The emergentism in language learning: the study of a later adult student

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present a case study of the learning process that a Brazilian later adult student presents when learning English as a foreign language so that it can be characterized the theory or theories that underlie this student’s paths for learning. The reports of this student’s diary class, written along an English course, where analyzed in terms of the traits of the emergentism theory for language learning and the complex thought. The evidences from the data show that the student applied a variety of resources to learn the target language, characterizing a complex process which encompasses more than a single theory of language learning.