As we take Nicolaides' (2003) view on language learning, we understand that such a process happens through social interaction, as long as there are opportunities for this to happen. Based on that, this research has been elaborated based on Sociocultural Theory (TSC) (VYGOTSKY, 1998) tenets, which take social interactions as fundamental tools for learning-and-development (NEWMAN; HOLZMAN, 2002). In this context, learning takes place when knowledge is built through mediation. Hence, in order to promote significant learning experiences (AUSUBEL, 2003; MOREIRA, 2006), Mediated Development (POEHNER & INFANTE, 2015) and Mediated Learning Experience (FEURSTEIN, FEURSTEIN & FALIK, 2010) theories were taken into consideration to stimulate learning during one-to-one teacher-student interactions in a high school context. This work presents a few results of a PhD research, in which we seeked to understand the outcomes of the implementation of mediation criteria (FEURSTEIN, FEURSTEIN & FALIK, 2010), more specifically with third year students in a federal public school in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Hence, we considered the need to break away from banking education (FREIRE, 2013) as well as change its classificatory, sentential and terminal idea, to encourage mediating and emancipatory educational practices (QUEIROZ & GODOY, 2006). The data were gathered from students' narratives about their experiences, as well as from WhatsApp chats and interviews. The results showed the development of students' autonomy in Raya and Vieira's (2021, p. 5) terms, as an empowering approach that seeks to go against dominant values, as well as an individual competence to manage learning, as well as a collective interest in the service of a more democratic life, towards a vision of autonomy within a sociocultural perspective.
