This thesis explores the frequency of English-language (EL) media-usage by Croatian high school students in the city of Split, and its influence on English foreign language (EFL) competences. In addition, this relationship is also explored in comparison to students’ exposure to Italian-language (IL) media and its influence on Italian foreign language (IFL), where the Italian language is taken as both an example of another FL taught within the Croatian educational system, as well as a language which has had considerable influence in the region of Dalmatia due to historical reasons and geographical proximity. The study includes an overview of relevant literature on SLA, explicit and implicit leaning, the past and present statuses of the EL and IL, external and internal factors of L2 acquisition, out-of-school EL exposure via different media and its effects on formal language learning outcomes. The research was carried out by means of questionnaires administered to over 650 students of 8 general-education and vocational schools in the urban area of the city of Split, Croatia. Along with a descriptive analysis of the results, inferential tests of statistical significance were carried out to reach conclusions on the relationship between the EFL competences of students and the out-of-school exposure to EL media. Finally, the EL media-related influence on EFL competences was also compared to the influence Italian media has on IFL competences, to gain insight into the dissimilar media presence of these languages and stress the need for different approaches in the process of formal language learning. The results highlight watching EL audio-visual material and listening to EL music both via Internet platforms, rather than by way of older media, as the most frequently undertaken activities, with music being the content most frequently browsed for online. Both activities show statistically significant correlations to learners’ EFL competence levels, with all language skills, grammar and vocabulary profiting from English-spoken movies online, and with EL music bringing benefits to speaking and receptive skills. For male students specifically, playing video games with EL content seems to considerably affect word stock, grammar competence and writing skills. Reading EL texts and writing in English online were found to be likely to benefit general-education students, who confirm significantly more frequent engagement. Respondents pointed out TV, music and social media, Instagram in particular, as sources providing most EFL vocabulary input, while 50% stated they prefer watching EL movies with EL captions or no subtitles, rather than with Croatian subtitles, suggesting they possess high levels of proficiency. On the other hand, and notably, watching EL content with Croatian subtitles on TV showed a negative correlation to each of students’ EFL competences, suggesting that it is their choice to engage in other types of media which results in above-average levels of competence shown by teenagers in Croatia. Significantly, many (68%) found extramural media-exposure to be an indispensable factor of their EL acquisition process, in comparison to formal EFL school education. A valuable result reveals that students who find that their EFL competence is primarily a result of EL media exposure also reported statistically higher levels for all EFL competences in question. The findings confirm significant correlations between the use of media and students’ total EFL competence, while showing no significant relationship between their competence and the duration of their formal EFL education. In addition, the results suggest that attending extracurricular EFL lessons at foreign-language schools is the only type of formal instruction which can compare and promote the levels of proficiency that students reach via EL media exposure. The performed Mann Whitney tests show that no type of media exposure to the Italian language can compare to the extent with which students are exposed to English. Exploring the relationship between EFL competences and EL media exposure by comparing it to the relationship of IFL competences and IL media exposure showed that, while most students confirmed never engaging in any Italian-related media, significantly better IFL competences were reported by the minority (10%) of students who claimed to have some contact with IL media. In addition, the total IFL competences of students were significantly lower than the total EFL competences. Importantly, unlike EFL competence, IFL competence levels showed a positive correlation to viewing subtitled L2 content on Croatian TV, once again highlighting the beneficial effects of the L1 subtitling practice on L2 acquisition in “subtitling countries” as opposed to “dubbing countries”, while also drawing attention to the fact that, in the case of the English language in the Croatian context, many other available sources are likely to increase EFL proficiency, beyond what exposure to subtitled TV can achieve. Drastic differences were shown in students’ perspectives on major sources of their English versus Italian language competence, where most students (85%) claimed they acquire the IL entirely via formal tuition. Moreover, regardless of the centuries-long local use of this language and its impact on local speech, the results show that young generations in Split and its surroundings are also rarely exposed to the Italian language in their home environments, and that at the present time, Italian is viewed exclusively as a foreign language, in contrast to English whose informal acquisition has become a constant via its representation in the media. The study contributes to existing research on incidental language acquisition in general, and more specifically to the non-institutional acquisition of the English language, made available globally via media and technology advancements. The research also gains insight into the use of Italian media, as well as incidental IFL acquisition in Croatia.
KEY WORDS: incidental language acquisition; SLA; media exposure; ESL; EFL; Italian
language; Croatian high school students
Open access: https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:172:891998