Autonomous learning of children as language learners in a bilingual teaching context through a self-access center

Authors

  • Daniele Blos Instituição Evangélica de Novo Hamburgo
  • Christine Siqueira Nicolaides UFRJ

Abstract

This article is part of a larger research project which aims at analyzing the autonomous development process of three learners from year 5 in an elementary school which offers a bilingual
curriculum (Portuguese/English). From an ethnographic perspective, the data were generated during a school trimester in which the learners/
participants went to weekly English classes in self-access centers. The aim of the tasks in the self-access centers was to provide interaction
among learners while co-constructing dialogues, with or without teacher’s intervention, having in mind concepts from the sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1984) as mediation, internalization, zone of proximal development and scaffolding. The research is guided by the assumption
that learning occurs during performance (Swain and Lapkin, 1998) and principles of sociocultural perspectives I and II of autonomy proposed by Oxford (2003). For this article, though, data of only one participant are presented, Gabriel, whose trajectory goes from a shy and unmotivated learner to an active and responsible learner and someone better accepted in his social group.

Key words: autonomy, self-access, language learning.

Author Biographies

Daniele Blos, Instituição Evangélica de Novo Hamburgo

Daniele Blos é professora de língua inglesa para crianças na Instituição Evangélica de Novo Hamburgo. Possui mestrado pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul e tem concentrado sua pesquisa na aprendizagem de inglês por meio de centros de auto-acesso e em contexto de educação bilíngue.

Christine Siqueira Nicolaides, UFRJ

Christine Nicolaides é professor adjunto da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro na área de língua inglesa. Ela possui Doutorado em Letras pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul com  concentração em Estudos da Linguagem, tendo feito doutorado sanduíche em Hong Kong. Possui larga experiência em ensino de língua inglesa tanto para adultos como para adolescentes, na rede pública e privada. Seu interesse tem sido o estudo do desenvolvimento da autonomia em aprendizes e futuros professores de línguas em uma perspectiva sociocultural.

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Published

2011-04-06

How to Cite

Blos, D., & Nicolaides, C. S. (2011). Autonomous learning of children as language learners in a bilingual teaching context through a self-access center. Calidoscópio, 9(1), 15–27. Retrieved from https://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/calidoscopio/article/view/680

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2011): January/April

Section

Articles

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