Exploring young Chilean learners’ ‘thick’ voices about English language learning

Abstract This paper aims to explore the perspectives of Chilean primary school children about their English education. A hermeneutic approach was adopted in this longitudinal study to foreground the voices of children. Altogether 9 children (between the ages of 7–9) from two underprivileged schools in Santiago, Chile, participated in the study. The first author spent eight months in the field teaching and researching at the same time. The research question in this paper aims to address the views of children about their English learning experiences, and based on these insights, some pedagogical implications are drawn for the context and beyond. Participatory methods for data collection such as conversations wrapped around information gap activities, role-play games, drawing tasks and reflection tasks were employed to allow the children to express themselves in a relaxed, trusting and comfortable environment. The findings reveal that young children are articulate and capable of reflecting on what they enjoy in their English learning and why. This study highlights the importance of incorporating children’s voices into pedagogical decisions in English language teaching and learning.