Project Work: Exploring Language Awareness in EFL Second Graders

Abstract

This case study research aimed to characterize how second graders start developing language awareness when they work in projects. The theoretical constructs that frame this report are: Language awareness, language awareness in second language learning, and language awareness in young learners.Analyzed from the perspectives of Muñoz(2014), Corcoll (2013), Young and Helot (2002), Ellis (2012) and the Association for Language awareness (2012). This study was conducted in a public school in Bogota, Colombia, with second graders from 7 to 9 years old. The instruments implemented to gather data -interviews, artifacts and video recordings- informed about students’ sensitivities towards language, students’ perceptions, and learning processes. This study revealed that students carried out several strategies to transform input into intake. First, they looked for opportunities to listen and speak in English through habits, cognates and songs enclosed in project work. Then, mother tongue was atool that learners used to understand secondlanguage. Finally, language engagement enhanced curiosity and affection towards language and their learning process.