“Words are repeated in your mind and then you remember”: Young learners’ beliefs about learning English at the beginning of Finnish basic education

Abstract

This article presents a study that aims to shed light on how beliefs about learning English are manifested in the reflections of young learners of English at the beginning of formal language teaching in grade 1 of primary school in Finland. Beliefs are studied in light of the contextual approaches by conducting a thematic analysis of group discussions held with young learners of English (n = 39) in grade 1 at age 7. Two themes were found in this study: 1) Learning English is remembering words and 2) Learning English is possible outside school. Above all, the findings suggest that young learners' beliefs about language learning are shaped early on by learning experiences in and outside of school. The study contributes to the yet rather sparse number of studies exploring Finnish young learners of English and provides insight into how pedagogy employed at the beginning of formal language teaching could be developed to better respond to learners’ emerging beliefs about themselves as language learners.