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Extramural English Matters Faculty of Arts and Education English Pia Sundqvist Extramural English Matters Out-of-School English and Its Impact on Swedish Ninth Graders' Oral Proficiency and Vocabulary DISSERTATION Karlstad University Studies 2009:55 Pia Sundqvist Extramural English Matters Out-of-School English and Its Impact on Swedish Ninth Graders' Oral Proficiency and Vocabulary Karlstad University Studies 2009:55 Pia Sundqvist. Extramural English Matters - Out-of-School English and Its Impact on Swedish Ninth Graders' Oral Proficiency and Vocabulary. DISSERTATION Karlstad University Studies 2009:55 ISSN 1403-8099 ISBN 978-91-7063-278-5 © The Author Distribution: Faculty of Arts and Education English SE-651 88 Karlstad +46 54 700 10 00 www.kau.se Printed at: Universitetstryckeriet, Karlstad 2009 To my mother and my father Abstract The present study examines possible effects of extramural English (EE) on oral proficiency (OP) and vocabulary (VOC). The study is based on data collected from Swedish learners of ESL in grade 9 (aged 15-16; N=80; 36 boys, 44 girls) over a period of one year. EE was defined as linguistic activities that learners engage in outside the classroom in their spare time. EE was measured with the help of a questionnaire and two language diaries, each covering one week. In the diaries, the learners recorded how much time they had spent on seven given EE activities (reading books, reading newspapers/magazines, watching TV, watching films, surfing the Internet, playing video games, listening to music). There was also an open category. Speech data were collected with the help of five interactional speaking tests; learners were in random dyads on each occasion. Each student performance was assessed by three raters with the help of a profile scheme, resulting in an overall grade. Based on these grades from the tests, a mean grade for OP (the OP grade) was calculated for each student. OP was defined as the learner’s ability to speak and use the target language in actual communication with an interlocutor. Learners’ VOC was measured with an index variable based on the scores on two written vocabulary tests. For a selection of ten learners, additional analyses were made of oral fluency and the use of advanced vocabulary in speech. A mixed methods research design was used, but the lion’s share of data was analyzed using inferential statistics. Results showed that the total amount of time spent on EE correlated positively and significantly (p < .01) both with learners’ level of OP and size of VOC, but that the correlation between EE and VOC was stronger and more straightforward than the one between EE and OP. The conclusion drawn was that although EE impacts both OP and VOC, the causal relationship is more salient in the case of VOC. Results also showed that some activities were more important than others for OP and VOC respectively; i.e., the type of EE activity mattered. EE activities that required learners to be more productive and rely on their language skills (video games, the Internet, reading) had a greater impact on OP and VOC than activities where learners could remain fairly passive (music, TV, films). An important gender difference was identified. Boys spent significantly more time on productive EE activities than girls; therefore, EE had a greater impact on OP and VOC for boys than for girls. Four background variables were also studied. The conclusion was that EE is an independent variable and a possible path to progress in English for any learner, regardless of his or her socioeconomic background. i Keywords: Extramural English, out-of-school learning, implicit learning, learner language, oral proficiency, oral fluency, second language acquisition, second language learning, ESL, EFL, vocabulary acquisition, assessment, speaking tests, language diary, motivation, self-efficacy, anxiety, speech, oral communication, core vocabulary, peripheral vocabulary. ii Acknowledgments I have learned that completing a thesis is very much like running a marathon or skiing from Sälen to Mora – a very long process with a definite end. Now that I see the finish line, I would like to thank y’all who cheered me on. I would like to begin by thanking Elisabeth Wennö. If you had not called, I never would have applied; it is as simple as that. My career suddenly took a new turn. Thanks ever so much for believing I could do this. Next I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, who have all helped me, but in different ways. Thanks to Moira Linnarud, who was my main supervisor the first semester, for your open and witty mind, for your great support when I chose my research topic, and, in particular, for your kind words at the CSL conference, 2008. Thanks to my assistant supervisor, June Miliander, for sharing my interest in applied linguistics – and for giving me Benson’s book. Thanks to my other assistant supervisor, Hugo Wikström, who joined me about one-third into the race. I admit that your statistics course got me totally hooked. Since then you have taught me so much, things I never knew I would (or could) learn. Thanks for asking me the right questions, for patiently letting me formulate my answers, and for being such a good listener. It was a pleasure all the way. Finally, most of all I would like to thank Solveig Granath, who became my main supervisor when Moira retired. It is very difficult to imagine what would have become of my thesis if you had not been there. So, a million thanks for always giving me valuable feedback (on major as well as on minor matters), for showing me how to approach academic writing, and, in particular, for outstanding support over the past six months. I also owe many thanks to other colleagues, at the English department and elsewhere: Michael Wherrity, for wise comments which helped improve my text; Maria Holmgren Troy, for insightful feedback; Erica Sandlund, for sharing my interest in spoken English and for giving me encouraging comments (especially “the boring paper revenge”); Marika Kjellén Simes, for maintaining your part of our pact and for surprising me with ice-cold champagne; Julie Skogs, for being my one and only PhD colleague in linguistics and for teaching me hilarious idioms from the land down under; Pilar Álvarez, for moral support (on several occasions); Gunilla Ericsson, for encouragement and guidance; Berith Nordenberg, for booking trips and providing administrative assistance with a smile on your face; and finally, all the members of the faculty seminar for doctoral students, for your comments. To those of you I have not mentioned, be sure that I also heard and appreciated your cheers. iii Table of contents 1 Introduction............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background...........................................................................................................................2 1.2 Aims and research questions..............................................................................................5 1.3 Outline of thesis...................................................................................................................8 2 Second language acquisition................................................................................. 10 2.1 Key concepts and theories of L2 acquisition................................................................ 10 2.2 The role of awareness in language learning .................................................................. 14 2.3 Individual difference variables ........................................................................................ 16 2.4 Gender and language learning......................................................................................... 20 2.5 Cultural capital................................................................................................................... 22 3 Extramural English ............................................................................................... 24 3.1 The out-of-class context and language learning........................................................... 24 3.1.1 Towards a definition of extramural English....................................................... 25 3.1.2 Early out-of-class language learning studies ....................................................... 26 3.1.3 The role of English in Europe and Sweden ....................................................... 27 3.1.4 Learner self-assessment and retrospection studies on EE ............................... 30 3.1.5 Other studies on out-of-class learning................................................................. 32 3.2 Empirical studies combining data on EE with learning outcomes........................... 33 4 Oral proficiency in learner English ....................................................................... 39 4.1 On language proficiency and oral proficiency.............................................................. 39 4.1.1 Basic types of learner speech................................................................................. 41 4.1.2 Characteristics of learner speech and communication...................................... 41 4.1.3 L2 oral proficiency studies..................................................................................... 43 4.1.4 L2 oral fluency studies............................................................................................ 45 4.2 Accommodation theory and the role of the interlocutor ........................................... 49 4.3
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