Extramural English in Teaching and Learning

From Theory and Research to Practice

Pia Sundqvist, Liss Kerstin Sylvén

• Éditeur: Palgrave Macmillan
• Année: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781137460486
• Sujet: Langues et linguistique
• Sous-sujet: Langue allemande

This book is unique in bringing together theory, research, and practice about English encountered outside the classroom – extramural English – and how it affects teaching and learning. The book investigates ways in which learners successfully develop their language skills through extramural English and provides tools for teachers to make use of free time activities in primary and secondary education. The authors demonstrate that learning from involvement in extramural English activities tends to be incidental and is currently underutilized in classroom work. A distinctive strength is that this volume is grounded in theory, builds on results from empirical studies, and manages to link theory and research with practice in a reader-friendly way. Teacher-educators, teachers and researchers of English as a foreign language and teachers of English as a second language across the globe will find this book useful in developing their use of extramural English activities as tools for language learning.

Part I
From Practice to Theory and Research

© The Author(s) 2016

Pia Sundqvist and Liss Kerstin SylvénExtramural English in Teaching and LearningNew Language Learning and Teaching Environments10.1057/978-1-137-46048-6_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Pia Sundqvist¹ and Liss Kerstin Sylvén²

(1)

Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

(2)

University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden

End Abstract

In this introductory chapter, the concept of extramural English (EE) is introduced, and so is our model of L2 English learning. The concept was first proposed in 2009 (Sundqvist, 2009) and relates to English learned outside of school. Extramural English is clearly defined and thoroughly elaborated on, and we suggest it be used as an umbrella term for a number of other terms currently employed in the broad field of second language acquisition. The theoretical model of L2 English learning is also clearly presented in this chapter, including a visual representation. The model builds on two crucial variables: the individual learner’s driving force and the physical location of the learner as learning occurs.On a visit to a school, we came across an eighth grader whom we can call Hicham. He attends school in a small town in Sweden. The place is in the ‘middle of nowhere,’ surrounded by woods and mountains. There is also a beautiful lake—and access to the Internet. Hicham, an immigrant boy whose first language is Arabic, spoke flawless Swedish to us and, upon hearing that we were researchers of English with an interest in what children learn inside as well as outside of school, Hicham proudly announced that he had learned a great deal of English thanks to gaming and Skype. Enthusiastically, Hicham continued telling us that he had started playing online games a few years ago and that he was now up to playing several hours per day, and ‘English has suddenly become so easy,’ he added. In addition, he really appreciated the fact that he had made new friends through gaming and his current best (gamer) friend was from the USA. Hicham revealed that they spoke on a daily basis with one another using Skype. As Hicham’s English teacher approached us in the classroom, Hicham claimed that his English proficiency had gone way up over the last year thanks to his out-of-school activities involving English; the teacher just smiled at his comment. We all agreed that it is amazing what gaming and Skype can do for one’s English skills—even though we felt obliged to stress that it is also recommended for teenagers to exercise and spend time outdoors every day, to which Hicham nodded and grinned. His teacher later confirmed that his English had indeed improved tremendously, and she now considered Hicham to be more or less fluent.

Our short anecdote about Hicham is not unique. We have met many others who, in a similar fashion, contend that they have learned most of their English at home (or in other out-of-school settings) as opposed to in school. Interestingly, in a Swedish nationwide survey of the school subject English, more than half of the fifth graders stated that they had learned as much, or more, English outside of school as in school (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2004). Children elsewhere, such as in Indonesia, express similar opinions, stressing the motivational/educational value of the English they encounter in other contexts than school (Lamb, 2004b). It ought to be noted that the latter two sources are both a decade old which, for instance, makes them pre-YouTube. In addition to playing video games like Hicham does, popular TV series are often mentioned by young people as another important explanation or (re)source for learning, along with other media, such as films or music. Many of the activities that children and teenagers (and, of course, also adults) regard as central to their development of English proficiency are mediated through the Internet.

The present volume is about these various types of out-of-school English activities and how they may influence learners and learning. But, above all, this volume is about how teachers may deal with a new classroom situation which is partly the result of their students’ exposure to extramural English (EE) (Sundqvist, 2009, 2011), that is, English learned outside of school (a concept defined and elaborated on in the section that follows). Not so very long ago, the teacher was the main source of English for students, but times have certainly changed.

The rapid growth of research (see Chap. 5) on how EE interrelates with learning has been a key consideration in the writing of this volume. However, there appears to be a lack of titles that provide both in-depth information on the pedagogical implications of extramural English for English language teaching (ELT) and information on relevant theory and research. As a response to this gap, this book targets in particular English teachers, teacher students, and teacher educators, but also to a certain extent researchers. We hope that it will be a welcome contribution to the field of ELT.

Extramural English

This section addresses the fundamental concept EE. In a second language acquisition (SLA) context, this term was introduced in 2009 by one of the authors of this book (Sundqvist, 2009; see also Sundqvist, 2011). At the time, she was unable to find an existing term that covered the phenomenon she was investigating in her PhD study: whether the time Swedish teenagers spent on English-mediated activities outside of school in some way had a connection with their oral proficiency and vocabulary in English. Although there were a number of theories and concepts that came close to describing the object of study, none of them were deemed entirely adequate. In the following, we outline our definition of EE and discuss other closely related terms, highlighting in what ways they differ from EE.

Definition

Etymologically, extramural is an adjectival compound of Latin origin where the prefix, extra, means ‘outside’ and the stem, mural, means ‘wall.’ According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was first recorded in the nineteenth century, with the meaning ‘outside the walls or boundaries of a city or town.’ The term was especially used in the phrase extramural interment (i.e., burials outside the walls). However, the term was also used in an educational context to indicate teaching or instruction organized by a university or college for persons other than its residents. In our definition, EE corresponds to ‘English outside the walls’ and by that we mean the English that learners come in contact with or are involved in outside the walls of the classroom. This contact or involvement is not initiated by teachers or other people working in educational institutions; the initiative for contact/involvement lies with the learner himself/herself or, at times, with someone else, such as a friend or a parent. Thus, in general, contact/involvement is voluntary on the part of the learner, though there is also the possibility that learners engage in specific EE activities because they feel pressured to do so, for whatever reason. Moreover, some learners will take charge of their own learning of English and in this respect, EE is linked to the theory of learner autonomy (Holec, 1981). It is also possible that learners, through engagement in EE, develop a genuine interest in learning English in out-of-school settings. The following quote from Sundqvist (2009, p. 25) further illustrates how EE is defined:

In extramural English, no degree of deliberate intention to acquire English is necessary on the part of the learner, even though deliberate intention is by no means excluded from the concept. But what is important is that the learner comes in contact with or is involved in English outside the walls of the English classroom. This contact or involvement may be due to the learner’s deliberate (thus conscious) intent to create situations for learning English, but it may equally well be due to any other reason the learner may have. In fact, the learner might not even have a reason for coming in contact with or becoming involved in extramural English. For instance, a sudden encounter with a foreigner in the street, which leads to a conversation in English between the learner and the foreigner, is an example of an extramural English activity that the learner did not even know about before it actually happened.

Some typical EE activities are the following:

• watching films,
• watching TV series,
• watching music videos,
• watching video blogs (vlogs),
• listening to music,
• reading blogs,
• reading books,
• reading magazines,
• reading newspapers,
• surfing English websites on the Internet,
• following people, news, organizations, and so on, on Twitter or Instagram (or some other online community),
• reading/writing/speaking/listening/interacting in real life or online, and
• playing video/digital games (online or offline, on one’s own or with others).

Thus, the opportunities for extramural English seem endless, at least for those who have access to the Internet. For those who lack an online connection, the opportunities are more limited, but still there. It is also worth mentioning that EE encompasses input, output, and/or interaction in English; that is, the essential components needed for second-language (L2) learning are in place (see further Chap. 3 for theories of L2 teaching and learning).

Terms and Concepts Related to Extramural English

There are other established terms and concepts which are closely related to EE. For example, Benson (2011b, p. 139) uses out-of-class learning, reserving the term ‘for activities that have no direct relationship to schooling’ and that much of such learning takes the form of ‘“self-directed naturalistic learning”, in which the learner engages in language use for pleasure or interest, but also with the broader intention of learning.’ Thus, Benson’s out-of-class learning [of English] is very close to our notion of being involved in EE activities (and at times we have used Benson’s term ourselves), but the incorporation of the word learning into the concept makes it somewhat inappropriate. In particular, by having learning as part of the key concept, there is an apparent risk that many SLA scholars, practicing English teachers, and future teachers (consciously or not) may associate it with Krashen’s (1981) interpretation of the notion of learning an L2, which is that learning takes place consciously, through explicit formal instruction (as opposed to acquiring an L2, where the L2 is picked up subconsciously/implicitly through exposure). Further, associations may also be made with Krashen’s idea that learning cannot turn into acquis...