Video‐Making in English Language Learning: A Kaleidoscope to Understand the Vietnamese Child's Self‐Authoring at Home

ABSTRACT

From a Bakhtinian theoretical lens, children's ‘self‐authoring’ is an ongoing process in which they articulate external resources and integrate them into their ideas to develop new knowledge of themselves, people, places and things. This paper features the case of Nhi, a Vietnamese five‐year‐old girl, who authored the self in her English video‐making at home. Nhi's English videos were gathered in naturalistic observation and were analysed in a chain with previous and following conversational narratives. Two narrative chains of her videos and narratives were selected to feature how English video production opened a hybrid space for the child to continue dialoguing with others and develop ideas of the self. The study highlights the child as a proficient and competent meaning‐maker in video production and English language learning and emphasises the need to build a sense of engagement for adults to understand and collaborate with children in the (post)digital era.