ABSTRACT
This article is based on the need to understand to what extent, in Brazil, the teaching of English in early childhood education and the early years of elementary school has been finding room in the constitution of professionals in the area taking as well as other theoretical and epistemological positions and, thus reorienting the gaze involved in this context, including the author. By analyzing the data from two sources, a discipline offered in an undergraduate course and an extension course, both concerning the teaching of an additional language in childhood, the aim was to identify meanings attributed by teachers regarding assuming different attitudes and reasons for teaching English or language education in and for childhood. For this, we searched in the words of teachers who work in the area, linguistic marks that signal postures adopted in the activities developed in the context of teacher’s education that justify the usage of new terminologies. It was also verified the modes of organization of the referred discipline, given that changes made in its program can collaborate to better visualize emerging needs regarding discussions that make more sense to what has been experienced in English classes in the early years. It is concluded that the term ‘linguistic education in childhood with children’ has been preferred over ‘English teaching for children’ since reflections promoted in the field build an understanding that educating through language expands the possibilities of teaching it from a broader and sensitive linguistic approach.
Keywords:
pre-primary; English language; linguistic education