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Today, we globally observe a sharp increase in learners’ engagement in extramural (out-of-class) English (EE; Sundqvist 2009). This undoubtedly affords new opportunities for, but also challenges to, English language teaching (ELT) and learning. To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore this topic from a cross-national perspective. Upper...
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... the sociodemographic information shared (Table 4), the four samples are comparable in terms of age, 1 the majority of participants identifying as female, and the L1 being the country's majority language: German in Table 1: EE practices and assumed influence on learning How common are the following out-of-school English activities among your students? ...Similar publications
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... Only half of the French EFL university professors in Toffoli and Sockett's (2015) study reported having engaged in bridging activities, which included integrating online resources into teaching materials or designing activities to raise learners' awareness of the relevance of everyday experiences to English learning. Few studies have examined the nature of teachers' digital bridging initiatives, i.e., teaching practices that involve the use of digital resources to synergise students' in-class and out-of-class learning, and the influencing factors (Schurz & Sundqvist, 2022). The study aimed to fill the research gap by answering the following research questions: RQ1: How do second language teachers engage in digital bridging initiatives? ...
... Scholars have put forth two major arguments in support of bridging in-class and out-of-class learning. One argument lies in bridging the authenticity gap and "motivational dissonances" of the two learning contexts to the effect of boosting in-class engagement and deepening knowledge construction (Henry et al., 2018;Michel et al., 2021;Schurz & Sundqvist, 2022). These scholars advocate integrating digital wild artefacts into the curriculum and connecting class contents with students' out-of-class experiences (Godwin-Jones, 2019;Hafner et al., 2015). ...
... These scholars emphasize reorienting class instruction towards supporting learners' everyday practices in the target language and raising their metacognitive awareness and metalinguistic skills for effective participation to the effect of empowering learners to extend learning beyond the classroom (Eskildsen et al., 2019;Thorne & Reinhardt, 2008). Schurz and Sundqvist (2022) is so far the only study that examined the nature of language teachers' digital bridging initiatives. Surveying 534 secondary school English teachers from four European countries on their perceptions and practices of connecting English language instruction with students' extramural English, the researchers identified three factors: perceived importance of establishing the connection, bringing extramural English material to class, and compensating for the weakness of informal extramural English language use. ...
Given the significant and unique contributions of both in‐class and out‐of‐class learning, pedagogical initiatives that connect learners' experiences across these two learning spheres would bolster language development. Technology can catalyse the integration. Whether and how teachers utilize this potential of technology to engage in digital bridging initiatives, initiatives that support the connection of students' in‐class and out‐of‐class learning experiences with digital resources, deserve attention. Thematic analysis of 13 interview responses and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of 1101 survey responses of primary and secondary school Chinese EFL teachers unravelled two dimensions of digital bridging initiatives: inward bridging practices and outward bridging practices. SEM analysis of the survey responses further revealed various determinants of teachers' bridging initiatives, underscoring the strong and direct influence of teachers' awareness of students' out‐of‐class digital behaviours and the mediated influence of school culture. The study further highlighted the prominence of teacher internal factors, such as educator‐oriented identity belief, awareness of students' out‐of‐class digital behaviours, and TPACK, for outward bridging. The study advocates attention to the nuances of teachers' digital bridging initiatives and influencing factors across contexts.
... It should be noted that Sundqvist's study was conducted more than a decade ago. Yet, more recently, Schurz and Sundqvist (2022) reported that L2 teachers from four different European countries (Austria, France, Sweden, and Finland) did not believe reading in English was a common habit among middle and high school students. Our results align with those of Schwarz (2020), as most 25 of our participants claimed to read in English, although we did not distinguish between online and offline, or digital and printed texts. ...
This study examines the effects of informal English exposure on vocabulary, grammar, and writing. A total of 178 Galician adolescent learners of English completed a placement test, a language background and an out-of-school English activities questionnaire, and three language tasks: a grammaticality judgement test, a vocabulary test, and a writing task. Findings revealed that the most common out-of-school activities were listening to music, watching films without subtitles, and gaming. Positive correlations were found between learners’ performance on the language tasks and the activities of watching films without subtitles, watching films with captions, reading, writing, and, to a smaller extent, listening to music, gaming, and speaking online. Gender-related differences were noticed in the frequency of some out-of-school activities and the correlations with learners’ performance on the three language tasks.
... Extramural English (EE) is the term used to refer to the English that students encounter outside of the classroom, for example, when students watch TV, play video games, read comics, or listen to music in English. Although mostly neglected in the literature, EE is common and on the rise in Europe and beyond (Schurz & Sundqvist, 2022). Some empirical studies have shown that it has an impact on learners' proficiency (Kuppens, 2010;Lindgren & Muñoz, 2013;Peters, 2018;Soto-Corominas et al., 2024) and that some children can even acquire a certain level of English proficiency via EE before they receive English lessons (De Wilde et al., 2022;Muñoz et al., 2018;Puimège & Peters, 2019). ...
Although multiple factors influence language proficiency in instructed settings, the prevalence of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) research in recent decades has placed intensity of exposure (via CLIL lessons) at center stage, sidelining other variables. This study aims to rectify this by examining the impact of CLIL alongside three additional factors: extramural English (EE), socioeconomic status (SES), and non-verbal intelligence (NVI). Specifically, this study analyses the interplay of these variables in the proficiency of 171 young English learners (aged 10–11 years) in Navarre, Spain. The participants were divided into a low-intensity (LI) ( n = 54) group and a high-intensity (HI) ( n = 117) group depending on exposure to English in school. Results indicate that HI learners are superior in reading, and even more clearly in speaking. EE is very frequent in both groups but more abundant among HI learners, and it shows several positive associations with learners’ scores. Higher NVI levels positively correlate with all skills in both groups, except for speaking, which appears to be affected by EE and, to a lesser extent, by SES.
... Research has indicated that EE has the potential to foster EFL learners' language proficiency (for reviews, see Schurz & Sundqvist, 2022;Sundqvist, 2024;Wouters et al., 2024). More importantly, "the amount and type of informal exposure learners have to English outside the classroom can affect the degree to which collocations are learned", as suggested by González Fernández and Schmitt (2015, p. 110). ...
... Altogether, this means that in settings where English is easily accessible to anyone, including children, EE is an ID variable that will play a role in learning even from an early age, and as a consequence, something that both researchers and teachers will need to acknowledge and be aware of (cf. Schurz & Sundqvist, 2022;Schwarz, 2020;and Sundqvist & Sylvén, 2016). ...
In light of findings from research on informal foreign/second language (L2) learning, with a focus on English as a target language and using the concept of extramural English (EE), this position paper argues that learners’ engagement in EE (through activities such as watching television or films or playing digital games) constitutes an important individual difference (ID) variable that needs to be included in studies that aim to measure L2 English proficiency or development. In addition, it is suggested that if EE as an ID variable is left out in such studies in the future, the rationale for exclusion should be clearly stated. This position paper also discusses research instruments and methods used in this area of research, the benefits and drawbacks of different methods, and identifies research gaps and under-researched learner groups. Further, it is argued that in some contexts, EE has replaced classroom activities as the starting point for and foundation of learning English.
... Beside the present study, very few have investigated EE crossnationally. An exception is Schurz and Sundqvist (2022), a study which spanned Austria, Finland, France, and Sweden. Their focus was on comparing English secondary-school teachers' self-reports about their students' EE practices, and the estimated influence of students' EE on teaching and learning. ...
This article comprises two international studies. Study 1 aimed to develop a scale to measure the frequency of learners' voluntary, informal, out‐of‐school engagement with English, so‐called Extramural English (EE) activities. It involved three stages – pilot study, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis – followed by measuring the test–retest reliability and known‐groups validity of the scale. L2 English learners ( N = 907; mean age: 17) from Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) and Turkey participated. The analyses led to a 32‐item EE Scale that loaded onto eight factors: EE Digital Creativity , Gaming , Internalized , Music , Niche Activities , Reading and Listening , Social Interaction , and Viewing . Study 2, in which the scale was implemented, aimed to explore the frequency of EE activities and examined whether EE predicts learners' perceived speaking ability in different settings. Learners from Scandinavia ( N = 197) and Asia ( N = 125; China and Turkey) participated. Data analyses showed that both samples engaged most frequently in EE Music , Viewing and Reading and Listening . Ordinal regression analysis revealed that EE predicts perceived speaking ability in both contexts, but differently so. Thus, EE seems to play different roles for learning English in the different settings. Implications are discussed regarding the context‐specific nature of EE.
... To address these gaps, the present project implemented speeded accuracy tests and nonspeeded accuracy tests among learners at the age of 13 to 14 years in countries differing in the type of learning environment provided, Austria and Sweden. Austria represents a rather traditional EFL setting; Sweden, on the other hand, has been found to provide more implicit learning conditions through both the type of instruction and the use of English in the learners' spare time (e.g., Schurz & Coumel, 2020;Schurz & Sundqvist, 2022). ...
... Besides the apparently more implicit type of instruction in Sweden, learners' recreational use of English on average seems to be considerably more common there than in Austria (e.g., p < .001, d = 0.4 as reported by Schurz & Sundqvist, 2022). This is because in Sweden, foreign language media, such as movies and series screened on TV and online streaming services like Netflix are typically supplemented with Swedish subtitles rather than being dubbed in Swedish. ...
... Even though instruction in Austria often starts at the age of 6 years, the amount of English education children receive in primary school (years 1-4) has been found to be very limited , and more regular and outcome-oriented instruction begins only in lower secondary school, at the age of 10-11 years. Additionally, regular recreational use of English typically seems to start in teenage years (Schurz & Sundqvist, 2022;see Language Learning Environments in Austria and Sweden). Despite these speculations about Austrian learners having drawn primarily on automatized rather than implicit knowledge in performing the EIT, ONT, and the TGJTs, this explanation must be taken with a grain of salt. ...
The present study administered six test instruments to 13‐ to 14‐year‐old learners of English in Austria and Sweden ( N = 213), countries offering settings with more explicit and implicit learning environments, respectively. Confirmatory Factor Analyses for Austria yielded a factor comprising timed grammaticality judgment tests, an oral narrative test, and elicited imitation, labelled in this study Automatized and/or Implicit Knowledge, and a factor including an untimed grammaticality judgment test and a metalinguistic knowledge test, named in this study Explicit Knowledge. In the Swedish context, goodness‐of‐fit indices provided some evidence that a single‐factor model shows a better fit, although a comparison of this model with two‐factor models did not reach statistical significance. The findings point to the potential importance of considering the specificities of a learning environment in interpreting learner achievement on measures of the implicit versus explicit knowledge spectrum.
... In contrast to the practices of central and southern Europe, English-language popular culture in the form of television series and feature films are not subject to dubbing in the Nordic countries, a fact which is repeatedly lauded as the key to English-language proficiency among Nordic citizens (Preisler 2003;Rindal 2015;Schurz and Sundqvist 2022;Simensen 2010;Þórarinsdóttir 2011;Tyrkkö et al. 2021 -to name but a few). For example, the website, "How Widely Spoken" (www. ...
... Now, the domains of English from above have been blurred by English from below as mainstream popular culture, which may previously have been a vehicle for English to enter into Nordic society from below, but is now permeating and even dictating what was previously considered English from above. This is evident, for example, in the increasingly salient orientation toward and integration of popular culture phenomena in tertiary English studies programs (as presented earlier), and in primary and secondary education, where targeted norms "may in practice be overruled by varieties that the pupils are exposed to outside the educational system" (Simensen 2010, 474; see also Breivik 2019;Hult 2017;Jensen 2017;Leona et al. 2021;Schurz and Sundqvist 2022;Sundqvist 2009Sundqvist , 2020. Participation in English-language popular culture has also become a Nordic industry, particularly in the field of entertainment, with Nordic actors, directors, producers, musicians, artists, and digital and social media entrepreneurs making outstanding contributions. ...
... However, this view does not seem to be shared by teachers. In a study of teachers' perception of the effects of EE on their students' language learning, the authors found a weak or even negative relation between EE and grammar skills (Schurz & Sundqvist, 2022). In terms of writing proficiency, Olsson (2012) found that frequent EE activities may have an impact on writing proficiency in English (e. g., sentence length, use of infrequent vocabulary), and Sundqvist (2019) found that frequent EE use led to more advanced vocabulary in free writing essays. ...
Frequent engagement in English extramural activities (i.e., activities that take place outside the classroom) has been found to have a positive impact on EFL learners' vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. In the present study, we aim to extend our knowledge of the possible impact of extramural activities into the realm of second-language writing. Specifically, we investigate the relationship among a number of English extramural activities and two aspects of writing development: lexical diversity and noun phrase complexity. The data are drawn from the Swedish Learner English Corpus (SLEC) which includes texts produced by Swedish secondary school students. The corpus also includes information on how many hours per week students (i) engage in conversations in English, (ii) communicate in English while playing computer/video games, (iii) read in English, (iv) spend time on social media with English content, (v) and watch TV shows or movies in English. The results show that reading in English leads to higher frequency of adjectival modification, whereas conversing in English and watching TV programs positively impact lexical diversity. The results of the study have implications for discussions about the role of L2 classroom instruction vis-à-vis learners' extramural activities.
... Attributions have been shown to correlate with motivation and outcomes in learners, though not always (Cochran et al., 2010;Nakamura, 2018), and their interactions with EE, as well as the effect of these interactions on learning outcomes, have been little studied, and then often with a focus on teachers' attributions regarding their students' EE practices (e.g., Schurz & Sundqvist, 2022;Sundqvist, 2019). Much like self-efficacy, obtaining a better understanding of students' attributions is useful because these can influence the extent to which they engage in certain activities when it comes to learning (Henry, 2014). ...
This article reports on a mixed-methods study regarding the extent to which the extramural English (EE), external attributions, self-efficacy (concerning EFL reading, speaking, writing, and listening skills), and gender of 42 students, learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in a Norwegian upper-secondary school, predicted their EFL learning outcomes. Data on participants’ EE (receptive and productive), external attributions, and self-efficacy were collected through a questionnaire and language diaries, while their learning outcomes were measured through a language proficiency test, mock exam, in-depth project, and receptive and productive vocabulary tests. The data revealed several interesting findings, including participants’ receptive EE statistically significantly and negatively predicting their productive vocabulary test scores, whereas their writing self-efficacy and attributions to specifically literature, TV, and film statistically significantly and positively predicted them. Moreover, neither receptive nor productive EE was found to mediate the relationship between self-efficacy, external attributions, and learning outcomes.
