(Des)encontros e (des)encantos: histórias de vida e experiências de idosas com a aprendizagem de língua inglesa

Abstract

In this study, I analyze the life stories and experiences of four female students enrolled in an English language extension course for seniors. Considering the way these students' stories intertwine with the learning of the English Language (EL), this work investigates which narratives are embedded in this process and how these stories manifest in the language learning experience. Additionally, I seek to understand how personal stories have influenced or continue to influence the research participants to begin learning EL; investigate situations that, as experiences, have touched or continue to touch the subjects and prompted movements in EL learning; and apprehend, through discourse, the shifts in identity. For this purpose, I draw on studies about active aging, identity shifts, experiences, and memories. The data were generated from an open self-completion questionnaire, which included profile questions about the participants. Besides the open questionnaire, the focus group technique was used as a data collection instrument, with the purpose of holistically analyzing and understanding the stories of the study participants. This qualitative research employs principles and procedures of Discourse Analysis to identify and analyze meaningful units that illustrate which stories are part of the knowledge construction of elderly students in the EL learning process, thus identifying a subject that is beyond what they say. The results suggest that the stories reveal how the students recognize themselves in the learning of the English Language and how experiences are incorporated into the learning process. Furthermore, the stories point to fruitful paths through which the students can re-signify their own learning process.