Extramural English activities: an investigation of upper secondary students' extramural English activities

Abstract: English has become more accessible, thanks to globalization and advancement of technology. We are daily exposed to English in various ways, through technology and multimedia such as social media, Internet, video games, music or movies. This kind of engagement with English- related material is called “extramural English”, activities that one engages with outside of school. Previous studies have shown how children and teens engage with English activities outside of school. Sundqvist & Sylvén conducted a study on teenagers’ extramural English with focus on their computer use outside of school. In this study, the focus will be on upper secondary students’ extramural English and their attitude toward learning English from extramural English activities and in-class settings. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 74 students from 3 different classes. The result reveals that students come in contact with extramural English on a regular basis, compared to Sundqvist’s research (2014, 2008) it shows that the older they get, the more extramural English they get in contact with. The result also suggests that students are generally positive about how they are acquiring and learning English. It is important to point out that students today engage with much more English outside of school than in school, therefore English teachers should be aware of students’ extramural English, as it can help the teachers to discover students’ weaknesses and strengths in how they acquire language.