Between observing, learning and telling:

Children’s narratives About Learning English

Abstract

The present study aims to analyze learning English narratives of children in the early years of a public elementary school in Belo Horizonte. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to verify how these students make sense of their experiences at the presented school. The study is based on the experience concept by Miccoli (2010), in which experiences show cognitive, social and affective nature aspects, and is also based on Larsen-Freeman (1997) contributions, which allows us to understand second language acquisition as a complex system. The work aims to investigate, in the reports obtained, factors related to the learning process of these children, their motivations, emotions and difficulties in the initial experiences, as well as to value children as reflective beings in the construction of their identities. As a research methodology, the study describes, in a qualitative way, the experiences of a group of children in the 3rd year of elementary school, based on narratives made in the classroom about learning experiences. Although the reports deal with the perspectives of children aged just over eight years old, the texts bring significant aspects of these experiences. By examining children's perspectives on their experiences with learning the English language, we provide this group with the opportunity to be active and reflective subjects of their own learning. The data obtained demonstrate that language learning is associated with children’s affective experiences in the school context and provide a contextualized understanding of the learning process from the students’ own perspective. The results showed cognitive and social experiences as well as the importance of language for future experiences.