity?

4. Is this activity helpful to prepare your mind for study?

Students were directed to circle one: yes, no, not sure. Students were given the same option to

elaborate on the answers by writing words or comments on the back of the survey paper if they chose

to.

ii. Outro Survey

Outro surveys were given as a regular part of the class at the end of semester; however, the

design was adapted to include several questions specific to the MMA protocol to gather students’

retrospective perspectives on the effects. The surveys used a mixed-methods design to include

quantitative areas, using pre-determined ranges or answers, and qualitative areas with short-answer

and comment sections. The TOEIC class outro survey was bilingual, with questions listed in both

English and Korean. Demographic information including class code, identifying number, and students’

highest TOEIC score were collected. Written statements were listed and students rated agreement on a

5-point Likert scale choosing one of the following options: totally disagree, disagree, neutral, agree,

totally agree. The survey questions relevant to this research include those related to the variables of

mood, focus, stress, peace, and helpfulness for study. Questions from this survey on subsidiary topics

on students perceived effect of the MMA’s effect on self-awareness, helpfulness for English learning,

class achievement, and well-being are also helpful to consider. Applicable questions from the outro

64
survey include the following (the original question number is written in parenthesis for referential

purposes):

• I felt focused, not distracted, while doing the meditation.

• After the in-class meditation, generally I felt _____. (much better, a little better, neutral, a

little worse, or much worse)

• The meditation was helpful to me.

• The meditation was helpful in creating a good mood for studying.

• The meditation was helpful in getting me to focus on class.

• The meditation was helpful for my quizzes/tests.

• Overall, I feel the meditation in class had a positive effect.

• The meditation activities helped me to ________. (feel calmer, relieve stress, focus,

improve my English, improve my overall well-being)

At the very end of the survey, comments could be written in English or Korean to further explain any

of the answers in the survey.

B. Interview (TOEIC Class)

One semi-structured interview was conducted in a conversational manner using a guide of

predetermined subjects deemed important to cover in order to get thorough insights into what

qualitative design expert Patton (2002) cites as being possible to address through qualitative

interviewing, students’ experiences and behaviors, as manifest in their opinions and values, feelings,

knowledge, sensory expression, and background. The benefit of using the interview guide open-ended

interviewing technique is the freedom to spontaneously word new questions that unexpectedly arise

through the natural course of conversation (Patton, 2002). The interview with a student from TOEIC

class involved a discussion about the student’s experiences of brief MMA used in class, including the

contextualization of effects on their academic and general life.

The research aim was to explore students perceptions about the influence of using meditation

in the class in terms of the MMAs effect on mood, focus, and peace as it related to their specific state

during class and overall during semester. Through the exploration of those perceptions, the interview

included a brief look at whether introducing MMA in class led the student to use them on their own

65
outside of class as a tool for emotional and cognitive regulation, and if there were any signs of SI

activation and development. The interview objectives and correlating planned interview guide

questions were:

1. Find out students experience of the various brief MMA, including noticed changes in mood,

focus, and relaxation.

A. How did you feel doing meditation in class?

B. Did you notice any change in mood / focus / relaxation before and after the brief

meditation exercises? Can you explain the change, what was different before and after

and why you think you felt a change?

2. Find out if students incorporated the meditations on their own during self-study or situations

outside of class, and if they expressed a desire to continue using them in and out of class.

A. Did you use any of the methods outside of class? If yes, in what situation?

B. Do you think you will use any of the methods learned during class in the future?

C. Would you like to use meditation in other classes?

3. Find out if students found MMA helpful and consider them appropriate and useful in

education.

A. Did you find the meditation time helpful for study? Why/why not? In which ways?

B. Do you think meditation is helpful for students? Why/why not? In which ways?

C. Do you think meditation should be used in every class? Why/why not?

4. Get students’ perspective about the effectiveness of using meditation in class, and ideas

about how meditation might be used more effectively in the classroom.

A. Do you think meditation techniques can be as effective done in class as done alone

outside of class?

B. Are there ways you think meditation can additionally be used, or used more effectively,

in the classroom?

3.8.2 Conversation Class Data Sources

There are three kinds of data being gathered from the conversation classes, surveys,

homework reports, and an interview.

66
 A. Surveys

Two kinds of surveys were also used with conversation classes, connection surveys which are
used primarily to spur reflection in students before they undertake the MMA, and an outro survey.
There are three brief connection surveys: mindfulness, nature connection, and people connection. Full

details on these three surveys is listed along with the relevant homework report information in 3.8.2.,

as the surveys were part of the protocol for the conversation class MMA.
The conversation outro survey, entirely in English, was given at the end of semester as part of

the regular class but was designed to included five relevant closed-ended questions. Two questions

related to the effects of reflective writing that was integrated into the homework assignments to report

the experiences of the MMA, and three questions were about change in sense of connection as it

related to the MMA correlating with the three homework assignments. The statements about reflective

writing were preceded by this introduction to help ensure that students understood the meaning of

reflective writing: “During this semester, the homework assignments involved reflective writing.

Reflection is looking deeply at thoughts and emotions as they change through various experiences.

The homework assignments all involved reflective writing.” The five most relevant questions from the

outro survey were:

1. Reflective writing helped me look at my thoughts and better understand my emotions.

2. Reflective writing was not interesting or useful to me.

3. HW#1- Three-Generation Family Interview - helped me feel more connected to my

family.

4. HW#2 - Nature Meditation - helped me feel more connected to nature.

5. HW#3 – Do-Good Mission – helped me feel more connected to other people.

Students were invited to answer in Korean if they wanted for the following two questions and for the

last part of the survey which asked if there were any other comments they wanted to share.

• Did you feel a change in your sense of connection to yourself, others, and nature from this

class?

• Did you have any insights, or change your thinking about anything, as a result of this

class?

67
 B. Homework Reports

There are three homework assignments related to three connection-oriented MMA: Three-

Generation Family Interview, Nature Meditation, and Do-Good Mission. The assignments are open

MMA, a contrast to the brief three-minute fixed-attention MMA used in TOEIC classes, as mindful

presence and reflection was requisite in preparing for and executing the activity for thorough

completion of the assignment. Before the nature meditation homework was given, students were given

a survey about nature connection and mindfulness which elucidated attitudes and subjective

experiences that relate to indicators of connection and the activation of spiritual intelligence. The first

assignment was presented to students in their weekly information and homework VODs as well as

being discussed during real-time Zoom class. The second and third assignments were given in class

during the second half of semester. The assignments were graded for the class based on both the

richness of content, quality of thought and reflection used, and the correct use of the grammatical

points. Naturally, the presence or absence of connection experience evidenced in the report had no

bearing on students’ grades, though it is the theme the assignment was based around in terms of

inclusion for this research.

Aside from aiming to give students the potential for meaningful connection through the

assignments, the reports were related to English learning and had specific skill practice intentioned

that are worthy of discussing. While it is true that any assignment involving the need to read questions

and write reports in English involves EFL learning in a broad sense, the two assignments were

matched to two specific grammar competencies. The family interview report was an opportunity for

students to practice writing reported speech, as well as to practice translating conversations from

native Korean into English and to develop skills with summarizing conversations. The nature

meditation provided material for students to write using past tense. In the case of lower-level students,

competency in using simple past tense to relay experiences can be tested. Students were asked to use

10+ past tense verbs and told to underline the past tense verbs used within their report, as it would

make it more likely for them to carefully check whether they had used the regular and irregular simple

past verb forms correctly. The nature meditation assignment was given following the covering of the

chapter in the textbook which included a grammar lesson about how to combine simple past and past

68
tense continuous tenses into one sentence to tell a story about something that had happened at the time

they were doing something else. For example, “As I was walking along the river, two ducks flew out

of the water.” Following are detailed descriptions of the written assignments.

i. Three-Generation Family Interview

This assignment involved asking for advice about a problem or concern from three family

members of different generations, then reporting the answers along with reactions and overall

reflections about the experience and any changes that happened because of it. Before having the

discussion with family members, students were asked to think about a legitimate concern to discuss,

and to write down their thoughts about having the interview, including how they expected their

relatives would answer. After the interview, students summarized the advice they received into

English and wrote reflections about the conversations and advice they received. The following

questions were given to students to help them begin the background steps of self-reflection helpful to

more deeply engage with the assignment:

• What is something heavy on your mind these days, that is causing you concern or confusion?

• Do you have a big life decision coming up (for example: choosing a major, getting a job,

transferring schools, getting engaged, taking a license test)?

• What kind of advice or support is helpful to you?

Before beginning their family member interviews, students were also given these questions so

they could have the opportunity to explore their thoughts about the assignment and look at any

preconceived notions of what might happen:

• How do you feel about this assignment of talking to three relatives of different generations in

your family?

• Is it easy to make the choice of who to talk to?

• Do you think it will be challenging in any way to talk to your three relatives?

• Can you already imagine what advice they will give?

ii. Nature Meditation

This assignment was aimed at giving students an opportunity to mindfully experience nature,

to explore, and ideally develop, their connection to nature. At the time of giving the assignment,

69
students were given a combined 14-item survey involving six statements about nature connection and

eight statements about mindfulness (including four worded for mindfulness and four worded for

mindlessness) that was created specifically to accompany this MMA. The two surveys were combined

purposely to help students avoid survey fatigue. The surveys were meant to gauge students’ trait

mindfulness and existing sense of connection to nature and give them an opportunity to begin

reflecting about their propensity to be mindful and connection to nature before doing the nature

meditation activity. Participants marked the level of agreement based on a 5-point Likert scale, with

strong disagreement having a value of 0 and strong agreement having a value of 4. The greatest

possible cumulative score for the nature survey was 24, indicating the highest level of connection to

nature. The mindfulness survey was scored by inverting the mindless statements to be equivalent to

the mindful statements, and the full score then came to 32. The surveys are meant to give a blanket

view of students’ state of mindfulness and connectedness to nature among students, rather than

measure definitive levels. The surveys were not piloted with university students, however they were

informally tested among several people, including a Buddhist monk. As monks are known to live a life

of practicing meditation and mindfulness amidst nature, it seemed having a monk test the survey could

help determine it is indeed possible to achieve a high or full score on the survey. The nature

connection survey questions are:

1. I enjoy being in nature.

2. I often walk in nature.

3. I can look at a tree and feel connected to it.

4. I notice birds singing.

5. I like to talk and communicate with animals.

6. I like being in nature, even if I am alone.

The mindfulness survey questions involve four mindful statements and then four mindless statements:

1. I often walk slowly and notice what’s around me.

2. I listen carefully to people.

3. I am aware of my feelings when I experience things.

4. I usually know exactly how I’m feeling.

70
 5. Messages and notifications on my phone easily distract me from what I’m doing.

6. I think more about the past and the future than the present.

7. I like to finish things quickly; I don’t care about the process.

8. I find it difficult to stay focused on what’s happening.

The questions on this survey are original, however they were made by considering the items of the

established Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) (Brown & Ryan, 2003), a 15-item scale

including statements and a 6-point scale of agreement/disagreement. The wording of the statements in

the MAAS are all indicative of mindlessness, requiring disagreement to rate high in mindfulness. In

order to make the measure more appropriate to an EFL class where students’ understanding of the

statements may be affected by language deficiency, statements were made shorter and simpler,

excluding idiomatic expressions such as those used in the MAAS “running on automatic” and

“automatic pilot.”

The actual MMA involved going somewhere in nature for 10 minutes or more, for example

sitting next to a river or walking in a park. Students could decide when and where they wanted to do

the assignment, and they had two weeks to complete it within. The rules were two-fold, go into nature

alone, and do not use a phone or music device during the meditation. The MMA involved using the

senses to be mindfully present, so students were asked to simply observe what they saw, heard,

smelled, touched, and tasted, and to also observe their thoughts and feelings. Students were asked to

note what they were thinking about and how they felt immediately before and after doing the activity

and include that information as part of their report. Following the activity, students' assignment was to

write about the experience for homework. It was explained to students that the assignment’s study goal

was practicing the past tense format covered in the textbook which involved telling about past tense

events using past continuous and simple past in one sentence. Students were encouraged to refer to the

pertinent chapter as they worked on the report, to double check that the grammar form is used

correctly. The homework was graded, as a part of the overall class grade, based on successful use of

the grammar point and the adequate amount of description of their experience including a description

of their thoughts and feelings before and after the activity. While the data was gathered for rich content

71
indicating transformation and meaningful connection experiences, the presence or absence of that

content was not part of the grade.

iii. Do-Good Mission

This activity involved doing a random act of kindness or senseless act of beauty for a stranger.

The object of the assignment was to develop mindfulness about others, and to reflect about the feelings

and needs of others, as well as one’s own sense of connection to them. In the course of an ordinary day

a person encounters many people, and often doesn’t think about what other people might be thinking

or feeling, or how positive interaction could be sparked. In fact, in most modern-day social situations

amongst strangers, everyone is oblivious to others while buried in their smart phones. Above the

relevance to developing a sense of connection to other people, the linguistic pedological aim relates to

developing and practicing the courage to interact socially. Conversation is a social act which requires

more than knowing the structures of the grammar or language. Throughout the course of a typical

conversation, additional to literal words, people are communicating qualities such as understanding,

recognition, agreement, and enjoyment. For successful communication people must overcome

negative self-perceptions and the affective barriers that create shyness and affect the physical ability to

speak. These blocks, involving negative self-talk or racing heart and a closed throat, can exist whether

students are communicating in their native language or in a foreign language, though they tend to be

magnified when using a foreign language because of technical weakness or fear of miscommunication.

This was a potential opportunity for students to work on overcoming shyness by communicating with

strangers. Because the communication involved an act of kindness to the stranger, there was much

more likelihood that the communication would be positive and fortifying to students’ courage than

negative or traumatic. However, particularly in light of the pandemic and various rules for social

distancing, students were welcome to design their own activity how they wanted to and choose to

include direct communication with others or not. This assignment was typically given as a group

assignment, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students were given the option of doing the

activity related to the assignment either alone or along with the five other class members in their

groups. They were given free license to design their mindful interaction activity in ways so that they,

and those they might interact with, felt and stayed safe.

72
 Reports were written in English and followed a format involving descriptions of what they

planned to do and why, how they were feeling before the activity, what happened during the activity

including any interactions with others, their thoughts and feelings immediately following the activity,

and their reflections about the overall experience.

For the activity, students were invited to go into the community, which could include campus,

downtown, or students’ hometowns, and do something good that ideally involved interacting with

other people. Students had full license to decide how to interpret “good,” and were encouraged to

think creatively. For inspiration, a YouTube video entitled “20 Acts of Kindness” posted by Yasmin J.,

available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFTBBKIX760&t=2s , was played in class. The

video is about a woman who celebrated her twentieth birthday by doing 20 random acts of kindness in

her neighborhood. The acts in the video involved a wide variety of things that included directly giving

gifts to strangers, anonymously leaving small treasures or uplifting messages in public places, and

donating possessions to charity, among others.

Students were encouraged to brainstorm together with their group members about ways they

might make a positive impact on the environment around them, and could design their mission any

way they liked as far as context and duration, also deciding if they also wanted to make or buy

anything. Further, for the mission, they were encouraged to interact with strangers in some way, rather

than just pick up trash, as the interaction was a key part to students potentially experiencing direct

reactions to their actions. As far as guidelines, things were left rather open, students were simply asked

in class to decide a time and place to undertake the mission. After completing the mission, students

were asked to write about what they did, including reflections on the experience and any results they

saw or felt. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, during the fall 2020 semester, students were

encouraged to be creative in designing their activity with appropriate social distancing measures so

that they, and those they might interact with, felt and stayed safe.

The assignment was preceded by a survey about connection with people involving seven

statements for gauging agreement. This survey was given students reflect on their feelings and beliefs

about connecting to others, and on their level of mindfulness in everyday situations involving other

people. The questions are:

73
 1. I like to help people, including strangers.

2. I often smile at or say hello to strangers.

3. I wish I could be more helpful to others.

4. I notice when other people walking or sitting near me are sad or upset.

5. I feel connected to people when I am in public places, for example, on a bus, at a concert,

or in a grocery store.

6. I look for ways to help people or add joy to their day.

7. To me, all humans are part of one big family.

The people connection survey falls under the category of mixed methods, as the following two

qualitative open-ended reflection questions were also included so students could write long answers on

the back of the survey:

• How do you feel about interacting with strangers?

• What are your feelings about this assignment?

C. Conversation Class Interview

One interview was conducted online as a student requested a follow-up interview directly

following a small group discussion with students at the end of the fall 2020 semester. The questions

were not prepared in advance but arose through the course of natural conversation with a student who

wanted the opportunity to speak individually to privately add to what had been discussed earlier during

their group conversation about the class. The format followed an informal conversational interview

approach which has the benefits of “maximum flexibility to pursue information in whatever direction

appears to be appropriate” while allowing “previous responses [to] be revisited and deepened” and

“elucidations and elaborations” to be sought (Patton, 2002, p. 342). This approach most naturally

allowed the impromptu continuation of the focus group conversation which the same person had

participated in directly before. The interview began with encouraging the student to express things

they wanted to add privately to the prior focus group conversation, and proceeded with the following

questions per the flow of the conversation:

1. Did you feel during the do-good project, you and your group members were cleaning a

little bit, do you feel that makes any impact on the environment.

74
2. In your homework #1 the family interview you speak with so many relatives... you said

you were surprised with the answers.

a. Was it the first time to ask advice from many different family members?

b. Do you feel it helped you to be closer to the family members, to know each other

more?

c. Do you think after having that deep conversation, it’s easier to talk to those cousins

and those family members now?

3. Do you usually reflect deeply about things? Do you usually think about “Oh, that was

interesting” and “Why did I do that?” and “Do I still think that?” Were you ever surprised

by your own thoughts?

4. I know with the nature meditation some people said they imagined it would be boring and

difficult not to use headphones, and not to use their phone. But after, they said they felt it

was very interesting, and they didn’t expect that. Did you have a similar experience

between your thought and then after, before and after thoughts?

5. So, meditation helped you to think more positive for some time, or …?

6. In the past what kind of meditation did you do, like a silent meditation?

7. Did you ever do meditation in class or related to school before?

8. Did it feel strange to have a teacher direct students to do a meditation?

9. Do you wish that other classes would use some meditation?

10. Do you find the assignments are helpful for students? (This was a question to confirm

what had been spoken by the participant.)

11. Do you think maybe the focus is not only academic, but it’s about students’ emotions and

sort of spirit, and do you think it’s helpful to focus on emotions and students’ overall

well-being, not just academic?

12. Can you explain specifically why you wish that this kind of homework is continued in the

future?

75
3.9. Analysis

The qualitative data analysis in this research centers on finding specific descriptions and

statements related to positive effects of MMA on the variables of mood, focus, stress, peace,

helpfulness, and connection, with a consideration towards shifts in consciousness and thinking that

may indicate relation to spiritual intelligence, self-actualization, and the affective filter. Recurrent

descriptions across data sources were coded into conceptual and lexical groupings, with both

frequency of keywords and richness of thematic description being considered. According to Patton

(1980), “Data interpretation and analysis involve making sense of what people have said, looking for

patterns, putting together what is said in one place with what is said in another place, and integrating

what different people have said” (p. 246). While analyzing the qualitative data, an emphasis was

placed on examining commonalities of themes and ways of describing experience, including word

choice. The unique differences that emerged were also explored. All data was organized in Microsoft

Excel spreadsheets and quantitative data was converted to numerical values. More specifically, TOEIC

class data is being looked at for commonality of positive experience and conversation class homework

reports are analyzed for thematic recurrence with particular attention on content describing ability to

connect, desire for future connection, and core characteristics of SI that are relevant to academic

success. The recurrence can be analyzed quantitatively per word count, and qualitatively per richness

of thematic content.

Conversation class reflection questions were aimed at bringing up students’ subconsciously

held beliefs that might include fears and inhibitions based on past experiences, or even excitement.

Having students' pre-reflections was also expected to give a possible extra layer of data in analyzing

whether the assignment was successful in helping students shift negative perceptions and develop their

thinking based on the connection experiences that might have resulted from the activity. The initial

reflection questions were done in class, submitted along with homework assignments narrating what

actually happened during the MMA, and post-reflection about the experience. The report results can

directly provide insights to the second research question this research is centered around answering,

which relates to sense of connection.

76
3.10. Trustworthiness

Based on guidelines prescribed by Lincoln and Guba (1984), rigorous measures were

employed to ensure trustworthiness by focusing on transferability, credibility, dependability, and

confirmability. To improve transferability, rich descriptions of research procedures, observations, and

findings are recorded. Credibility was achieved both through peer review by expert scholars in the

field and data triangulation. By having an audit trail, dependability and confirmability were attained.

Furthermore, data was collected and compared over the course of several semesters with different

classes, which increases the credibility of the results.

3.11. Ethical Considerations

To ensure confidentiality, participants were assigned identification numbers for data collection

and analysis procedures. Real names of participants and other identifying information are not included

in the dissertation, pseudonyms are used for the two students interviewed and the gender is neutralized

by using they/their pronouns. The risks and benefits of participating in the research were explained to

the participants, and students’ participation in the MMA were not related to their grade. The standard

protocol for data protection was followed so that privacy was strictly maintained. Furthermore, the

possibility of researcher bias was mitigated by a consistent mindfulness of objectivity and awareness

of any influence of personal views throughout the course of the research process.

3.12. Summary

This third chapter has discussed the design, setting, and procedures along with a detailed look

at the qualitative and quantitative data used in the two subsets of TOEIC and conversation classes. The

study conducted in a rural university with undergraduate EFL students was designed to integrate two

separate sets of MMA into the two different kinds of EFL classes. TOEIC classes had two brief fixed

MMA: breath control and music listening. The How Am I, Now? Survey was used to collect

before/after data about mood, and to measure students’ perceptions of effect on focus, stress, peace,

and whether the MMA was helpful to prepare the mind for study. Conversation classes were assigned

three connection-oriented MMA involving before/after reflection about an interactive MMA they

complete outside of class. The qualitative data includes the written data of three conversation class

77
homework reports and spoken data in the form of two interviews, one conducted with a student from

TOEIC class and one from conversation class. The quantitative data includes the outro surveys for

both classes, the TOEIC class How Am I, Now? Survey, and the three conversation class surveys

related to connection: nature connection, mindfulness, and people connection. In the next chapter, the

results of the surveys as well as a detailed look at significant outcomes in the written and spoken

qualitative data will be laid out.

78
 Chapter 4. Findings

4.1. Overview

The results of all quantitative and qualitative data gathered related to MMA integrated into

TOEIC and conversation classes will be presented in this chapter. The results elucidate students’

perceptions of the effects of MMA, including conversation class students’ sense of connection after

experiencing the connection-oriented MMA. Prescient thematic synchronicities in the results are

presented through narrative discourse, tables, and figures. Results are organized into two sections

based on type of class, with further subdivisions according to data instrument and then key variables or

themes. Students’ language has been kept in its original and not been altered grammatically. Table 2

gives an overview of all collected data.

Table 2
Data Collected by Source

Type of Data Instrument Details Number

Surveys How Am I, Now? Music Listening 116
Breath Control 114
Outro TOEIC Class 94
Conversation Class 46
Connection Surveys Mindfulness 61
Nature Connection 61
People Connection 66

Interviews TOEIC Class (Yasmin) 1

Conversation Class (Rich) 1

Homework 3-Generation Family Interview 66

Reports
Nature Meditation 62
Do-Good Mission 67

4.2. TOEIC Class Brief MMA Intervention Results

The How Am I, Now? survey was completed by a total of 116 students and the outro survey

was completed by 94. The How Am I, Now? Survey results show that the majority of students had a

positive change in mood from the brief MMA, a very small number of students experienced negative
mood change, and a portion of students didn’t feel a perceptible change. Students also reported

79
perceiving positive effects such as improved ability to focus, reduced stress, higher level of peace, and
overall that the MMA were helpful for study. The How Am I, Now? survey was tracking students’
immediate perceptions of change in variables, while the outro survey showed retrospective perceptions
requiring students to think back to the their experience of the MMA at the end of semester.

4.2.1. Surveys

A. How Am I, Now? Survey

The How Am I, Now? survey and showed an average change in before/after mood of 1.65

points for the music listening MMA, and 1.8 for the breath control MMA. For the music listening

MMA 79% of students reported positive change in mood, 8% negative, and 13% no change. For the

breath control MMA, the results of positive change were exactly the same at 79%, while there was less

instance of negative change and higher neutral change than the music listening MMA. Figure 2 is a

visual depicting the combined average mood change results from the music listening and breath

control brief MMA.

< Figure 2 >

Average Mood Change for Two Sets of Brief MMA

Several students wrote words or sentences to elaborate on their reported mood change. There

were 14 frequent mentions of the words calm (14), relaxed (10), comfort (8), and peace (4). Among

notable descriptions of positive perceived benefits are “my mind organized,” “very, very, very,

80
helpful,” and “I see heaven." Table 3 and Table 4 list responses to the other four variables for the two

brief MMA as reported on the How Am I, Now? Survey.

< Table 3 >

Music Listening MMA (with Visualization) – Before/After Changes [n=116]

Questions: Yes Not sure No No answer

Q1. Better focus 88 (76%) 23 (20%) 3 (2%) 2 (2%)

Q2. Less stress 84 (72%) 20 (17%) 10 (9%) 2 (2%)

Q3. More at peace 96 (83%) 14 (12%) 4 (3%) 2 (2%)

Q4. Helpful to prepare 79 (68%) 26 (22%) 9 (8%) 2 (2%)

mind for study

< Table 4 >

Breath Control MMA (Breath Bubble) – Before/After Changes [n=114]

Questions: Yes Not sure No

Q1: Better focus 85 (75%) 26 (23%) 2 (2%)

Q2: Less stress 82 (72%) 27 (24%) 4 (4%)

Q3: More at peace 93 (82%) 3 (3%) 17 (15%)

Q4: Helpful to prepare 82(72%) 29 (26%) 2 (2%)

mind for study

B. Outro Survey (TOEIC class)

In terms of recalling the instance of mood change related to brief MMA done in class, on the

outro survey nearly 90% of students reported retrospectively having felt better after the MMA, 10%

reported neutrality, and there were no reported instances of feeling worse after the MMA. Figure 3

gives a visual of these generalized post-MMA mood shift results. In the outro survey the question

more specifically asking whether the MMA helped improve mood showed 14% of students totally

agreed that the MMA were helpful in creating a good mood, 56% generally agreed, 25% were neutral,

4% generally disagreed, and 1% totally disagreed. This indicates that feeling better includes factors

additional to mood.

81
< Figure 3 >

Outro Survey Q7: After the in-class meditation, generally, I felt ________. [n=94]

The outro survey involved questions specifically on the MMA effect to improve focus and

reduce stress. There was 12% of total agreement that the meditation was helpful for focus, 57%

general agreement, 29% neutrality, and 2% disagreement. No students reported totally disagreeing that

the MMA was helpful for focus. Though no students totally agreed, there was almost as much

neutrality as agreement concerning whether MMA activities helped to relieve stress. This was not the

case with the other variables which showed clearly stronger signs of agreement than neutrality. In the

outro survey, 9% of students totally agreed that the MMA helped them to relieve their stress, 41%

agreed, 45% were neutral, and 4% disagreed. Over half of students also agreed there was a

positive effect on well-being, with less than 3% disagreeing, and other students neutral.

4.2.2. Interview (TOEIC class)

In order to help triangulate and verify the information on the surveys, an interview was

conducted with Yasmin (pseudonym, they/them pronouns) in the TOEIC class. The main discussion

was about their perceived effects of MMA, with particular note of before/after changes in mood and

thinking. Yasmin described both their own experiences with meditation, and the things that they had

heard from their group members or others in the class. Yasmin admitted that the MMA made them feel

82
“kind of sleepy” but only for a few seconds. They said that feeling sleepy didn’t make it hard to study,

in fact they said it felt “comfy.” Because half of the semester was mediated online via Zoom and

VODs, Yasmin also spoke about the difference between studying during real-time online class and in-

person class, saying it was easier to focus on the meditation done in-class because there were no

distractions like in their study room at home. Yasmin went on to talk about changes before and after

the meditation.

• “For me, before the class, before the English class especially, I feel always kind of

nervous...and then this is my first time to take the class which the professor is a foreigner, so I

am very nervous, and then the meditation helped me to calm or be composed. Yeah, it helped

me.”

Yasmin described their overall feeling about doing meditation in class, and when asked about

whether there were different effects between the different types of meditation replied that all

made them calm.

• “I didn’t feel about different effect, but I can feel only calm...when I take the class or take the

test and my heart’s beating like ‘boom, boom, boom, boom’ and then after meditation...my

heart is like normal. I think it’s good for every meditation, every meditation effect is same to

me.”

4.3. Conversation Class Connection-Oriented MMA Intervention Results

4.3.1. Surveys

A. Outro Survey (Conversation class)

Outro surveys from 46 students help to second the information parsed from homework reports,

and one interview additionally adds to the balanced trio of primarily quantitative data. The outro

survey results give a quantitative understanding of students’ opinions on how helpful the MMA were

in enhancing their ability to connect. Table 5 shows students’ retrospective opinions by assignment.

No one disagreed that the MMA were helpful in terms of connection, except for one person regarding

the do-good mission. Averaging the results for the three MMA gives a general picture that about 80%

of students agreed the MMA helped them feel more connected, and the remainder were neutral.

83
< Table 5 >

Q5. Sense of Connection

Disagree Neutral Agree Totally No

Agree Response
5-1. HW#1 (3-Generation Family 0 8 26 10 2
Interview) helped me feel more connected
(17%) (57%) (22%) (4%)
to my family.
0
5-2. HW#2 (Nature Meditation) helped 8 26 11 1
me feel more connected to nature. (17%) (57%) (24%) (2%)

5-3. HW#3 (Do-Good Mission) helped 1 8 29 7 1

me feel more connected to other people. (2%) (17%) (63%) (15%) (2%)

Confidence is a large part of communicative competence; the final conversation class MMA

was designed particularly with this in mind. The outro survey results reveal that no students disagreed

that the MMA had increased their confidence. Just under 20% of students totally agreed the MMA had

increase their confidence, 50% generally agreed, and the remainder were undecided about whether

they were more confident or not after experiencing the activities assigned.

The pie chart in Figure 4 reflects that about 89% of students retrospectively reported that the

reflective writing was either somewhat or very helpful towards looking at their thoughts and better

understanding their emotions, two outcomes that involve metacognitive self-understanding and

connection to self. The remaining 11% of students were neutral, there was no disagreement. Roughly

70% of students marked agreement, a quarter therein marking total agreement, to the statement “I

understand myself better as a result of the activities and assignments of the semester,” while about

25% were neutral, and 2% disagreed.

84
< Figure 4 >

Q2: Reflective writing helped me look at my thoughts and better understand my emotions.

The conversation class outro survey short-answer question yielded several responses that

indicate students were also able to also improve the connection to themselves through their

experiences connecting with others and nature. Select examples demonstrate this in answers to the

question, “Did you feel a change in your sense of connection to yourself, others, and nature from this

class?”

• “Yes, through class, I got to know myself better than in the past.”

• “Through this class, I could reflect on myself by looking back on myself and writing down my

thoughts.”

• “I realized that myself, others, and nature could be connected as one.”

The final open-ended question of the Conversation class outro survey gives insights

into how the MMA helped students effectively develop the ability to reframe, allowing them

to transform past thoughts and behaviors. Following are responses that elucidate this related to

the question “Did you have any insights, or change your thinking about anything, as a result of

this class?

• “I go outside without my phone and walk around to see nature.”

85
 • “My thinking is changed more peaceful when I walked the road for meditation. I forgot to

worry. I love a sentence that is "Don't worry!"

• “I thought it would be nice if others were happy.”

• “Yes, I've been looking around a lot.”

• “It changed my mind to be positive.”

B. Connection Surveys

A main purpose of the connection surveys was to provide a simple format for reflection before

the connection-oriented MMA. Results of the mindfulness, nature connection, and people connection

surveys are being considered as possible indications of students’ base level trait connectedness to

themselves, others, and nature that may add to the understanding of how their experiences with

connection-based MMA can be seen as transformative. The mindfulness survey and nature survey

each yielded 61 responses and the people connection survey 66. The average mindfulness score was

11 out of a possible 16, the average nature connection score was 14.3 out of 24, and the average

people connection score was 15 out of 28. The results of the connection surveys indicate that a typical

conversation class students’ basic connection to nature and people is at half of what it potentially

could be. Analyzing the results with a cross-reference to students’ grades, a cursory correlation

presented itself. Upon noticing that some of the students who scored the highest on the nature

connection, mindfulness survey, and people surveys also had the highest-class grade, a correlational

analysis was undertaken using SPSS version 21.0 to explore the possibility of any relationships. Likely

due to the small sample size, there were no clear statistically significant correlations applicable to the

general population related to the surveys and grades. However, there was an indication of a possible

correlation between nature connection and people connection, showing that developing the ability to

connect in one area influences the ability to connect in the other. See the Appendix for the table

showing the results of the statistical correlational analysis.

4.3.2. Homework Reports

The three homework reports were submitted by a total of 66, 62, and 67 students, respectively.

Both quantitative aspects of the homework reports, per frequency of recurring words, and qualitative

86
aspects of themes related to benefits of the MMA, connection, and qualities of SI and self-

actualization will be presented.

A. Three-Generation Family Interview (HW#1)

The homework analysis of the Three-Generation Family Interview details students’ process of

reflecting on concerns in their life, discussing the concerns with relatives through asking for advice,

and the outcomes of the talks which in several cases led to an ease of the former anxiety, a solution or

decision, as well as a greater feeling of closeness or connection with their family. Students expressed

overall positive feelings about the experience, and expressed a growth in perspective, as well as

renewed confidence and clarity after mindfully discussing meaningful things with several people of

different generations in their family. The results for the family interview assignment, involving the

analysis of 66 reports, will be shared starting with listing the general ethos of concerns that students

decided to address in asking family members for advice, some of the feelings they held regarding the

concerns, any notable indications of change or reversal of the feelings, and then several key words that

repeatedly came up and bear a relation to the theories of SI and self-actualization.

There were three main areas of concerns for the 66 students in the 2 classes, in order of

frequency of mention they were issues relating to future job, the coronavirus pandemic, and the civil

servant exam. Twenty-two reports listed concern about preparing for entry into the work world and

choosing the correct career path. One student training to be an Air Force pilot wrote, “If I fail during

training, I don’t know what to do and how to live. I’m very afraid of it, and I want to find a solution.”

COVID-19 was listed by 17 students, as having either caused changes or confusions in their past and

future plans, or created a feeling of isolation or depression as it was a reason that students experienced

more solitude and less socialization. There were 11 mentions of distress or confusion regarding the

civil service exam; whether to take it, how to prepare for it, if they should take a leave of absence to

study for it, or if they should change career paths in anticipation of failing it. Many students were

slated to take it upon completing their studies in order to become public officers, one student had

already taken it and failed multiple times. A couple of students specifically said that they were not

actually interested in becoming a civil servant, one student’s father didn’t support their true dream to

become a YouTube creator. The most unexpected concern a student chose to get advice about was the

87
consideration of becoming a monk. The student was wondering about their family’s opinion as to

whether or not they could bear living the life of an ascetic.

There were several feelings expressed that related to the concern students were asking advice

about. Foremost among these was worry, 11 students used this root word to describe their own

feelings about the issue, for example, “I have little worries about my future that what will happen in

the future? and can I really a success in my life?” In the phrasing of this question, “How did you solve

it when you felt powerless in your life?” the issue of feeling powerless was clearly poignant for one

student. Some students also wrote about their feelings about the act of discussing their issue with their

family members. Seven students mentioned that either it was the first time that they had experienced

going to certain family members for advice, or they didn’t feel it was easy to talk to their relatives

about deep concerns.

• “I was worried that I would only get more nagging if I said it for no reason, but I took

courage.”

• “I feel awkward cause I haven’t asked my family about what to do and conceal my feel.”

• “It is new to have time to share with other people, mainly solving my worries by myself.”

• “I was embarrassed when I got this assignment. It is understandable to listen to advice from

same age group and upper generation. But this is the first time I have heard advice from a

child.”

Per the actual ensuing conversation, many people mentioned being surprised, shocked, or amazed

about the quality of the discussions they had and the answers they received.

• “Most surprise thing was 3 generations have different eyes…greatest thing was, it was against

my expectation.”

• “It was completely different from what was expected…I couldn’t stop laughing at the

unexpected answer.”

• “I expected negative answer from him but he didn’t, although he usually punished me

when I asked anything.”

Among the words that surfaced multiple times, the ones that came up most were: helpful,

meaningful, and confidence. The root word help was used in 14 of the reports, and an additional six

88
indicated similar words such as “useful” or “good opportunity” to indicate the talk was helpful. The

word meaningful was used four times, and confidence was used six times; four specifically as an

outcome such as in the case of a student concerned about weight gain during the coronavirus and

having lost confidence who expressed feeling the love and support of family and reported after the

interview. Similar to feeling more confidence, one student who was concerned about how to prepare

and be qualified to get a job wrote about having more faith in themselves as a result of the talk with

family members Some brief examples of these words as used in the reports are:

• “It’s more helpful than I thought.”

• “It was a good opportunity to listen to the opinions of many generations and organize my

thoughts.”

• “It was a meaningful time to have such a deep conversation with relatives after a long

time.”

Connection is one of the most important themes being considered, not just the ability to

communicate but also the feeling of closeness and a bond. There were specific indications in the

reports of the family interview MMA in six instances where students discussed feeling more

connected to their family members through the assignment, saying they felt closer or more closely

bonded to their family after the interview. One student said they felt something special that they

couldn’t put words to about a shift in energy between them and their relatives. A great aspect of

feeling connected relates to feeling listened to and cared for. The word “listen” was invoked four

times, and at least 14 expressions indicating the student felt cared for were found. Several students

spoke about their family members listening seriously to them, indicating that they felt the mindful

presence of their family members, which struck them as being authentic. Following are some

examples of students noting this love, care, and support as part of their experience while seeking

advice from their family members:

• “I felt a kind of love.”

• “They seemed to be trying to talk to me seriously, and I was moved by their appearance...

Each of them answered me sincerely.”

• “I feel grandmother’s love to granddaughter.”

89
 • “And I was most happy to have people who listened to my concerns seriously.”

• “It was more touching because they answered based on their affection for me.”

• “She seriously listened my speaking and said, "Take a COURAGE!" don't be afraid.”

Students’ reflections from the three-generation family interview show various examples of

reframing to solve concerns that were expressed at the start of the MMA. After asking three

generations of family members for advice, a common realization was that they didn’t need to maintain

the “useless” worries they had had on their minds before speaking with them. A student who had

initially felt intimidated to speak to family members because “everyone in my family is smart and has

a good job, but I am not as smart as them…I was worried if I could follow their advice” wrote at the

end of the paper,

• “I realized that everything I was worried about at first was useless. The answers and

advice they gave me were all things I could do if I studied and tried with passion. I

thought I should consider my family’s advice and grow into a better me.”

Students reported that talking to people of different ages, including people they weren’t close to

or wouldn’t ordinarily think to ask for advice from, was beneficial to help them reframe their problem

and make decisions about future actions. Several students also mentioned after the three-generation

family interview MMA that they will seek the advice of multiple people of different ages and

perspectives in the future when they have problems.

• “I think it's a good idea to get advice from many people.”

In some cases, the reports of decision making also mentioned intuition, and the sense of having others

confirm what they had already felt was right.

• “I decided to look for what I wanted to do and decided to try hard.”

• “I decided to take break and prepare exam next year.”

• “I will register at the fitness center... to exercise and take care of myself.”

• “I decided to choose a job at the intersection of my major and what I want to do.”

• “Thanks to this homework I can decide what I have to do now.”

• “I decided to go ahead with my original plan.”

• “I already knew…but I didn’t think about fixing them.”

90
Feeling gratitude was also a prevalent theme.

• “I was grateful that my relatives suggested a good solution to my problem.”

• “I was grateful to those who listened to my concerns...thank you for being serious and

understanding my feelings and sympathizing with me.”

The process of mindfully connecting with family members and deeply reflecting about concerns

through this MMA proved to give positive benefits for many students in terms of helping them

transform certain thoughts about their problems, to reframe them and feel greater clarity. In the

process there was a strengthening of the connection between students and their family members as

well.

B. Nature Meditation (HW#2)

In the process of analyzing the nature meditation homework assignment reports, both several

words and themes were readily arising in the data. The themes of most relevance are those that relate

to SI and self-actualization/transformation. These themes will be discussed as will data on the change

between the before and after thoughts reported by participants, and results will include a quantitative

look at the words which most frequently came up in participants’ reporting of their outer and inner

experiences during the assigned mindful ten minutes amidst.

Several students commented on how this is their first time ever to go into nature alone without

their phone, and the following indicates that the idea of being in nature might not even cross a typical

student’s mind:

• “I'm not usually enjoyed nature even though I live beside forest in my hometown, because

I haven't thought I go to nature to feel and enjoy it.”

Within the 62 reports nature meditation MMA reports submitted by participants, there were

certain words widely used indicating a commonality in students’ experience. It is important to note

that the quantitative aspect of this exploration, counting specifically worded responses is not indicative

of potential frequency if it were survey results and participants had a choice of specific words to use.

Instead, this section is looking at qualitative data and adding a quantitative bent to the analysis. The

words were not given as a survey for students to check off, rather, the EFL conversation class students

91
decided to list these particular words as they came to mind in the course of naturally expressing

themselves through the narratives of their experience.

The root words most used to describe before state of mind, and what students were thinking

and worrying about before going into nature, in order of most frequent to least were “tired,”

“complicated” (mind or thoughts), “stress,” and “depress.” Some of these emotions were attributed to

having lots of work to do for school, general anxiety about preparing for the future, or suffering from

depression. The coronavirus/COVID-19 was mentioned nine times, mostly related to how it had been

a limiting factor in their leaving their houses over the past months, and a cause of fear. It is interesting

to note that the majority of mentions of “tired” were indicated retrospectively in the during or after

section of the assignment where participants may not have been consciously thinking of themselves as

tired before they started, but through the meditative time in nature they felt more energized so reported

feeling less tired. Homework was mentioned 10 times, with the mentions in the before-section mixed

as far as feeling either frustrated and annoyed by this specific assignment or feeling curious, excited,

and even thankful for the opportunity to take the time to go into nature because of the assignment.

Students also mentioned feeling like they had “no time” to do the many things they had to get

accomplished. “Normally I couldn't make time for it [going in nature],” “I didn't have much time to

take a walk because my routine is really tightly.”

The root words most used to describe the during and after state of mind, and the number of

instances, were: comfort (18), peace (15), relax (14), calm (12), [re]fresh (10), clear (9), stable (9),

light (7), meaningful (5), heal (5). The following are examples of how the words were used to describe

participants’ experience as they were using their senses to mindfully experience nature, the key words

are italicized:

• “I got some comfort by looking at the river.”

• “The warmth of leaves and sunlight seemed to comfort my tired body and soul.”

• “I was comforted by the sound of waves.”

• “I felt I had found peace in my mind.”

• “There was peace for one hour, I didn’t worry about the [student] election…nature gave

some rest to me.”

92
• “The scenery made me peaceful.”

• “The smell of nature made me calm and relaxing.”

• “The forest’s atmosphere made me relax.”

• “I felt like I was calming down even though I didn’t have a calm personality.”

• “I understood a little how to calm my mind.”

• “The sound of rain and quiet darkness calmed my mind.”

• “I felt the cold evening air and it made me feel refreshed.”

• “Although I was tired, I felt refreshed and proud.”

• “My head cleared up.”

• “I became clear my mind.”

• “Ten minutes of meditation help me clear my mind.”

• “I felt like my body was clear.”

• “I took a breath of fresh air…it cleared my mind.”

• “This experience was a healing experience for me.”

• “...meaningful to me because it was wake up my tired mind and feel nature.”

Out of the list of frequently used words, the most intriguing and least anticipated is “light.”

• “I felt lighter than before. Before that, I was worried and had a lot of thoughts in my head.”

• “I became light after the walk. My body and mind became light.”

The word “stable” was used several times.

• “The most important thing is that I can live a little more stably.”

• “My mind was stabilized.”

• “I have gained more valuable psychological stability…”

Out of all nature meditation reports, 57 included insights that clearly indicate it was a

transformative and positive experience for them to connect to nature.

• “I felt peace in there, and I gain my energy from mountain.”

• “I felt good before meditating, but now I feel calm.”

• “My complicated mind was cleared up, and I felt confident that I could overcome my problems.”

93
 • “Now, I think that my future is still important, but taking a break and relaxing is also important

too.”

As was the case with all three connection-oriented MMA, many students started with worries

or concerns looming in their mind, yet finished with renewed energy and positively altered perspectives

about their initial problems.

• “At first, I thought sitting still for 10 minutes would be boring. Because I’ve always spent

time with my smartphone, listening to music, and studying, and I’ve never sat doing

nothing for about 10 minutes. However, this project has completely changed my mind.

Although it was a short time of 10 minutes, it was a very meaningful time to look back on

my day, organize my thoughts, and throw away the distractions that I had thought of

during the day.”

In seven of the reports, involving over 10% of students represented in the sample, students talked

about their insights using the word “realize” to show they had come to understand something during

their time in nature.

• “I realized that when I was walking in nature, I couldn’t think of anything and could only

think about myself.”

• “Thanks to these challenges, I realized again the importance and novelty of nature.”

• “I’ve been realizing that I don’t have passion these days and I’ve been thinking about how to

solve it.”

Other insights showing this interplay of sensed and reasoned intelligence are:

• “I knew that only when there were no people, and it was quiet could I feel the nature itself.”

• “I understood a little how to calm my mind through meditation and imagination.”

• “I chose a monotonous life because I wanted to find stability in my life, but it seems important

to visit places that I haven’t been to and meet people sometimes.”

• “Meditation, it could be helped to remind and set my hearts and thinking. I came to think

about obsessing with perfection was not so important. Thus, I thought I could have a break,

and don’t to stress about the future too much.”

94
 Enrapt with a renewed appreciation for nature after the nature meditation MMA, student

reported their desire to have other people change behaviors to help protect nature.

• “In the Corona era nature is healed, the air is cleaned. I think that humans destroyed

nature, it is so sad. I want to change people.”

There is a strong indication that MMA enhanced mindfulness and helped students reflect about

how easy it is to connect and do good things.

• “I am just started with a neighbor, but it can be anything to do nice thing people you don’t

know, nature, animals, everything.”

Enhanced sense of connection to nature is the obvious expected outcome of the nature

meditation MMA and indications of this are heavily reflected in the data results. The quality of

students’ experiences and thoughts while in nature shows that they feel nature has the power to help

them. One student was doing their nature meditation at the sea and poetically described their troubles

seeming smaller after spending time there, others expressed the healing they felt in nature.

• “When the waves swept away the sand, I sent my troubles to the waves. It was as if my

worries were no big deal. I felt like I left my worries at the sea.”

• “This experience was a healing experience for me.”

Deeper aspects chosen to look at regarding evidence of nature connection and exploration of how

students conceive of that connection is instances of personification of nature, and the parallel to one’s

life of what one is witnessing in nature. Several students wrote about nature in ways that seem to

indicate their own state of mind being projected onto the natural object:

• “The weather was so nice that even the sun seemed to be in a good mood.”

• “The ducks seemed to live well.”

• “I was little envious that birds flying in the sky because they don't have any worries.”

• “Almost all the way down, I heard birds singing somewhere. I was proud as if they were

congratulating me for my hard work on climbing after a long time.”

• “The squirrel seemed to work, moving briskly. Looking at it, I felt a little sad because it

looked similar to my current self who was struggling to get a job.”

• “I slowly became one with nature.”

95
 Two students had an experience of encountering an animal during their walk, and silently

communicated with eyes locked.

• “I looked the dog's eye for a second, I thought that the dog was a good dog.”

• “A cat stared at me next to me. So, I looked at the cat together.”

It is worth noting the examples of how immersing in the natural environment brought students

to reflect on themselves in ways that indicate a connection to self through time. Several students

mentioned that the mindful walk in nature, observing fully with their senses, brought back memories

from childhood.

• “I was walking and thinking about the old days.”

• “I remember following my father who loved climbing when I was young and enjoying the

smell of the forest and the cool breeze every day. After a long time, I seemed to have

forgotten the scent, but this time I took a walk alone, and it was amazing that I smelled

something similar to that time and remembered it without realizing it.”

• “Her face reminded me of my childhood, I think I was really happy when I was that age.”

• “…in my house there is a pretty leaf that my dad gave my mom a long time ago, I wanted

to keep pretty leaves well.”

A second example of connecting to oneself and one’s own life through time in the data, was

the mention of taking time for oneself. The following examples show a significant realization arose

that when one is alone and present to oneself there is a potential for connecting, remembering, and a

process of organizing and clearing away thoughts that are not serving them.

• “It was a useful time to empty my mind and organize my mind.”

• “I thought that I should spend time in nature rather than looking at my cell phone every

day, and I will take a walk that I often have my own time.”

• “I had time to look back on myself.”

• “I’ve never been outside alone doing nothing but taking my own time to do this

assignment made me feel very comfortable.”

• “I spent time focusing solely on myself, forgetting complicated thoughts.”

96
 One student spoke about the experience of trying to clean their mind, indicating a deep

metacognitive self-reflection.

• “Every single minute my brain try to think something. First time I think about why I can't

clean my thinking up. What I figure out is I am not ready about it. So, I order to my mind

for clean it again. Because I think I am ready for it. After clean it up I came to my mind.

And start to think about myself, “Who am I? What am I? Are you in peace?”

While undertaking the assignment, several students reflected about observing or interacting with

other people. One student did the nature meditation walk with their dog, and a young girl came and

asked to pet it, and there was a sweet interaction. Other examples include seeing cyclists.

• “While observing cyclists, another student made a deep parallel to the qualities they

attributed to the cyclists and how they would like to have those same qualities in their

own life.”

• “As I was walking by the river, I saw cyclists passing by quickly and passionately. Seeing

that, I thought I should live diligently and passionately.”

Some of the statements about people also indicated a projection of one’s own state of being on to

others.

• “When I was looking around the forest, I saw people who looked very peaceful.”

The most poignant result regarding connectedness with people, indicative of deep empathy, showing

concern and wishing goodness to others, was the following excerpt:

• “As I was walking, other students ran next to me. I prayed in my heart that they would not

be late for class.”

Another aspect of connection relates to divinity or something large than self or, in ways,

beyond the capacity of the human mind to understand. Several students mentioned feeling this aspect

of connection through their mindful experience in nature.

• “I had a strange feeling [seeing the sunset]. Feeling the greatness of nature, I stopped

thinking all sorts of useless things.”

• “After feeling nature, I felt a strange feeling. I could feel emotions I couldn't feel on my

phone.”

97
 • “I felt like only one in the space.”

A second main theme after connection is that of mindfulness. This research directly relates to

students’ experience of mindfulness activities and meditation, so it is important to explore the specific

instances where students are expressing the embodied experience of mindfulness in their reflections.

There were 22 noticeable expressions that indicate students were engaging mindfully with nature

during the nature meditation MMA. Some notable examples are:

• “When I was quiet, suddenly heard the sound of the wind.”

• “It felt different when I walked with my friend. I think I’ve missed a lot of things while we

were chatting. If you walk while meditating, you can see something that you normally

don’t see. They look trivial. But it give you peace.”

• “I realized it was not an awkward silence but it was a singing of nature.”

• “Good silence makes me focus on my senses, hear louder.”

• “I saw other things of nature. Actually, I felt in the mountain.”

• “I could feel the fresh air that was different from the one I normally inhaled.”

• “As I walked…I could feel the scenery and sounds around me better.”

• “I saw things I had never seen before, such as spider webs on signs, maples leaves on the

floor, and stars in the sky.”

• “Meditation made me feel that every single wind was passing on my face.”

• “I could hear a bird’s voice that I didn’t usually hear.”

• “I could concentrate entirely on the walk,” “stars looked more beautiful than usual.”

• “I didn’t know autumn leaves were this beautiful because I was pressed for time when I

went to school.”

Akin to mindfulness is the idea of a serene awareness that does not involve active thinking. One

student described this well.

• “Without thinking, I felt very peaceful looking at the mountain scenery.”

Students came to certain realizations during the nature meditation MMA, or in reflecting

about it after, that spurred in them an impulse to change something about their life. This impulse was

98
reported with statements that involved the phrases “I should,” “next time,” or “I will,” and indicated a

strong desire to change something in their life or forge new habits and behaviors.

• “I decided that I could live a more mature life feeling relaxed.”

• “I will make a habit of going out and spending time with nature whenever I have a hard

time.”

• “I thought that I should get up early in the morning and develop a habit of doing light

stretching.”

Maslow’s theory of self-actualization and self-transformation also involves peak experiences

indicating a moment that is deeply magical and possibly transformative. There are expressions in the

nature meditation MMA report that indicate a connection to this related aspect of self-actualization, for

example there were many mentions of the loss of placement in time indicative of peak experiences, the

enjoyment of alone time as a way to make personal discoveries through solitude and privacy, and the

desire to help others improve their lives which relates to a problem-centeredness.

Time is mentioned in 15 instances, 11 of which relate to a perceiving of the movement or “flow”

of time. One student was describing how they liked the look of the trees and grass as they turned

colors in autumn “because it seemed to make me feel the flow of time.” A sense of noticing time

passing “faster” or losing a sense of time was also mentioned by many students:

• “I looked at the time and it was three hours later. I didn’t notice it at all.”

• “I felt as if time had stopped.”

• “While I was spending time with nature, time flew by. I didn’t know time was going so

fast. I planned to go outside for about 15 minutes. But I spend almost 2 hours.”

The desire to take the benefit one is experiencing to share with others, the essence of self-

transformation, was expressed by several students. In most cases it was about thinking of a loved one,

“my boyfriend” and “my family,” and wanting to come back with them there to the spot the student

themselves were enjoying in nature, but in some cases it was a general desire for others to also

experience the benefits they had felt from the nature connection MMA.

• “I thought it was a healing method that I would recommend to modern people who are

tired of their busy daily lives.”

99
 • “I hope other people also take a walk while feeling nature when they have time.”

Overall, it was indicated that the nature meditation MMA was meaningful and balancing, and

induced peace, relaxation, comfort, calm, clarity, and other positive effects. Students had realizations

that shed light on the things that had been confusing or disturbing prior to going into nature for the

assignment, and on the benefits of taking time in nature. In the course of spending a brief time in

nature nearly all students described their experience in ways that indicated a transformation either

subtly in their mood or grossly in their quality of thinking.

C. Do-Good Mission (HW#3)

There were 67 reports submitted for the do-good mission. There were a wide range of

activities done, for example raking fallen leaves in a neighborhood where many elderly people lived,

returning a found wallet to the police station, leaving an envelope with money in it on a bench, giving

hot beverages to security guards and street cleaners, handing out hot packs and masks, donating blood,

and picking up trash. Some students planned in advance, and others simply decided to go out and be

mindful to see if they could be helpful or do something kind for someone. One of the reasons for the

open design was to encourage spontaneity, a characteristic of self-actualization, as well as

mindfulness. In conversation, and the practice of language competency, spontaneity and the ability to

think on one’s toes and adjust to whatever happens in the interchange is very important.

Two examples of students using the opportunity to be mindful and decide they would complete

their mission in the moment are:

• “So, while I was wondering what good deeds I could do, I saw the door slam

shut…realized lots of noise. I thought of two good deeds and practiced them. The first

good deed is to reduce the noise from the house as much as possible.”

• “I was walking outside and I met someone asking for directions. I found the way and

bought a cup of coffee for him…talked with him for a while.”

Many students reflected deeply and wrote that the reason they chose their specific activities

was due to personal isolation and depression from the pandemic situation that they realized

was also large scale.

100
 • “I was worrying about whether I am bothering them or not…The distance between people

is getting colder due to the COVID-19. In this reality, I also have been behaving cold to

other people because I was busy. However, in the process of visiting, talking, and giving

happiness to the security guards that I usually don’t encounter, I had time to think about

the relationship between them, me, and the world. At the same time, in this age of

loneliness and coldness, giving others unexpected warmth was also give me warmth too.”

The before reflections, as students imagined interacting with people, included words

indicating discomfort such as “weird,” “awkward,” and “nervous,” while the after reflections included

uplifting words: proud, warm heart, meaningful, valuable.

• “Before handing out the hot packs, I was very nervous because I think it’s kinda weird for

me, a stranger, to act to give just small helping a little extra unexpected happiness in their

day because I had almost no experience with it.”

• “I was so amazed and proud that even these trivial things could help and give energy to

someone.”

There was an evidence of transformation, and students wrote about how their preconceptions, or even

their personality and habits had changed after this mindful-interaction MMA.

• “First of all, I think helping strangers is a little unfamiliar and difficult. That’s why I

didn’t usually think about helping strangers…it helped me get rid of my preconceived

notions why I have to help strangers.”

• “Through this experience, I think my shy personality has become brave.”

• “It became an opportunity to make good things a habit and become a warm person.”

• “Usually I didn’t like helping others, because [it] is a bother. But this activity made me

feel that…helping others is a pleasant and happy thing.”

• “I thought that giving happiness to strangers would mean nothing to me. It was difficult to

approach strangers for the first time, but once they were hand out it was easy to approach

them. I didn't know that giving happiness to someone would come to me as well.”

There was evidence that the activity did help to improve students’ ability to communicate

with others. Some clear examples of this are in the data from the do-good mission.

101
 • “I wanted to express my gratitude to those who take care of the safety around my house

and take care of the environment, but I haven’t had the courage to do so. But this

opportunity gave me courage and a satisfying result.”

• “Through this mission, I thought that my fear before doing the mission was ridiculous.”

• “It was difficult for me to talk to strangers before I did good deeds. But I felt that my little

act brought happiness to many people, and I thought I should be braver in my daily life.”

• “Because I was timid, it was difficult to even talk to strangers, but with this assignment, I

decided to change my personality.”

These are examples that express the quality of self-actualization to enjoy the journey more than

the destination, as it seemed that the students entered a flow state where they started to enjoy the

process of what they were doing and that led to deeper interaction.

• “I felt the warmth of the world while doing this. I thought I should do it quickly and go

home. But the praise of the elderly in the park was very helpful…I also felt grateful to the

street cleaner. And what was surprising was the fact that when I picked up the trash, a

little kid came and helped me.”

• “At first, it was awkward, but the more I helped the elderly, the more I smiled, and the

driver complimented me, saying that the student was nice. I became more confident and

proud, so I took the bus for 40 minutes to help the elderly.”

The societal ramifications of experiencing connection among strangers were touched upon as

students reflected about difficulties to connect, how people had a layer of distrust because the tradition

of ignoring others and just focusing on oneself in public has jaded people. One student expressed this

clearly.

• “As the world becomes increasingly individualistic, it seems that people tend to be wary

of people first before they feel grateful. Therefore, I felt that favoring others was a way to

ease individualism through this experience.”

Related to the ability to connect is the capacity for feeling compassion and empathy. These are

related to SI, and important to consider as part of discovering the reason why it is important to connect

with others and developing the ability to do so.

102
 • “Starting with this opportunity I thought that I should make a habit of doing good deeds.”

• “It occurred to me that I should continue to help without turning a blind eye to this kind of

thing or something that I should be willing to help others. From now on, I wanted to look

back more and become myself, helping the socially vulnerable.”

• “I felt it was hard for me to do good deeds. I think I am indifferent to my surroundings. I

should practice taking care of others first. I think practicing will make good deeds a little

more natural to do good deeds.”

Many students used language in the do-good mission reports indicating strong intention for

future connection after experiencing the MMA involving connection with others through random acts

of kindness.

• “From now on, I thought I should follow my father around the village to greet and help

the elderly.”

• “I will practice small consideration in my daily life and make people around me happy…I

also believe that if we all practice small consideration it will be a better Korea.”

• “Continuously, often, I will help stranger person, especially older people.”

• “I decided to do better…and look around.”

• “If I see people struggling, I will not ignore them, and help.”

• “From now on… I should be a person who gives happiness to people.”

Student discussed a renewed self-awareness or new understandings of who they were

from the do-good mission MMA.

• “The fact that I can be a great help to someone gives new meaning to my life and makes

me matured.”

Feeling thankful to others was prevalent in the reports of the people-related MMA:

• “I had always felt grateful to the security guard, but I had never talked to him before…I

was very happy to be able to express my gratitude through this assignment.”

Some examples of receiving gratitude from the do-good mission MMA are:

103
 • “While carrying out this task, my back and arms hurt as if they were going to rip apart, but

I could feel the warmth that I had never felt before as I listened to the thanks and praise

from the elderly.

• “His great appreciation warmed my heart.”

• “She thanked me very much when I offer my seat. And she gave me a pear. I gave her a

little help, but I got a present.”

• “I was more grateful and encouraged because the collector sincerely appreciated it.”

• “It was a really trivial thank-you, but ironically it felt bigger for me.”

The do-good mission connection-oriented MMA helped to develop many students’ capacity

for communication as well as their desire for future interaction.

4.3.3. Interview (Conversation class)

During the conversation class interview the conversation talked about how focus on economic

things detracts from the ability to connect and take care of the environment. Rich expressed a feeling

of helplessness about how is being destroyed through climate change and manmade influences. Rich

hinted that the materialistic focus of life is easy to get caught up in and takes attention and care away

from nature. For students, there is the push to study, study, study, get a job, and then work, work,

work. Sometimes the big picture gets left out, and there is no chance for reflection or connection, so it

makes it hard for people to realize habits have to be changed, and solutions have to be found. Rich,

however, expressed a helplessness that many people feel.

• “I think our, my situations, like economic things and sociality things. I want to react

something to help about nature and about pollution things but in the reality, I cannot do it

because I have to do this. I have to think about my wallet and money things and about the

time things like that, so these things make people do not help about the nature. So that

things just disturb me...don’t know how they can make any impact as one person.”

Related to peak experience, in the interview an interesting phenomenon that came up related

to the flow of time and the initial expectation of how long they thought the family interview MMA

would last versus how long they actually spent talking with their family members. Discussing the

family interview assignment, Rich spoke about this.

104
 • “I thought the talking only spend like 20 or 10 minutes to advice, but it wasn’t. Each

person made advice more than half hour, more I think it was almost like 40 minutes each

people.”

During the interview Rich further described the friendliness that was enhanced through the

conversation, explaining that it was the first time to ask family members other than their parents for

advice, and that they usually don’t have deep conversations. They described feeling closer to people

through the assignment, “to me when I can ask that kind of serious thing it means I am really friendly

with them.” Rich continued on the theme of addressing deep topics, and self-reflection.

• “I don’t usually reflect deeply, but I usually...write down my thinking, like a diary, so it

was really helpful to write or thinking about reflect deeply...Actually it was really

difficult to me, because even if I usually write the diary, because these assignments feel

like go more deeply than diary...so it was really interesting and a good feeling to have the

assignment.”

Talking about the effects of various meditations, during the interview Rich reported a positive

change to their thinking every time they did meditation. Rich described the effect of clarity, a keystone

of mindfulness, to their thoughts during the nature meditation.

• “I really had to my feelings that I was front of my mind, and the feelings in that time.”

4.4. Summary

This fourth chapter has presented the results of the experimental procedures to integrate MMA

into two different kinds of university EFL classes. The quantitative results provided a general

overview about students’ positive before/after changes in mood and the variables of focus, stress,

peace, and helpfulness for study. The qualitative results from interviews and homework reports gave

deeper insights to students’ transformative experiences on the themes of connection and aspects of SI.

In the foreground of results are expressions that show positive benefits of the MMA, and connection

experiences that relate to common qualities of SI and self-actualization/transformation. Chapter Five

will continue to explore the data per themes which relate to the guiding theories, while comparing and

contrasting results to pertinent examples from the literature review.

105
 Chapter 5. Discussion
Exploring integrating MMA in university EFL, this research has sought to answer three

questions. The results show clear answers that the majority of students do perceive many positive

benefits from brief MMA, connection-oriented MMA do widely affect students’ ability and desire to

connect to others and nature, and students’ experiences are indicative of active spiritual intelligence.

The many positive benefits students perceived of meditation and mindfulness activities do have clear

relevance to university EFL, education overall, and life in general. The results will be discussed in

three sections that align with the three research questions. Firstly, the immediate and retrospective

results on positive effects of brief MMA on mood, focus, stress level, being at peace, and helpfulness

to prepare the mind to study will be compared with an eye to what any differences may mean, and

contrasted with earlier studies in meditation and mindfulness in education. In the second section, data

on students’ willingness and desire to connect with others is explored as it relates to communicative

competency. Connecting to others and nature gave students an opportunity to understand themselves

more. Feeling connected seems to have a real effect on well-being, which has been a related concept

throughout this study to the specific variables of increased feelings of peace and reduced stress.

Thirdly, the results will be looked at thematically for qualities that connote SI is active, such as

increased mindfulness, self-awareness, and the characteristics of self-actualized people.

5.1. Positive Effects of MMA

Data from all classes reflects a great variety of positive effects. The TOEIC class brief MMA
were successful in helping most students shift into a state conducive for study, where improved mood

and focus, increased peacefulness and reduced stress were likely to mediate the affective filter. While

any measurement of how much it effects the filter, and the academic ramifications of that, is not
possible through this study, at the very least the protocol gave students an experience of mind-control

techniques and the opportunity to reflect on whether the MMA had positive effects on them and
whether it was helpful for preparing the mind for study.
There was a fairly close match in the immediate and retrospective perceptions that the brief

MMA had a positive effect on mood in the results of the How Am I, Now? (80%) and outro (90%)

106
surveys. The outro survey adds triangulating validity to the main results about change in mood at the

time of the MMA with the How Am I, Now? Survey. The interesting phenomenon is that more

students remembered over time having had positive experiences with the brief MMA than immediately

following the MMA. While not every student experienced a positive or clear change, the vast majority

of students did experience beneficial mood change, and this is one very clear result of this research. A

change in mood is a great beginning to the capacity to limit the interference of the affective filter.

Comparing the music listening and breath control MMA, results about immediate perceived

beneficial effects on the factors of focus, stress, and being at peace were almost matched in all areas.

Over 75% of students perceived positive changes in terms of each of those variables, showing that both

protocol had similar results, and giving initial proof that the majority of students felt positive effects in

the areas of focus, stress reduction, and peacefulness, plus agreed that the MMA were helpful to prepare

the mind for study. Two areas of noticeable difference presented themselves when comparing the two

brief protocol’s effects. Less people agreed breath control resulted in feeling at peace compared to music

listening, with a much larger percentage saying they were not more at peace after the activity. Secondly,

among the small faction disagreeing that the MMA were helpful, more people expressed disagreement

about music listening being helpful to prepare the mind for study compared to breath control. It brings

up the question of whether students are more likely to think of breath control as a valid technique to

control the mind and shift consciousness over music listening because students already listen to music

to change their mood in their day-to-day lives.

Comparing the perceptions of the music listening and breath control MMA using the same two

surveys, there was 10 % more neutrality than positive surety about the MMA being helpful for focus

in the retrospective outro survey than the How Am I, Now? survey. On the outro survey, no one

marked perceiving the MMA was not helpful for focus. In sum, nearly 3/4 of students both

immediately and retrospectively felt it was helpful for focus. The results were quite different in terms

of stress, where on the outro survey over 20% less students switched to neutrality from surety at the

end of semester, resulting in only 50% of students reporting on the outro survey they agreed the MMA

were helpful for reducing stress.

107
 In further support of triangulation, between data methods, the interview mentioned that the

MMA consistently helped in terms of staying calm, in light of the fact that English class and having a

foreign teacher caused general anxiety. The interviews also affirmed that the MMA mediated in the

classroom improved ability to focus. Interestingly, both interviews mentioned consistency in MMA

effect as well.

These variables of mood, ability to focus, and feelings of stress and peace are indicative of two

overlapping spheres of well-being, personal and academic. For the factors to show a positive benefit as

a result of the MMA indicates that the affective filter is less likely to interfere with students’ ability in

the classroom, and that students’ needs of esteem and understanding are able to be fulfilled, further

indicating their possibility of success. The positive mood shift could be an indication both that the

affective filter is less likely to interfere with their study, and that there is the potential for well-being to

be affected positively. This matches Jenkins’ (2015) study on using meditation at the beginning of

class for relaxation to counter the affective filter, with the aim of lowering anxiety, wherein the

meditation was found to help increase focus and open students to language acquisition. Similarly,

Garcia’s (2018) findings also in ESL context were that when using mindfulness through guided

meditations in class students perceived a decrease in anxiety and frustration plus an increase in

confidence and motivation, and teachers observed that students had less anxiety as well as higher

motivation, higher retention, and improved focus. The results of this study on integrating MMA for

university language learning parallel results of Cai’s (2017) study involving university Chinese

language learners, where Suggestopedia was successfully used as an intervention to reduce stress,

increase relaxation, calm, concentration and confidence. Notably, the results of this research go

counter to Ramsburg & Youmans (2014) study on meditation in the higher education classroom that

found mood and relaxation, which is basically lack of stress and sense of peacefulness, was not

affected by a brief breath-control meditation.

In the How Am I, Now? Surveys results weighted heavily towards proving the MMA

positively affected focus match other studies, additionally to Jenkins’ and Garcia’s, such as Dolan’s

(2007) study in which students cited increased focus as a result of the course including meditation and

yoga. Increased ability to focus was additionally mentioned in the nature meditation homework,

108
offering further support to triangulate, showing MMA mediated in class in a fixed format and MMA

with an open format that students could do on their own outside of class, both prove focus was

positively affected.

Students reported on the MMA’s effect of reducing their stress in the How Am I, Now?

surveys, and in the outro surveys. The vast majority of students did feel that the MMA served to

reduce their stress. When asked immediately following the MMA if they felt less stress, 72% of

students said yes, while an average of 7.5% said no, and the remainder were neutral. This matches the

results of studies mentioned earlier involving yoga. The results of the Lemay et al. (2019) and J.-S.

Kim (2015) studies where yoga was as an intervention, the intervention served to reduce students’

level of stress, similarly the Dolan (2007) study found that yoga and breathing techniques helped

students to better handle stress. Interestingly, in the outro surveys given at the end of semester, which

asked students to think back to their experiences with the MMA during the semester, a smaller

percentage of students, 61% in the conversation classes and 51% in the TOEIC classes, reported that

the MMA did reduce their level of stress, with a similar percent of students as surveyed directly

following each MMA, 4% and 7%, respectively, saying it did not.

Feeling calm was another sentiment that was echoed in the results throughout all areas of the

data. It was one of the top four frequent keywords used for the nature meditation assignment, with

many students reported that experiencing the assignment of going into nature alone without the

distractions of their phone actually taught them how to calm their mind. It was mentioned in the

TOEIC interview doing the meditation before class was helpful to make them calm. Calm was a word

often written on the How Am I, Now? survey for the reason why the brief MMA mood score had gone

up after the activity. The case of increased calm was the highest out of all factors in the F20 outro

surveys, with equally about 80% of students in both TOEIC and conversation classes affirming that

result, with less than 1% disagreeing.

While an increase in positive mood, peacefulness, and calm, plus a decrease in stress may

tangentially equate to an increase in well-being, students were specifically asked about the perceived

influence of the MMA on their well-being in the outro surveys. An overall average of 56% of students

reported yes there was a positive effect on well-being, whereas less than 3% for both sets of classes

109
reported no, with the remainder neutral. The results indicate an accordance with Van Gordon et al.’s

(2014) well-being study that used a meditation awareness training with university students and found

certain improvement in psychological well-being. Their study measured level of well-being through

the presence of depression, anxiety, and stress, as well as through scores on mindfulness attention and

awareness. The MMA result of reduction in stress found among many students in this research

matches this common effect of meditation activities.

Most important to note in terms of the affective aspects that indicate well-being, is that there

were indeed instances of students experiencing peace and joy through the MMA. Peace and joy are the

emotions highest on the emotion scale, according to spirituality and consciousness research expert Dr.

David Hawkins (2012), and they are correlates to the highest states of consciousness. It would also

follow, in the construct of the hierarchy of needs, that only when one is closer to self-actualization,

with needs met, that they would be able to truly feel peace and joy in a sustained way. Examples of

students feeling these high states of consciousness related to the MMA are in all areas of the data: the

brief MMA before/after surveys, the conversation class long MMA HW assignments, and in the

interviews. In the latter part of F20, the before/after surveys gauging mood change specifically had

students indicate if they felt more at peace following the MMA. After the visualization with music

MMA, 80% of students said they definitively felt more at peace, and an almost directly equivalent

82% answered this was the case after the breath bubble mindful breathing MMA. There was the F20

student who expressed leaving their worries at sea during the nature meditation, a sure indication of

feeling at peace, as did 15 others who mentioned the key word “peace” in their nature meditation

results. The other top key words mentioned, comfortable and stable, can be similarly equated to

feeling peace, as the full quotations mentioned in the results section expressed. Additionally, the word

“peaceful” was mentioned multiple times in the quantitative part of the F20 How Am I, Now? Survey

that went with the affirmations MMA where students were able to write the reason their mood number

had changed.

There are many studies within and outside of the field of education showing the positive

effects of meditation and mindfulness towards inner peace, such as the Ferreira and Schulze’s (2015)

South African case study in which students reported feeling calm and peaceful as a result of the

110
meditation used in class. Feeling at peace could be considered equivalent to lacking anxiety, and many

studies involving meditation and mindfulness mentioned earlier had shown results of decrease in

anxiety including Lemay et al.’s (2019) study on yoga and meditation intervention and Schwind et

al.’s (2017) pilot on mindfulness practice.

For all varieties of MMA used in this research, the overwhelming majority of students felt a

positive mood shift after the activities. In the nature meditation reports, words used to describe

students’ mental state before going into nature for the nature meditation MMA were mostly negative,

laced with the heaviness of words such as complicated, stress, and tired, the words used to describe the

after feelings were all positive such as comfort, peace, relax, calm, and light. In terms of noting a shift

from before to after based on word frequency, only in the before were there words indicating negative

states. The after data all indicated what could be considered positive words to describe their states.

There was only one noticeable instance otherwise, where the word “lonely” was used so describe a

participant’s experience during the meditation by a participant who had reported feeling worried about

going into nature without a cellphone to do the assignment. However, the participant was not deterred

from experiencing a benefit from the MMA due to the feeling of loneliness, and perhaps easily

overcame it, as they later reported later in their paper wanting to spend more time walking in nature

instead of just looking at their cell phone every day. This may very well indicate the self-actualization

quality of enjoying solitude and privacy. The shifts reported in the nature meditation MMA are an

indication that being in nature is experienced as having a grounding and balancing effect, and may be

considered very helpful as an anecdote to the stress, confusion, lack of clarity, and over-worrying that

many students experience during university studies.

A great specific example of a positive mood effect in the connection-based MMA was the

report of being happy to give others happiness. This phenomenon of happiness kindling happiness is

expressed by Deepak Chopra (2021) talking about recalibrating the internal set-point that determines

happiness for oneself by adding to another’s happiness, “If you make somebody else happy, by giving

them attention, appreciation, affection, acceptance, we instantly become happy. The fastest way to

become happy is to make another person happy” (3:25). This idea of happiness begetting happiness

easily parallels Maslow’s top tier of self-transformation, and hints that a route for SI development is

111
through the support of one’s own inner peace, joy, and well-being. Further, it leads to evidence that

one’s own self-activation does in turn lead to the potential for transformation and the means for

change at the societal level, as the Blackfoot tipi equivalent to Maslow’s pyramid expresses.

Many students said they realized things from the MMA. To realize something can mean one

has developed the capacity to meaningfully apply an insight, or lesson, to one’s personal life. This

process is resonant with what may be happening as multiple intelligences are interacting with SQ to

impact the knowledge that makes up SI.

Two particular words, light and stable, chosen to describe beneficial experiences are helpful to

analyze more closely. The use of the word light refers to weight or burden, and gives the image of a

weight being lifted and freeing the burden on their energy, similar to the earlier example about feeling

not just the mind but the body being clear. This word use can be interpreted the same as the previous

example, yet it is also possible to conceive that the student was indicating they felt the radiance of the

sun within them as an inner glow and, in that, was experiencing their innate connection with the light

of the world. The use of the word “stable” is indicative of the experience of balance or equilibrium,

and shows the potential for the human spirit to be refreshed and re-balanced when people leave the

artificial cement and plastic smells, unnaturally bright lights and loud sounds of buildings and cities to

spend time in nature.

5.2. Desire and Ability to Connect

The connection-based MMA done independently outside of class by conversation class

students as part of their homework assignments showed evidence that mindful interaction can improve

one’s ability to communicate, and spark the desire for future interaction. There were many positive

effects of the MMA that caused temporary states of inner stability, relaxation, joy, and courage that

have the potential to become trait level characteristics for students. There were many firm decisions

made about changing habits and future actions, that indicate a passion and strength awoke in students.

In considering the magnitude of impact the nature meditation may have had on students, and

understanding how great a transformation it was for them from before the activity to after, it may be

insightful to add a bit of background scenario about the typical Korean student’s interaction with

112
nature. While Korea’s lush forest fills approximately 65% of the total land, there are hiking trails even

in the midst of the largest cities, the average student does not necessarily intentionally spend time in

nature. If they do, they may still be playing games on their phone or listening to music rather than

mindfully perceiving nature around them. There’s an indication of this reality in the results of the

nature connection survey that showed most students were experiencing only about half of the possible

connection with nature, as far as the survey could informally imply. However, one brief activity,

spending just 10 minutes observing nature with the senses, had many powerful effects on students,

such as “organizing” their thoughts about their life and studies and giving them peace. There is no

doubt that both of these byproducts are helpful to the quality of presence students can bring to the

classroom, which will affect their ability and pleasure in learning.

Per Seligman et al.’s (2009) notion that “more well-being is synergistic with better learning”

(p. 294) and their relating of positive mood to the capacity for a broadening of attention, the

reflections, particularly in the nature meditation assignment, did show this perceived relation of mood

and increased capacity for attention. A salient comparison with the nature meditation is the research of

Berto and Barbiero (2014) who discuss biophilia, the desire and ability to focus on nature with awe,

affecting the very potential for attention. Their research, similar to what was reflected in the results

here as well, points to a reciprocal power. The more one is mindful to experiencing nature, the greater

their capacity to pay attention and appreciate it; and the more one appreciates nature, the more mindful

and attentive they can be. Further, in addition to the evidence of increased attention, there were

fascinating indications of the positive transferal of emotion; the animals and people that students

looked upon during their walk, were projected to have the similar positive emotion as the student who

was observing them. While this could be seen to match the essence of Wolman’s (2001) PSI

measurement tool’s statement 22 “I sense the personality or the soul of animals like pet dogs or cats,”

(p. 146) and indicate an activated aspect of SI, it could further be seen as a students’ internal

intelligence recognizing the universal connected oneness of all living souls and their own sacred place

in creating a better world by cultivating their own inner peace and stability.

Though the capacity to connect to oneself, other people, and the natural world can all be

influenced by mindfulness and inner work, connecting to other people tends to expressly require

113
outward interaction. Developing bravery and the power to resist negative self-talk about self-image

and how others might react negatively is a process that can be influenced by shifts in consciousness

and encouraged by practice and having positive experiences interacting. Confidence is a large part of

communicative competence, and the final conversation class MMA was designed with this in mind. It

is inspiring to note instances in the do-good mission results of students’ ability to connect being

supported and reinforced by the other people who were present and interacting with them during their

mindful benevolent activity. Others helped to fan the flame of ability to connect, which is reminiscent

of the alternate understanding of the self-actualization pyramid, where the connection to others is what

helps one to feel their self-actualization and transform themselves, so they are also positively affecting

the world around them.

The example of the student who saw a young child holding her parents’ hands as they walked,

and was reminded of how happy she must have been in her own childhood, may be an indication of

positive affect on mood-congruent retrieval. This means that the positive mood of the student sparked

a memory that was painted as being positive, perhaps even more so than was true at the actual time

(Forgas, 1984). The student who interpreted the mood of others they saw in the forest as “very

peaceful” again mirrors how one’s own peaceful internal state can influence the appraisal of other

people’s emotional state as being equally peaceful. It is much easier to approach people and carry on

conversations when one perceives the others as happy and receptive, so it is helpful for students to

come to the relaxed state where they are looking out to see the openness in others rather than looking

inward at worries or negative self-talk.

The desire and intention to connect really deals with breaking out of the habit of egoistic

focus, noticing other people, and recognizing them as fellow humans worthy of connecting to. In the

reports for the do-good mission, over half of the students wrote about future intention to do something

good for others again. Similarly, the family interview spurred students to desire talking more deeply

about concerns to get many people’s perspectives, and the nature meditation had students longing for

their next chance to be in nature. One notable phrase used by several different students was “If I have a

chance…” It is notable because it is more passive than determined, which offers some evidence that

114
many students benefit from expressly being given the opportunity to set an intention to interact with

people and nature, as through that they reach greater awareness of themselves and their abilities.

While it is a subsidiary aspect of connection in terms of this research, it is noteworthy that

many students also expressed a connection with something greater than the known world when they

were experiencing nature mindfully. There is a voice being given to the ability to connect to the

universe, to the mystery that is vast and unknown. Because that mystery is here every single day of

life, it may be easy to ignore until something reminds one of the majesty and power of it. Most

importantly, in the process of connecting with others, students came to be more connected to

themselves. The mindful interactions became a pause wherein they could be present to the moment,

and deeply experience things in meaningful ways.

5.3. Indications of Spiritual Intelligence

Throughout the qualitative homework reports there are many instances in the data of themes

that relate to spiritual intelligence, such as mindfulness, self-awareness, the ability to reframe, peak

experiences, self-actualization, gratitude, spontaneity, compassion, and reflection. While two of these

qualities, mindfulness and reflection, were consciously designed into the connection-oriented MMA,

the presence of other themes shows a general tendency for SI to be active when one is being mindful,

and infers that MMA can put students in a state of consciousness where SI comes to the fore.

Inevitably, the understanding arises that there is great overlap between the indices of self-

actualization/transformation and those of spiritual intelligence, that someone with an active SI is likely

to be high on the hierarchy of needs, and vice versa. What Maslow may have considered as a social

need, to feel loved and have a sense of belonging, may simply be the power of connection that gives a

mindful sense of innate interconnectedness with all sentient beings and oneness with the universe,

central capacities embedded in SI.

Self-actualization is a quality of SI, so it accords that there are overlapping themes between

the two theories. There are nine aspects of Maslow’s self-actualized person: having peak experiences,

self-acceptance/democratic world view, realism, problem-centered/like helping others improve their

lives, autonomous, enjoy solitude/privacy for personal discovery time, humor, spontaneity, seeing the

115
journey as important as the goal (Cherry, 2019). There are examples in the results to cover each of

these self-actualization aspects, as well as the wide array of aspects which have been said to also

indicate SI. Perhaps having peak experiences is one area that could be considered common to both

self-actualization and SI.

The epitome of Maslow’s concept of self-transformation played out during the course of the

MMA for the student who was stirred with compassion when they saw other students running late to

class, and felt compelled to pray for them that they would not be late. The mental shift from focusing

on an egoic self, or personal hedonic experience, to an outward-focused concern for others indicates a

perspective that may qualify, for many, as spiritually intelligent. The concept of caring for others

going through a similar situation, and wishing them well relates to the Theravada Buddhist practice of

metta, based on “loving kindness for yourself and others” that leads one to understanding there is “no

difference between yourself and other beings. All beings suffer, all beings want to be happy. All

beings need the same kind of thing that you need. So, that would be contrary to competition,” which is

often how the academic institutions push to orient students to conceive of their role as against each

other that runs contrary to compassion and empathy (Ani Könchog Lhamo, personal communication,

March, 19, 2020).

While students did not describe their experiences with the meditation as peak experiences, per

se, there are facets of what they describe implying a type of peak experience is what was happening, in

particular with the way the flow of time was spoken about. There is an aspect of one’s awareness of

time, and relationship to it, that relates to consciousness as well. In discussing the three worlds of

consciousness that people travel between, those filled with physical objects, subtle objects, and pure

consciousness, Dr. Deepak Chopra (2006) describes the third world of consciousness as being where

“the world of awareness [is] being aware of itself” (p. 129), and the flowing nature of time is being

observed but without the usual sense of great attachment to it. This awareness of experience within the

context of time, as well as the actual entering of a different state of consciousness where time seems to

flow differently, correlates with Maslow’s idea of peak experience. In a Maslovian peak experience

one feels a kind of transformation amidst daily life, involving awe or an epiphany about life's meaning,

and may completely fall out of their normal sense of time and place as they deeply go into the feeling.

116
The students’ descriptions of time, of noticing and forgetting about it, fit this paradigm of peak

experience and indicate the possibility that students were actually having peak experiences during this

MMA in nature.

Related to time is the idea of consistency and growth over time. It is commonly held that forming

a new habit takes 40 days; which is why many spiritual practices, such as fasting for lent in the

Christian tradition, are designated for that amount of time. With that in mind it is interesting to note

one student reported, “I'm glad I made a good habit through this homework.” It is unlikely that a 10-

minute activity could actually create a new habit, but the reporting as if it had might indicate two

things. The first is that the student had realized the activity’s function of activating a capacity for self-

connection and increased understanding, or a form of SI, and in that realization, they felt a healing, or

excitement even, that incited the impulse to continue using the method as a system to keep receiving

the positive effect in their life. A second way to analyze this reporting about “habit” relates to how the

student’s peak experience might function to accelerate the time otherwise necessary to create a habit,

in the quick encapsulating of an impulse for change. The very impulse could surely be a force capable

of sustaining one’s will to follow through with the practice over the necessary time to solidly establish

the new habit.

A level above the desire to share the positive experience with those one is close to is the level

where one wishes the positive experience upon strangers to help them improve their lives. Beyond the

idea of indicating a self-actualization where someone orients towards problem-solving and aiming to

help other people, this desire to help those beyond one’s immediate family, out to the general public,

or humanity at large, leans toward the highest tier on Maslow’s pyramid, self-transformation. The

example of the student praying for the other students that were running by them on their way to class

is a prime illustration of the epitome of this level of consciousness.

To look more closely at students’ experience of connection, the qualitative analysis results of

the three conversation class homework assignments, and the focus group discussions were triangulated

with quantitative questions in the outro survey. The reports contained many mentions about feeling

connection through the assignments, and the outro survey showed 80% or more of students responded

that all three assignments helped them to feel more connected to their family, nature, or to others, with

117
the other 20% maintaining neutrality, except in the case of homework number three where 2%

responded no they felt the do-good mission did not help them feel more connected to others. That

outlaying response may be due to the fact that not all students chose activities involving interaction

with others, though it was recommended as part of the mission, as the pandemic situation reduced the

desirability of interaction with others. The interview confirmed that the connection-oriented MMA

helped in terms of becoming closer to others and nature through the assignments. Dolan’s (2007) study

is one of many dominant examples similarly citing the power of connection and community that arises

from mindfulness and meditation activities in educational settings. An interesting phenomenon related

to the family interview MMA was that by having deep conversations with family members, in the

willingness to discuss personal concerns, students indirectly expressed a desire for a deeper connection

that likely helped spur an interaction that most students then did perceive as causing more closeness

between themselves and their family members.

Awareness of interconnectedness is listed in the Wigglesworth’s (2011) SQ21 in the quadrant

of universal awareness along with the experience of transcendent oneness and the awareness of the

limitations and power of human perception. Tied to the awareness of interconnection is the idea of

empathy. Empathy involves the ability to expand one’s perspective. Activating empathy requires

learning to gauge what another may be feeling as well as being able to contextualize that feeling by

imagining one is, metaphorically, in the other person’s shoes. Experience with positively impacting

the environment (society, people, nature) is also considered an indicator of developed SI. The do-good

mission was both a potential opportunity for students to increase their awareness of the perceived

needs of others, and to recognize their ability to have a positive impact on others in their environment.

Even before starting the actual mission, students went through an important process of learning how to

work together, to collectively brainstorm and envision possible outcomes. This preliminary process

tapped into creative and intuitive consciousness. The act of interacting with strangers was a potential

opportunity for students to overcome embarrassment and shyness in the experience of connection with

others as well. Engaging and broadening connection, as a key SI element, was the successful outcome

of the conversation class MMA assignments. In developing the capacity for compassion and empathy

118
that increased the ability to connect, students also discovered why it is important to connect, and the

instances of noting healing through the MMA are many.

The capacity to be aware of connection can be enhanced by mindfulness. Indications of

increased mindfulness, and development of awareness, can be seen in the outro survey questions about

MMA serving to increase awareness of breath, and awareness of thoughts and feelings. The results

were a little different between TOEIC classes and conversation classes, which may reflect the weight

of brief versus longer connection-oriented MMA used in each class. The TOEIC class results were

72% and 70%, while the conversation class results were 63% about awareness of breath and 82%

agreement that the MMA increased awareness of one’s own thoughts and feelings. Emotional

intelligence is particularly involved with the capacity to be aware of and understand one’s thoughts

and feelings and is the supra-cognitive intelligence that leads to the ultimate SI.

Intuition is a supra-cognitive function that is certainly considered part of spiritual intelligence.

Students indicated that their own intuitive sense of what to do was confirmed by the advice of family

members were expressed. By having one’s intuitive sense confirmed, there is a development of self-

trust that helps a person to better deal with situations. In the case of language learning, intuitive sense

is what drives reproduction of a language during learning. A student may not be able to cognitively

think about what grammar structure they need to integrate where as they speak, but they can have an

impulse to speak that then brings the correct words if they are attuned and present to the situation,

without the chatter of inhibition keeping them from trying to combine words and express themselves.

Gratitude is an important aspect of SI, of connection, and even of language learning. Usually,

the first words taught in a new language are “hello” and “thank you.” Above expressing gratitude

through acts of kindness, and feeling gratitude while reflecting on an interaction, the experience of

receiving gratitude was very significant for students. Some students have never had the experience of

being thanked by a stranger. There is something very self-affirming that creates a positive feeling in

the act of receiving gratitude.

Connection-based MMA provided many benefits for students that are relevant to EFL study as

well, such as increased courage and related shift in personality characteristics conducive for effective

communication, enhanced ability and comfort to approach people, the expansion of desire to be

119
mindful and interact with what is presented to one in the moment, and the desire to add to the

happiness of others.

5.4. Summary

Harkening back to Tart’s (1986) statement, “what you can know depends on the state of

consciousness you are in” (p. 169), with respect to the findings on how meditation and mindfulness

activities affected university EFL students, it is apparent that finding ways to induce, and teach

students to self-induce, higher states of consciousness in and out of the classroom environment can

activate a broader holistic spiritual intelligence that not only relates to the potential for academic

success, but for joy and meaning in life. Even in completely secular context, students can have spirit-

uplifting experiences through consciousness expansion and connection. Students’ experiences indicate

SI is real, and comes into play with mindfulness, self-awareness, openness to connect to the world

around. Students were able to have peak experiences, feel bliss, and lose track of time using simple

techniques that can applied almost anywhere and anytime. The experiences of positive mood shift and

re-framed thinking, bring an excitement to students that is very conducive. Increasing mindfulness

increases the capacity to focus and receive new information, alluding to the fact that indeed it a role to

play in expanding overall cognitive intelligence.

The results of this study confirm that meditation and mindfulness activities positively affect

students in a variety of ways which are academically relevant. Brief MMA conducted at the beginning

of TOEIC test preparation classes set the stage for effective learning among the majority of students,

by improving positive mood, the capacity to focus, and sense of peace, while decreasing sense of

stress and the negative impact of the affective filter. Connection-based MMA integrated into out-of-

class assignments helped students improve ability and desire to connect to others and nature, all while

adding a chance for meaningful reflection that helped students to reframe problems and find sources of

positive inspiration and support. Incorporating meditation and mindfulness activities into university

EFL can be an easy method to address students’ spirit and help support the activation and development

of an intelligence above and beyond the cognitive, spiritual intelligence. Doing so indicates

helpfulness towards the goal of self-actualization for students individually, as well as the positive and

120
necessary transformation of the current-day world. Upon this canvas of the manifold common benefits

the integration of MMA into higher education EFL can offer students, the pedagogical and theoretical

implications of this research shall now be discussed.

121
 Chapter 6. Conclusion

6.1. Theoretical Implications

Integrating meditation and mindfulness activities into university EFL to positively affect

mood, focus, peace, stress level, and sense of connection, in essence gives students a guiding light on

the complex path of life so they can stop to reflect on how they feel and how they want to

communicate in order to connect more deeply with themselves, others, and the natural world around

them and have a greater chance at developing their total intelligence reaching their full potential in

school and life. There are three substantial theoretical implications that stand out in this research. The

first relates to MMA’s potentially significant role in education as it relates to the affective filter, the

second to connection as a measure of the presence of SI, and the third to the complementary nature of

self-actualization theory and SI.

6.1.1. MMA has a role in higher education

The first theoretical implication is that meditation and mindfulness can play a significant role

in furthering the goals of education, be helping to create a more conducive affective atmosphere where

students chance of leaving behind the stress of their daily academic and personal lives is higher, and

their ability to feel better, at peace, and prepared and able to focus is also highly likely to increase. The

affective filter can debilitate students, particularly in the area of EFL where students may have added

anxieties about how others are perceiving them that limit participation and make effective and

meaningful communication difficult. The evidence is clear that simple MMA integrations in EFL

context can render the affective filter powerless in terms of completely interfering with students’

ability to learn, practice, and retain new knowledge. In less than five minutes, students could go

through a process using meditation and mindfulness that in most cases had immediate and noticeable

positive effects to mood and readiness to study, while offering the additional benefits of reduced

stress, enhanced feelings of being at peace, and improved ability to focus. These reported changes

indicate a likely release from the hold the affective filter usually has on second-language learners.

122
 6.1.2. Connection is a measure of active SI

The second major theoretical implication inherent in this study is that connection can be one

route to explore the presence and extent of active spiritual intelligence. The longer MMA reflective

connection homework assignments guided many students to experience heightened connection, where

their sense of egoic needs could be transcended to the point that they felt an internal communion and

self-understanding or a oneness with others, nature, and generally the great sacred mystery manifests

as the perceptible or imaginable surrounding world. This identification with all, and sense of

unification, is what Zohar and Marshall (2000) call “our true reality” (p. 195), and what led to a

quality of empathy and care that spurred the setting of intentions to change personal habits or be in the

service of uplifting others indicative of self-transformation. Related to this theoretical implication,

already aware that connection is widely considered an important facet and evidence of spiritual

intelligence, it is logical to draw proof from this study that indeed connection is a variable amenable to

helping explore the nature and prevalence of SI experience. Poignantly, if connection can be a measure

of SI, it can also be a route to SI development. Meditation and mindfulness can serve as a key to

improve connection and, in so doing, open the door of spiritual intelligence wider. Indeed, SI may be a

latent capacity awaiting reawakening from years of disuse, starting from the point that creative-based

subjects such as music and the arts are given back-seat status to the cognitive-heavy subjects being

tested to prove achievement in standard public schools. The results of the connection-oriented MMA

certainly prove that connection is waiting to happen, particularly after the difficult period of isolation

people around the world have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are reasons why measuring SI may become important. Further research may indeed

prove that a heightened sense of connection and developed SI can, like meditation and mindfulness,

indicate scholastic ability. This could be a boon to the ethos of global modern society which is bent on

achievement being the gold standard of academic progress based on mostly cognitive parameters. If

that correlation can be more substantially proven in future studies, it will also further prove the

necessity of addressing spirit in education, the crux of what propelled this study. When that necessity

is accepted en masse, the world is in for the idyllic evolution towards unity and cohesion that

alternative holistic education proponents have been advocating throughout history. The societal shift

123
priming to be caused by that would not only be a welcome breath of fresh air, but it is also needed

before the destructive models of industrial-obsessed mankind destroy the capacity for air-producing

trees to even grow and the mindlessness-promoting habits of technology and social media dim the

capability and importance of connecting with ourselves, others, and the natural world around us.

6.2. Practical implications

There are several practical implications that clearly arise from the results of this research

which are very relevant to education and the EFL classroom. There are several exciting academic

implications related to improving the classroom atmosphere, improved connection for fostering

communication skills, improved focus for more successful learning, the ease of incorporating and

adapting to other contexts.

6.2.1. MMA Improves Classroom Atmosphere

The data from the How Am I, Now? surveys points to the potent value of using easy to

integrate meditative interventions to change students’ mood. Even a brief exercise of a three or four

minutes had students reporting a noticeable, in some cases extremely significant, change in mood. In

all cases, each MMA helped almost every student to be in a better mood. Positive mood, through

physiological mechanisms that highly affect aspects of human consciousness and ability, is the

gateway to characteristics such as confidence and the lack of anxiety that release students from the

grip of the affective filter therein allowing them the courage to participate more fully in the EFL

classroom context. A wonderful by-product to consider of a classroom of relaxed students who are in a

good mood is the likelihood of a teacher being able to be relaxed and in a good mood.

6.2.2. Improving Connection with MMA Improves Communication

When students overcome the shyness and develop the courage to be able to connect to others,

they are laying the groundwork for successful future communication. The more people have positive

connection experiences, the more they desire to keep communicating and connecting with others. This

makes for a friendly atmosphere inside and out of the classroom. Adding reflective practices, and other

aspects of mindful communication and experience, can serve to foster connection that not only

124
improves the well-being of individuals, but sets in motion the gentle ripples that are unifying and

uplifting the whole of humanity.

6.2.3. Improving Focus with MMA Improves Chances for Academic Success

When the mind is cleared of stressful thoughts and deprecating pessimistic chatter, there is a chance

for a shift in consciousness that can lead to clear insight and natural determined focus. The effect of

improved focus after MMA indicated that students then have a better likelihood for successful learning

as focus makes it possible hear and absorb new knowledge, practice it effectively, and so, likely retain

it.

6.2.4. MMA Lends Itself to Integration in EFL

The brief music listening and breath control MMA are extremely simple exercises to

incorporate into class. It is not necessary for the practitioner to know anything about meditation or

mindfulness, or to have practiced it, to lead students in the MMA. The exercises take less than five

minutes and are likely to save time because it provides immediate focus that will ordinarily take more

time if students slowly settle into class because their minds are distracted with thoughts of other

things. In the case of connection-oriented MMA, the pedagogical aspects of the related assignments

can be customized completely. For example, instead of asking advice from family members, students

could interview them about music, travel, or other topics covered in the book, and alter the interview

to involve past, present, or future queries, so that it could be relevant for students as practical writing

practice. Instead of handing in reports, students could also present the results of their connection-

experiences, or use them as content for group discussions. The simplicity and quickness of adding

MMA to existing class structures makes it easy to propose and incorporate at the curricular level.

6.2.5. MMA are Adaptable for Broad Use in Higher Education

While the research is specific to the university EFL context, with slight modification it can easily

translate to any academic context on any tier of education. This ultimately means, in the classroom,

brief MMAs such as music listening or mindful breathing exercises are one simple technique that can

raise students’ level of calm and peace, therein lowering anxiety and the detriments of the affective

filter, allowing for the improved focus that paves the way to successfully receive, use, and retain new

125
knowledge; which means effective participation in class and the potential for higher achievement, as

well as the natural end result of better chances for meaningful learning and life.

6.2.6. MMA Use Transforms Life

Increasing a sense of peace and reducing stress allows for the equanimity that is helpful for

going through life. When people take the opportunity to stop for a moment to quiet the mind, to be

mindful and tune in to how they are feeling and what is around them, the opportunity for insights,

enhanced awareness, and beautiful connection with the world around is very possible. Connecting to

oneself through MMA proves to be the gateway for connection to others, nature, and the universe in

all of its mystery. Having the experience is a reminder that meaningful interaction with others and the

world around is possible every moment and, in all likelihood, awaits our mindful initiative to make use

of its healing and uplifting power to reach the full potential of our life on Earth. Evidence of the ripple

effect also shows that one person’s actualization also has a transformative effect on others that is

positive for the world.

6.3. Limitations

In considering the limitations and weak areas of this study there are issues to discuss that may

have impacted the study adversely. Perhaps the most important issue to point out, the same issue that

many researchers creating SI measurement instruments have been taken to task on, is self-reporting.

The surveys used in this study, the “How Am I, Now?” survey, outro surveys, and connection surveys

were all collecting self-reported data to gather students’ perspectives. In that, the survey results

maintain high levels of subjectivity that may not give the most accurate picture. Subjective measures

are best validated, by corroboration with outside sources, rather than simply triangulated through

multi-methods or multiphases that provide more subjective data. For example, when a student reports

they feel “very focused” after a meditation, that response could be validated by a teacher reporting the

student was “very focused” after a meditation. Related to self-reporting, there is the possibility that

some participants did not give mindful attention when looking at and answering questions, so simply

checked all boxes the same down the row to quickly be done with it. Additionally, the self-reported

answers may have an inherent social desirability bias, as both the creator of the measurement items

126
and the one answering may “depend on consensus opinion rather than objective criteria” so show

“compliance with socially accepted norms, rather than profound emotional insights” (Peerzadah et al.,

2018, p. 316). However, the use of homework assignments and interviews, while still subjective

outcomes, offer a way to triangulate quantitative data and validate the consistency of self-reported

answers, therein partially mitigating both the initial delimitation in creating the instrument and the

limitations of its accurate measurement ability.

A second major issue to note as a limiting factor in this research, which was undertaken in the

context of EFL classes, is potential linguistic barriers in terms of participants fully understanding the

English survey questions, as only the TOEIC class outro surveys given at the end of semester had

Korean translations. Certainly, in terms of expressing experiences and reflections using English as a

foreign language for their medium, participants’ ability to convey accurately may have been stunted.

While some open-ended comments on surveys gave specific aegis for participants to write in Korean if

they wished, it might yield much richer data if participants were able to use their native language to

write the reports about their connection-based MMA experiences and reflections. The same applies to

the potential for richer data if the interview were conducted entirely in Korean.

The quantitative data was undertaken with fairly small sample sizes, and the capacity for

accurately generalizing the results is certainly affected by that. The survey instruments were created

for the purposes of this study, and while some aspects of the How Am I, Now? survey and the outro

surveys had been informally piloted by use in previous semesters, they were not rigorously tested.

A final limitation to bear in mind with the results of this study is that students were

represented from one rural South Korean university only, and the MMA plus the surveys were all

administered by their professor who was heading the research. Many education studies in which the

participants’ teacher is administering experimental protocol have space for uncertainty as to whether

the results are at all attributed to the personality of the teacher or rapport of the teacher and students.

While these factors may be more helpful to the success of practical application of this research,

consistent transferability might be better achieved by conducting research using an outside mediator,

ideally with background and training in facilitating meditation and mindfulness practices, to facilitate

the experimental MMA.

127
6.4. Recommendations for Future Research

Structuring the research in a controlled experimental framework, with a stable class

environment not amidst a pandemic where classes are switching without notice from online to offline

and vice-versa, may create stronger results. Repeating the exact same MMA, and using the same

instrument for gathering data, may aid in understanding cumulative effects of integrating MMA into

university EFL classes. Utilizing technology, such as Google quiz or custom-made apps, that make it

easy for students to submit completely answered surveys at the exact time required for accurate

before/after readings, will also be very helpful for future studies like this one.

The most unexpected and intriguing result warranting further research into what has been

presented here is the indication of a possible correlation between mindfulness, nature connection,

people connection and grades. A possible outbranch of this research is to use a larger sample size in

determining if indeed a connection can be empirically borne out.

While this research has dealt specifically with the use of meditation and mindfulness at the

university level of Korean EFL classes, there is a wealth of possibilities for comparable studies to be

done both at different universities in Korea, including in urban locations, as well as outside of Korea.

The topics herein also lend themselves for catering to be applicable for use in other departments and

with different age levels. Undertaking a purely qualitative study, and a purely quantitative study, may

also bring richer data to the fore that wasn’t able to be reached through the breadth of this mixed-

methods study.

Creating a series of MMA for online as well as offline classes, which could allow for exact

replication in terms of application, may prove a good way to systematically explore results of a larger

sample. Using a single repeated system, such as either breath bubble or music listening, may help in

gauging cumulative effects of single MMA on students throughout the course of a semester.

Repeating the same exact nature connection and people connection surveys both before when

the assignment is first given and a second time after the connection-oriented activities are completed

may give a more accurate indication of transformation or changes in students’ perspectives related to

experiencing the connection-oriented MMA. The results may be clearer and easier to compare than

128
generalized questions about change in sense of connection on the outro survey at the end of semester,

as similarly may giving the exact mindfulness survey at the beginning and end of semester.

Further, for researchers looking to delve into this topic as deeply as possible, approaching the

study design with an intention for experiential understanding of MMA and SI may be the single most

helpful step at the outset. As students are being led through the realms of mystery, beyond cognitive

understanding, experiential understanding of SI is very helpful for it to truly be known and measured.

SI may be likened to embers that are passed from one spirit to another to kindle the light of full human

potential. As one at the stage of self-transformation is able to assist others in self-actualizing, one must

access SI in oneself to best help others experience and develop it.

Perhaps the most appropriate recommendation for related future research, the open secret, is to

use meditation and mindfulness throughout the process of designing and implementing it, so that

whatever is created is done so from the place of highest possible intelligence that it may serve the

greatest possible good to the world, as the people’s and nature’s needs and potentials come to be more

deeply known through time.

129
 References
Albrecht, N. (2014). Wellness: A conceptual framework for school-based mindfulness programs. The

International Journal of Health, Wellness, and Society, 4(1), 21-36.

https://doi.org/10.18848/2156-8960/CGP/v04i01/41087

Amram, Y. (2007, August 17-20). The seven dimensions of spiritual intelligence: An ecumenical,

grounded theory. [Paper presentation.] 115th Annual Conference of the American

Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Amram, Y., & Dryer, C. (2008). The integrated spiritual intelligence scale (ISIS): Development and

preliminary validation. 116th Annual Conference of the American Psychological Association,

Boston, MA: Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.

Andringa, T., & Angyal, N. (2019). The nature of wisdom: People’s connection to nature reflects a

deep understanding of life. The Open Psychology Journal, 16(1), 108-126. https://doi.org/

10.17323/1813-8918-2019-1-108-126

Archuleta, K., Jennings, C., & Cunliff, E. (2019). Mindfulness at metropolitan universities. New

Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 161, 33-43.

https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.203099

Astin, A., Astin, H., & Lindhom, J. (2011). Cultivating the spirit: How college can enhance students’

inner lives. Jossey-Bass.

Bai, H., Scott, C., & Donald, B. (2009). Contemplative pedagogy and revitalization of teacher

education. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 55(3), 391-334.

https://summit.sfu.ca/item/13208

Bao, W., Qiu, L., Wu, J., & Feng, W. (2015). Intervention effect of yoga exercise on university

students with depression. Journal of Kunming Medical University, 36(3), 169-172.

Barrows, J., Dunn, S., & Lloyd, C. (2013). Anxiety, self-efficacy, and college exam grades. Universal

Journal of Educational Research, 1(3), 204-208.

Baxter, A., Scott, K., Vos, T., & Whiteford, H. (2013). Gobal prevalence of anxiety disorders: a

systematic review and meta-regression. Psychological medicine, 43, 897-910.

130
Beardsley, L. (2004). Spiritual intelligence and the Bible. 2nd symposium on the Bible and Adventist

Scholarship. Loma Linda University, CA. https://fae.adventist.org/essays/31Bcc_001-042.htm

Beckwith, M. In Facebook [Michael Bernard Beckwith]. Posted April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13,

2020 from

https://m.facebook.com/story.phpstory_fbid=10157167408884785&id=58201359784

Bensaid, B., Machouche, S., & Grine, F. (2014). A Quar’anic framework for spiritual intelligence.

Religions, 5, 179-198. https://doi.org/10.3390/43l5010179

Berto, R. & Barbiero, G. (2014) Mindful silence produces long lasting attentional performance in

children. Visions for Sustainability, 2, 49-60.

Boyd, R. & Myers, G. (1988). Transformative education. International Journal of Lifelong

Education, 7(4), 261-284. https://doi.org/10.1080/0260137880070403.

Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in

psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(4), 822-848.

https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.822

Buie, E. (2014). User experience and the human spirit. Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the

32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems – CHI EA 2014.

Doctoral Consortium. Toronto, Canada. https://doi.org/10.1145/2559206.2559962

Buttery, T. & Roberson, P. (2005). Spirituality: The physiological-biological foundation. In S. Hoppe

& B. Speck (Eds.), Spirituality in higher education. (pp. 37-43). Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.211

Cai, Q. (2017). Acceptability and preliminary outcomes of bilingual guided meditation (BGM) in the

college foreign language classroom. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation.] Northeastern

University.

Charoensukmongkol, P. (2016). The role of mindfulness in reducing English language anxiety among

Thai college students. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(4),

414427. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2016.1264359

Chano, J. (2012). An education in awareness: Recovering the heart of learning through contemplation.

International Journal of Asian Social Science, 2(2), 106-110.

131
 Character Education Promotion Act 2015(Gov) s.2.1 (ROK).

Chepenik, L., Cornew, L., & Farah, M. (2007). The influence of sad mood on cognition. Emotion,

7(4), 802–811. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.802

Cherry, K. (2019, July 17). 9 Characteristics of self-actualized people. Verywell Mind.

www.verywellmind.com/characteristics-of-self-actualized-people-2795963

Ching, H.-H., Koo, M., Tsai, T.-T., & Chen, C.-Y. (2015). Effects of a mindfulness meditation course

on learning and cognitive performance among university students in Taiwan. Evidence Based

Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 1-7.

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2015/254358/

Chopra, D. (2006). Life after death: The burden of proof. Three Rivers Press.

Chopra, D. (2021). Total happiness now, Deepak Chopra [Facebook page]. [Livestream].

Retrieved March 10, 2021 from

https://www.facebook.com/184133190664/videos/170881384710999

Cloninger, C., Svrakic, D., & Przybeck, T. (1993). A psychobiological model of temperament and

character. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50, 975–990.

Collins, M. (2010). Spiritual intelligence: Evolving transpersonal potential toward ecological

actualization for a sustainable future. World Futures: The Journal of New Paradigm

Research, 66(5), 320-334. https://doi.org/10.1080/02604020903423527

Cotter-Lockard, D. (2008). Higher consciousness states through meditation - a phenomenological

study. Annual Meeting of the Society for Phenomenology and Human Sciences, Pittsburgh,

PA.

Covey, S. (2004). The 8th habit: From effectiveness to greatness. Free Press.

Creswell, J. (2007) Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd

edition). Sage.

Creswell, J., & Poth, C. (2018). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five

approaches (4th edition). Sage.

Dhar, B., Ayittey, F., & Sarkar, S. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on psychology among university

students. https://doi.org/10.1002/gch2.202000038

132
Doak, D. (1962). Grading: a deterrent to learning. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational

Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 37(4), 245-248.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00098655.1962.11476258

Dolan, M. (2007). A new transformation in higher education: Benefits of yoga and meditation.

International Forum of Teaching and Studies; 3(1), 31-36. https://doi.org/

10.18290/rns.2018.46.2-6

Drigas, A., & Mitsea, E. (2020). The triangle of spiritual intelligence, metacognition and

consciousness. International Journal of Recent Contributions from Engineering Science & IT,

4-23. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijes.v8i1.12503

Duerr, M., Zajonc, A., & Dana, D. (2003). Survey of transformative and spiritual dimensions of higher

education. Journal of Transformative Education, 1, 177-211.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344603001003002

Ebrahimi, M., Jalilabadi, Z., Gholami, G., Amini, F., & Arkian, F. (2015). Effectiveness of training of

spiritual intelligence components on depression, anxiety, and stress of adolescents. Journal of

Medicine and Life, 8(4), 87-92. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5319280/

Emmons, R. A. (2000). Spirituality and intelligence: Problems and prospects. The International

Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 10, 57-64.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15327582IJPR1001_6

Ferreira, C. & Schulze, S. (2015). Facilitating spiritual intelligence in South African secondary school

learners. KOERS – Bulletin for Christian Scholarship, 80(2), Art. #22248.

Fiebert, M. S., & Mead, T. M. (1981). Meditation and academic performance. Perceptual and Motor

Skills, 53, 447-450. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1981.53.2.447

Forgas, J., Bower, G., & Krantz, S. (1984). The influence of mood on perceptions of social

interactions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 20, 497-513.

Fuchs, C. (2021). How did Donald Trump incite a coup attempt? TripleC,19(1), 246-251.

https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/1239

133
Galante, J., Dufour, G., Vainre, M., Stochl, J., Benton, A., Lathia, N., Howarth, E., & Jones, P. B.

(2018). A mindfulness-based intervention to increase resilience to stress in university students

(the Mindful Student Study): A pragmatic randomized controlled trial. Lancet Public Health,

3, e7281. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(17)30231-1

Garcia, T. (2018). The practice of mindfulness to lower the affective filter in English language

learners. [Unpublished master’s thesis.] Claremont Lincoln University.

http://capstones.claremontlincoln.edu/garcia.pdf

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books.

Gardner, H. (2006). Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books.

GATE. (2000). Education 2000: A holistic perspective.

Gheorghita, N. (2014) Ways of developing spiritual intelligence. Journal of Experiential

Psychotherapy, 17(3), 31-36.

Gillham, J., & Seligman, E. (1999). Footsteps on the road to a positive psychology. Behaviour

research and therapy, 37, S163-S173. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0005-7967(99)00055-8

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. Bantam Books.

Gunaratana, B. (2011). Mindfulness in plain English. (20th Anniversary ed.) Wisdom Publications.

(Original work published in 1993).

Grasmane, I. (2020). The psychopedagogical intervention for the development of children’s spiritual

intelligence: The quest for the theoretical framework. Acta Pedagogic Vilnensia, 44, 81-98.

https://doi.org/10.15388/ActPaed.44.6

Hall, M. P., O’Hare, A., Santavicca, N., & Jones, L. F. (2015). The power of deep reading and mindful

literacy: An innovative approach in contemporary education. Innovación Educativa, 15(67),

49-59.

Hall, P. D. (1999). The effect of meditation on the academic performance of African American college

students. Journal of Black Studies, 29(3), 408-415.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2668066?seq=1

Hanh, T. N. (2013). Preface. In J. Kabat-Zinn (Ed.), Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your

body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. (2nd ed.). Bantam Books.

134
Hart, T. (2004). Opening the contemplative mind in the classroom. Journal of transformative

education, 2(1), 28-46.

Hawkins, D. (2012) Letting go: The pathway to surrender. Hay House, Inc.

Heaton, D. (2016). Higher consciousness for sustainability-as-flourishing. In S. Dhiman & J. Margues,

(Eds.) Spirituality and sustainability: New horizons and exemplary approaches (pp. 121-137).

Springer.

Hong, S., & Bae, S. (2018). Convergent influence of job seeking stress, self efficacy and academic

burnout on TOEIC test anxiety at TOEIC study among health college students. Journal of

Digital

Convergence, 16(7), 289-298. https://doi.org/10.14400/JDC.2018.16.7.289

Hooker, S., Masters, K., Vagnini, K., & Rush, C. (2019). Engaging in personally meaningful activities

is associated with meaning salience and psychological well-being. The Journal of Positive

Psychology, 15(6), 821-831. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2019.1651895

Hyland, T. (2009). Mindfulness and the therapeutic function of education. Journal of Philosophy of

Education, 43(1), 119-131.

Hyland, T. (2011) Mindfulness and learning: Celebrating the affective dimension of education.

Springer.

James, W. (1890). The Principles of Psychology. Henry Holt and Company.

Jarvis, J. A., Corbett, A. W., Thorpe, J. D., & Dufur, M. J. (2020). Too much of a good thing: Social

capital and academic stress in South Korea. Social Sciences, 9(187), 1-14.

https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9110187

Jayawardene, W. P., Lohrmann, D. K., Erbe, R. G., & Torabi, M. R. (2017). Effects of preventive

online mindfulness interventions on stress and mindfulness: A meta-analysis of randomized

controlled trials. Preventive Medicine Reports, 5, 150-159.

Jenkins, A. (2015). Guided meditation in the English language classroom. English Teaching Forum,

53(1), 35-38.

https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/53_1_teaching_techniques_ guided_

meditation_classroom.pdf

135
Jenkins, R. T. (2019). Developing the right mindset for learning: Teaching self-regulation, focus and

calm in the classroom. Impact, 5, 25-28. https://impact.chartered.college/article/developing-

rightmindset-learning-teaching-self-regulation-focus-calm-classroom/

Johnson, A. (2011). Belief systems, metaphysical paradigms, and educational practice. Encounter,

24(3). 8-14. https://great-ideas.org/Encounter/Johnson243.pdf

Johnson, A. (2014). Education as self-actualization. (Excerpt from book retrieved from academiz.edu.)

Education psychology: Theories of learning and human development: National Science Press.

https://www.academia.edu/9841205/EDUCATION_SELF_ACTUALIZATION_AND_

STUDENTS_INNER_LIVES

Jung, S., & Jun, J. (2020). Mental health and psychological intervention amid COVID-19

outbreak: Perspectives from South Korea. Yonsei Medical Journal, 61(4), 271-272.

https://doi.org/ 10.3349/ymj.2020.61.4.271

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2005). Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress,

pain, and illness. (15th anniversary ed.) Bantam Dell. (Original work published in 1990).

Kapur, S. (dir.) (2016, May 26). Science of compassion - a documentary on Amma, Sri Mata

Amritanandamayi Devi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsxZI0PBl_A

Kaur, I. (2016). When “unheard sound” (re)sounds: Affective listening, ethical affects, and embodied

experience in Sikh sabad kirtan. (Doctoral dissertation.) University of California, Berkeley.

Kiaei, Y. (2014). The relationship between metacognition, self-actualization, and well-being among

university students: Reviving self-actualization as the purpose of education. (Doctoral

dissertation.) Florida International University. https://doi.org/10.25148/etd.FI14040889

Kim, E. J., & Lim, J. T. (2007). Eco-early childhood education: A new paradigm of early childhood

education in South Korea. Young Children, 62(6), 42-45. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ784110

Kim, H.-J. (2019, May 31). Wellness tourism offers holistic getaway from city life. Yonhap News.

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20190524004300320

Kim, J.-S. (2015). The effect of the exercise performance of yoga and Pilates on the autonomic

nervous system. Journal for the Korea Academia-Industrial Cooperation Society, 16(7), 4450-

4458. https://doi.org/10.5762/KAIS.2015.16.7.4450

136
Kim, J.-W. (2015). 대학교의 인성교육진흥을 위한 교양교과 개발 및 효과성 연구 Efficacy

analysis of developed course for promoting character education with women’s university

students. Journal of Digital Convergence, 13(11), 481-491.

http://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO201501255363053.page

King, D. (2008). Rethinking claims of spiritual intelligence: A definition, model, and measure.

[Unpublished master’s thesis]. Trent University.

https://www.scienceopen.com/document?vid=d25347f9-077d-4ac2-a401-2c01dad40f73

King, D. & DeCicco, T. (2009) A Viable Model and Self-Report Measure of Spiritual

Intelligence. The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 28(1), p.68-85.

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Pergamon Press.

Kreplin, U., Farias, M., & Brazil, I. (2018). The limited prosocial effects of meditation: a systematic

review and meta-analysis. Scientific Reports, 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20299-z

Krieger, D. (2005). Teaching ESL versus EFL: Principles and practices. English Teaching

Forum,43(2). https://silviaspence.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/teflarticle.htm

Krishnamurti, J. (1953). Education and the significance of life. Harper.

Krstovic, B. (2020). Using mindfulness to improve learning: 40 meditation exercises for school and

home. Routledge.

Kumar, V. V., & Mehta, M. (2011). Gaining adaptive orientation through spiritual and emotional

intelligence. New Facets of Positivism, 281-301.

Kumar, R. (2014). Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. (4th ed.). Sage.

Lemay, V., Hoolahan, J., & Buchanan, A. (2019). Impact of a yoga and meditation

intervention on students’ stress and anxiety levels. American Journal of Pharmaceutical

Education, 83(50), 747-752. https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe7001

Ladner, M. (2020, March 27). In South Korea, collectivist culture is helping to contain COVID-19.

The Culture Trip. https://theculturetrip.com/asia/south-korea/articles/in-south-korea-

collectivistculture-is-helping-to-contain-COVID-19/

Langer, E. J., & Moldoveanu, M. (2000). The construct of mindfulness. Journal of Social Issues.

56(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00148

137
Limbrick, G. (2006). Hidden significance of sound. In D. Campbell (Ed.). Music: Physician for times

to come (Chapter 21). Quest Books.

Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage.

Lozanov, G. (1978). Suggestology and outlines of suggestopedy. Gordon and Breach Science

Publishers, Inc.

Mannello, G. (1964). College teaching without grades are conventional marking practices a deterrent

to learning? The Journal of Higher Education. 35(6), 328-334.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.1964.11773539

Markova, D. (2008) Spiritual courage: Leading from the inside out. In Houston, P., Blankstein, A., &

Cole, R. (Eds.), Spirituality in educational leadership, pp.37-48, Corwin Press.

Marshak, D. (2003). The common vision: Parenting and educating for wholeness. Montessori LIFE,

15(1), 21-25.

Maslow, A. (1943) A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396.

Mawere, M., Mubaya, T., van Reisen, M., van Stam, G. (2016). Maslow’s theory of human motivation

and its deep roots in individualism: Interrogating Maslow’s applicability in Africa. In M.

Mawere & A. Nhemachena (Eds.), Theory, knowledge, development and politics: What role

for the academy in the sustainability of Africa? Langaa RPCIG.

Mecklenbräuker, A., & Hager, W. (1984). Effects of mood on memory: Experimental tests of a

moodstate-dependent retrieval hypothesis and of a mood-congruity hypothesis. Psychological

Research, 46, 355-376. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00309069

Molasso, W. (2006). Exploring Frankl’s purpose in life with college students, Journal of College and

Character, 7(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.2202/1940-1639.1502

Montessori, M. (1917). The advanced Montessori method. Frederick A. Stokes.

Morgan, P. (2015). A brief history of the current reemergence of contemplative education. Journal

of Transformative Education, 13(3), 197–218. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344614564875

Nasel, D. (2004). Spiritual orientation in relation to spiritual intelligence: A new consideration of

traditional Christianity and New Age/individualistic spirituality. (Doctoral dissertation).

University of South Australia: Australia.

138
Nathawat, S. S (2001). IQ, EQ, and SQ: Relative importance. Indian Journal of Clinical Psychology,

28(2), 159-161.

Neal, J., Lichtenstein, B., & Banner, D. (1999). Spiritual perspectives on individual, organizational

and societal transformation. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 12(3), 175-186.

Nisbet, E. K. L., Zelenski, J. M., and Murphy, S. A. (2009). The nature relatedness scale: linking

individuals' connection with nature to environmental concern and behavior. Environment and

Behavior, 41, 715–740. doi: 10.1177/0013916508318748

Noble, K. (2000). Spiritual intelligence, A new frame of mind. Advanced Development, 9, 1-29.

OECD. (2019). Programme for international student assessment (PISA) results from PISA 2018. PISA

2018 Results, I-III. OECD. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/pisa-2018-results.htm

Oschman, J., Chevalier, G., & Brown, R. (2015). The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation,

the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory

and autoimmune diseases. Journal of Inflammation Research, 8, 83-96.

https://doi.org/10.2147/JIR.S69656

O’Sullivan, E. (2005). Emancipatory hope: Transformative learning and the “strange attractors.” In J.

P. Miller, S. Carsten, D. Denton, D. Orr, & I. C. Kate’s (Eds.) Holistic Learning and

Spirituality in Education. (pp. 69-78). State University of New York Press.

Palmer, P. (1999). Evoking the spirit in public education. Educational Leadership, 56(4), 6-11.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec98/vol56/num04/Evoking-the-

Spiritin-Public-Education.aspx

Park, H., & Yu, S. (2020). Mental healthcare policies in South Korea during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Mental Policy and Technology, 9, 279-280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2020.06.006

Park, J. (2014). Relationship between self-compassion, university life stress and stress coping strategy.

Stress, 22(3), 131-138.

https://www.dbpia.co.kr/pdf/pdfView.do?nodeId=NODE02481699&mark=0&useDate=&boo

kma rkCnt=2&ipRange=N&accessgl=Y&language=ko_KR

139
Park, J. (2001). Korean EFL learners’ politeness strategies in their complaints. The Linguistic

Association of Korean Journal, 9(1), 185-209.

http://www.korling.or.kr/est/est_5_view.php?num=263&PHPSESSID=c59ccf881fd4f909a068

123 c07d92c81

Park, Y.-C. (2020). History of Korean education and the fourth industrial revolution. History of

Education & Children’s Literature, 15(1), 431-444.

Park, Y.-M., & Song, M.-Y. (2005). Won Hyo’s one heart-mind and meditation on the one heart-mind

as part of holistic education. In J. Miller, S. Karsten, D. Denton, D. Orr, & I. C. Kates (Eds.),

Holistic learning and spirituality in education: Breaking new ground. (pp. 109-116). State

University of New York Press.

Parsons, C., Crane, C., Parsons, L., Fjorback, L., & Kuyken, W. (2017). Home practice in

mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction: A systematic

review and meta-analysis of participants’ mindfulness practice and its association with

outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 95, 29-41. https://doi.org/

10.1016/j.brat.2017.05.004

Patton, M. Q. (1980). Qualitative evaluation methods. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Patton, M. Q. (2002). Two decades of developments in qualitative inquiry: A personal, experiential

perspective. Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice, 1(3), 261-283.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325002001003636

Peerzadah, S. A., Mufti, S., & Nazir, N. A. (2018). Review and analysis of a new intelligence: The

spiritual intelligence. International Journal of Advance and Innovative Research, 5(4).

Perry-Parrish, C., Copeland-Linder, N., Webb, L., & Sibinga, E. (2016). Mindfulness-based

approaches for children and youth. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health

Care, 46(6), 172178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cppeds.2015.12.006

Ramsburg, J. T., & Youmans, R. J. (2014). Meditation in the higher education classroom: Meditation

training improves student knowledge retention during lectures. Mindfulness, 5, 431.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-013-0199-5

140
Ravilochan, T. (2021, April 5) Could the Blackfoot wisdom that inspired Maslow guide us now?,

GatherFor, https://gatherfor.medium.com/maslow-got-it-wrong-ae45d6217a8c

Rogers, C. (1980) A way of being. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books pp. 487–8.

Rogers, R. (2001). Reflection in higher education: A concept analysis. Innovative Higher Education,

26(1), 37–57. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1010986404527

Romanowski, M. (2004). Student obsession with grades and achievement. Kappa Delta Pi Record,

40(4), 149-151. https://doi.org/10.1080/00228958.2004.10516425

Rudge, L. (2008). Holistic education: An analysis of its pedagogical application [Unpublished

doctoral dissertation]. Ohio State University.

Salem, M. Q, Singh, R., & Singh, B. (2017). A study of spiritual intelligence of teacher educators.

International Journal of Current Multidisciplinary Studies, 3(4), 697-701

Sarath, E. (2003). Meditation in higher education: The next wave? Innovative Higher Education,

27(4), 215-233. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1024072313202

Scheier, M., Wrosch, C., Baum, A., Cohen, S., Martire, L., Matthews, K., Schulz, R., & Zdaniuk, B.

(2013). Life engagement test (LET). Measurement instrument database for the social science.

Retrieved from https://www.midss.org/content/life-engagement-test-let

Schmidt-Wilk, J., Heaton, D. P., & Steingard. D. (2000). Higher education for higher consciousness:

Maharishi University of Management as a model for spirituality in management education.

Journal of Management Education, Special Issue on Spirituality in Contemporary Work: Its

Place, Space, and Role in Management Education, 25(5), 580-611.

https://doi.org/10.1177/105256290002400505

Schwind, J., McCay, E., Benalands, H., Martin, L., Martin, J., & Binder, M. (2017). Mindfulness

practice as a teaching-learning strategy in higher education: A qualitative exploratory pilot

study. Nurse Education Today, 50, 92-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2016.12.017

Seligman, M., Ernst, R., Gillham, J., Reivich, K., & Linkins, M. (2009). Positive education: Positive

psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education, 35(3), 293-311.

https://doi.org/10.1080/03054980902934563

141
Sharma, G., & Yukhymenko, M. (2018). The relationship between college students’ sense of purpose

and degree commitment. Journal of College Student Development, 59(4) 486-491.

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-42075-008

Sherman, D., Hartson, K., Binning, K., Purdie-Vaughns, Garcia, J., Taborsky-Barba, Tomassetti, S.,

Nussbaum, A., & Cohen, G. (2013). Deflecting the trajectory and changing the narrative: How

self affirmation affects academic performance and motivation under identity threat.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(4), 591–618.

https://doi/10.1037/a0031495

Singh, A., & Makar, S. (2015). Measurement of spirituality: development and validation of a

questionnaire. XVI Annual conference proceedings, 806-847.

http://www.internationalconference.in/XVI_AIC/INDEX.HTM

Smith, B. H., Esat, G., & Kanojia, A. (2020). School-based yoga for managing stress and anxiety. In

C. Maykel & M. A. Bray (Eds.), Applying psychology in the schools series. Promoting mind–

body health in schools: Interventions for mental health professionals. American

Psychological Association, 201-216. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000157-0144

So, K., Hu, Y.-J., & Park, J. (2017). Making our schools more creative: Korea’s efforts and challenges.

The International Education Journal, 16(4), 77-88.

https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/IEJ/article/view/11592/11498

Sosteric, M. (2018). Everybody has a connection experience: Prevalence, confusions, interference, and

redefinition. Spirituality Studies, 4(2), 16-23.

https://doaj.org/article/fbf826b9ba704e04aaf0e08cbf162a3c

Spijkerman, M., Pots, W., & Bohlmeijer, E. (2016). Effectiveness of online mindfulness-based

interventions in improving mental health: A review and meta-analysis of randomized

controlled trials. Clinical Psychology Review 45, 102-114. https://doi.org/

10.1016/j.cpr.2016.03.009

Srivastava, P. S. (2016). Spiritual intelligence: An overview. International Journal of

Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 3(3), 224-227.

http://www.allsubjectjournal.com/archives/2016/vol3/issue3/3-3-74

142
Sun, Q. (2019). Eastern thoughts, western practices: Meditation and mindfulness relaxation activities

for learning and well-being in adult and higher education. Meditation and mindfulness in adult

education, 161, 45-55.

Suparman, I., & Hadi, N. (2017). Spiritual intelligence and foreign language anxiety of students at

Politeknik Tank Sultanah Bahiyah. Advanced Journal of Technical and Vocational Education,

1(3), 21-24. https://doi.org/10.26666/rmp.ajtve.2017.3.5

Tart, C. (1986). Consciousness, altered states, and worlds of experience. The Journal of Transpersonal

Psychology, 18(2), 159-170.

Taylor, E. (2008). Transformative learning theory. New Directions for Adult and Continuing

Education, 119, 5-15. http://anitacrawley.net/Resources/Articles/Taylor.pdf

Thanissaro, P. (2018). The spiritual benefits of meditation. Healing power of meditation: Wisdom and

encouragement from the meditation center of Alabama (pp. 43-55).

Thich Nhat Hanh. (1987). The miracle of mindfulness: An introduction to the practice of meditation.

Beacon Press. (Original work published in 1975).

Tolle, E. (2004) The power of now: A guide to spiritual enlightenment. New World Library.

Van der Velden, A., Kuyken, W., Wattar, Ul, Crane, C., Pallesen, K., Dahlgaar, J., Fjorback, L., &

Piet, J. (2015). A systematic review of mechanisms of change in mindfulness-based cognitive

therapy in the treatment of recurrent major depressive disorder. Clinical Psychology Review,

37, 26-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2015.02.001

Van Gordon, W., Shonin, E., Sumich, A., Sundin, E. C., & Griffiths, M. D. (2014). Meditation

awareness training (MAT) for psychological well-being in a sub-clinical sample of university

students: A controlled pilot study. Mindfulness, 5(4), 381-391. https://doi.org/

10.1007/s12671-012-0191-5

Vaughan, F. (2002). What is spiritual intelligence? Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 42(16), 16-33. -

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167802422003

Vieten, C., Wahbeh, H., Cahn, B. R., MacLean, K., Estrada, M., Mills, P., Murphy, M., Shapiro, S.,

143
 Radin, D., Josipovic, Z., Presti, D. E., Sapiro, M., Bays, J. C., Russell, P., Vago, D., Travis, F.,

Walsh, R., & Delorme, A. (2018). Future directions in meditation research: Recommendations

for expanding the field of contemplative science. PLOS ONE, 13(11), 1- 30.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205740

Waters, L., Barsky, A., Ridd, A., & Allen, K. (2015). Contemplative education: A systematic,

evidence-based review of the effect of meditation interventions in schools. Education

Psychology Rev., 27, 103-134. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-014-9258-2

Wigglesworth, C. (2011). Spiritual intelligence and the SQi assessment and its relationship to Ken

Wilber’s integral theory. Deep Change.

http://www.deepchange.com/IntegralSpiritualIntelligence2011.pdf

Wolman, R. (2001). Thinking with your soul: Spiritual intelligence and why it matters. Harmony

Books.

Wolman, R., (2019). Spirituality Profile Questionnaire and Interpretive Report.

http://psychomatrix.com

Yang, B. (2004). Holistic learning theory and implications for human resource development. Advances

in Developing Human Resources, 6(2), 241-262. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422304263431

Zohar, D. (1997) Rewiring the corporate brain: Using the new science to rethink how we structure

and lead organizations. Berret Koehler Publishers.

Zohar, D., & Marshall, I. (2000). SQ: Spiritual intelligence: The ultimate intelligence. Bloomsbury.

144
 Appendix A

A 2019 university EFL pilot study involving 102 university EFL students studied student

perceptions on the effect of brief MMA classroom interventions on mood. The independent variables

were two categories of MMA, music listening and breath control. The music listening MMA used two

instrumental piano pieces by composer Peter Kater, winner of multiple Grammy awards in the

category of New Age, “Two of Us” and “Raven’s Wings.” The two breathing activities included

counting breaths, and mindful breathing with silent affirmations. The measurement scale was the same

as the 2020 "How am I, Now?" survey, with students’ choosing a number between 1 and 10 to indicate

mood before and after the MMA. The results of the two music and breath MMA were very closely

correlated in terms of positive effect, with an average of nearly 80% of students reporting positive

mood change. The greatest positive change reported was 9 points, and the greatest negative change

was 4 points. One point change had the highest percentage of instances, and two points of change had

the second highest percentage of instances.

< Figure A1 >

2019 Pilot: Average of 4 Brief MMA Before/After Mood Change

145
< Table A1 >

Specifics of Mood Change: Music Listening “Raven’s Wings” N = 92

Change in Mood Number of Responses Percentage of Total

(Before/After)
-2 1 1%

-1 5 5%

No change 16 17 %

+1 33 36 %

+2 23 25 %

+3 5 5%

+4 4 5%

+5 4 5%

+7 1 1%

< Table A2 >

Specifics of Mood Change: Breathing – Counting (with waterfall sound) N = 58

Change in Mood Number of Responses Percentage of Total

(Before/After)

-2 1 2%

No change 13 22 %

+1 17 29 %

+2 23 40 %

+3 3 5%

+4 1 2%

146
< Table A3 >

Specifics of Mood Change: Breathing – with Silent Affirmation N = 98

Change in Mood Number of Responses Percentage of Total

(Before/After)
-4 1 1%

-2 1 1%

-1 1 1%

No change 14 14 %

+1 46 47 %

+2 22 23 %

+3 9 9%

+4 2 2%

+7 1 1%

+9 1 1%

147
 Appendix B

Table B1 gives the results of the SPSS (ver. 21.0) correlational analysis using the conversation

class connection surveys. It shows a correlation between nature connection and people connection,

with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.461 and p-value of 0.000, as well as an emerging

relationship between mindfulness (excluding the mindlessness section) and nature connection that has

a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.487 and p-value of 0.000, and a relationship between people

connection and mindfulness at 0.398 and 0.003, respectively. The analysis results point to nature

connection and people connection having a positive effect on other variables. The correlational

analysis here shows the strongest relationship is between nature connection and mindfulness at 0.487,

the second strongest relationship is between nature connection and people connection at 0.461, and the

third strongest relationship is people connection and mindfulness at 0.398. While there is evidence of

correlation for this group, because of the small sample size it is not likely to indicate the possibility of

statistical significance within in the general population.

< Table B1 >

People/Nature/Mindfulness Survey + Class Final Grade: Correlational Analysis (5 variables, N=54)
Final People Nature Mindless Mindfulness
Grade Connection Connection Section (Inverted) Section

Final Grade Pearson

coefficient 1 -.030 .046 .025 .026

p-value .831 .740 .857 .854

People Pearson 1 .461** -.242 .398**

Connection coefficient
.000 .077 .003
p-value

Nature Pearson
Connection coefficient 1 -.072 .487**

p-value .605 .000

Mindless Pearson 1 .006

Section (Inverted) coefficient
.964
p-value
Mindfulness
Pearson
Section
coefficient
1
p-value
**Correlation coefficient is very significant with 99% confidence level.

148
 Appendix C

< Table C1 >

Participants by Department

Department (Korean) Department (English) TOEIC Class Conversation Class Combined #

ARTS & HUMANITIES:

항공서 Airline Service 1 1 2

경정 Business 1 . 1
경통복부 Business, Trade, and Social 3 . 3
Welfare
거뮤디 Communication Design 2 . 2
디자인 Design 4 . 4

영영문 English Language and Literature . 2 2

글로벌 Global 8 8 16
어문 Global Language and Literature . 1 1
음악 Music 2 . 2

행정 Public Administration 1 18 19
행정부 Public Administration Division 6 . 6

행정전 Public Management Info. System . 25 25

스포츠산 Sports 1 . 1
TOTAL A&H: 13 DEPARTMENTS 29 55 84
STEM (SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING & MATH):
항기설 Aircraft System Design . 1 1
건축공 Architectural Engineering . 1 1
화신고부 Chemical and Materials 58 . 58
Engineering
화공 Chemical Biotechnology . 1 1

건환도부 Civil, Environmental, and Urban 8 4 12

Transportation Engineering
토목공학과 Civil Infrastructure Engineering . 1 1
전기 Electricity . 1 1
전자 Electronics 31 1 32
항공 Flight 1 3 4
의료 IT Medical IT 1 . 1
나화소 Nano Chemical New Materials 1 . 1
신소재 New Materials 2 . 2
TOTAL STEM: 12 DEPARTMENTS 102 13 115
자공 Free Major . 1 1

OVERALL TOTAL 26 DEPARTMENTS 131 69 200

149
 ABSTRACT

대학교 EFL 수업 중 명상과 마음 챙김:

한국 학생들 경험에 의한 연구
Anna Cybele Paschke
영미언어문학과
건국대학교 대학원

접점에 모이는 평행적인 복합방법 연구는 2020년 가을학기 15주 동안 200가지 다양한
전공을 가진 한국 지방 대학교의 토익 클라스와 영어회화 클라스를 신청한 학생들로부터
조사되었다. 연구는 대학교 다른 두 종류의 EFL 클라스들에 대하여 명상과 마음 챙김 활
동들이 현존하는 구조들을 정신과 배움의 지지로 통합하는 것을 모델로 하고 있다. 영성
지능, 자아실현, 탈바꿈(변화) 그리고 정의적 여과 가설 등 이론들은 MMA가 EFL 학생들
에게 최대 잠재력에 도달하는 것을 도와주는 단서들을 탐구한다. 토익 클라스의 해결책
은 간단한 2가지 MMA, 음악 듣기와 숨 고르기로 이루어 진다. 해결책을 행할 시 조사는
MMA 자각통찰력이 그들의 기분에 얼마나 효과를 주고 더불어 초점, 스트레스, 평온, 유
익함의 변화를 수집하여 이용하였다. 회화 클라스의 해결책은 3가지 MMA 유념적 관계
가 교육목적 실현의 틀어짐을 완성하는 전과 후의 반응들에 관련하였다. 과제 레포트들
은 MMA경험에 관련된 반복적이고 예지된 주제들에 의해 분석되었다. 결과를 계산한다
면 아우트로 조사와 인터뷰들은 학기 말에 두 타입의 클라스들이 회고하는 통찰력과 함
께 행하여 졌다. 모든 조사들은 개방형 질문과 폐쇄형 구성방식으로 양적과 질적인 데이
터를 산출하는 부가방법을 이용하였다. 그리하여 학생들의 범위와 특성에 대한 인식이
둘 다 탐구되었다. 조사 결과, 대다수의 학생들이 토익 클라스 MMA가 기분 조건, 평온
함과 집중능력의 향상, 스트레스를 감소, 학습에 대한 도움 등에 긍정적인 영향을 미친다
는 것을 보여준다. 회화 클라스 데이터 결과는 학생들이 다른 사람들과 또는 자연계와
교감하려는 능력과 욕구의 변화를 보여준다. 교육과정의 향상을 위한 현실적인 교육적
영향과 혜택을 제외한 교실 분위 개선도 토론되었다. 영성지능 지수, 자아실현 공통부분
개념화, 영성지능 이론을 연결한 이론적인 영향들도 토론되었다.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

키워드: 명상, 마음 챙김, EFL(영어를 외국어로 하는 비원어민), 연결(교감), 영성지능

150

View publication stats