Rethinking children's socioemotional learning in vulnerable contexts: What about EFL pre-service teachers' perceptions?

Scientific evidence has shown that Chilean children in residential care homes have gone through several adverse childhood experiences, which significantly impact their socioemotional development. This article purports to explore EFL pre-service teachers' perceptions of the connection between playful and multisensory teaching practices and the socioemotional development of children whose rights have been infringed. This qualitative exploratory and descriptive research is conducted at Universidad Austral de Chile. The study sample is composed of eleven EFL pre-service teachers who participated in the Project "Playing with my Senses in English’’. Data are collected through semi-structured interviews that were further studied using the content analysis method. The data analysis shows a direct relationship between playful and multisensory teaching practices and children’s socioemotional development. Results show that playful and multisensory teaching practices, grounded in the foreign language as a new tool of communication, lovingness, motivation and a sense of community, foster children’s socioemotional development.