CULTURE-LANGUAGES-MEDIA
Independent Project with Specialization in English
Studies and Education
15 Credits, First Cycle
The consequences of digital extramural
activities for the formal classroom
Konsekvenser av digitala aktiviteter utanför det formella klassrummet
Anna Leffler
Master of Arts in Primary Education: Pre-School and School Years 1-3, 240 credits
English Studies and Education 14 January 2021
Examiner:
Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang Supervisor: Sirkka Ivakko
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Abstract
The purpose of this independent project is to give teachers of young ESL-students a collected knowledge of what kind of digital extramural activities the students often do on their spare time and what consequences this have for the formal primary classroom and students’ vocabulary skills. The studies used are found on EBSCO’s ERIC and SwePub, peer reviewed, published between 2010 and 2020, and all available in full text through Malmö university. Informal learning is shown to have a big impact on formal learning, especially for boys who learn mainly through gaming. Girls still score higher on English tests within formal learning, though boys who are frequent gamers score higher within the studies. Gaming seems to help boys keep up with girls in formal English as a second language. The main skill which gaming gives the students is to communicate, hold a conversation and increase their vocabulary. Since gaming is the extramural activity which seems to give the student the most, and at the same time there are students whose families could not afford to game due to costs of computer, tv, games and, in some cases, internet. This could become a socioeconomic factor which the school and the teacher need to consider, especially since results from some of the studies claim gaming to be how the boys keep up with the girls. Not to forget the students who, thanks to informal learning, speak English on a higher level and their right to be educated at their own level.
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Table of contents
Abstract
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1. Introduction
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1.1 Word definition
62. Aim and research question
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3. Methods
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3.1 Key words
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3.1.1 Motivation for key words
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3.1.2 Exclusion criteria
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4. Result and discussion
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4.1 Summaries of studies
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4.2 Result
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4.3 Discussion
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4.3.1 Age
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4.3.2 Gender
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4.3.3 The socioeconomic aspect
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4.3.4 Motivation
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4.3.5 Time19
5. Conclusion
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References
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Appendices
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Table 1
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1. Introduction
Swedish children of today have plenty of opportunity to acquire English outside of the English-speaking classroom. With digital gaming, subtitled tv-shows and movies instead of dubbed ones, and of course the entire internet with social media at its frontline the motivation for and need to be understood in the global world online is massive. Informal learning has to do with considering what students already know or have learned since last time inside the formal classroom, which is stated in Lgr11 (Skolverket, 2019) to let students learn from where they are in their quest for knowledge. The impact of this is visible in the English-speaking classroom, but the main question is what consequences does informal learning outside of the classroom have on formal learning inside the primary classroom? The main theories relevant in this paper are language learning theories, how are languages, and especially second languages, learned? There are many theories of language learning, but the main three according to Lightbown and Spada (2018) are the behavioristic perspective, the innatist perspective, and Krashen’s “Monitor Model”. Where the behavioristic perspective explains learning through mimicking behavior or in the case of language learning repeating what the teacher says, the innatist perspective comes from Chomsky’s belief in a universal grammar within every human being used to learn languages. Researchers who do studies based on universal grammar differ in their way of how to use it in second language learning, especially when it comes to feedback. Lastly Krashen’s “Monitor Model”, which is based on Chomsky’s universal grammar and born out of resistance to the language learning based upon behaviorism, is built on five hypotheses. In short, the differences between learning and acquiring a second language, how users monitor their learning, in which order grammar is best learned, comprehensible input for the learner plus some to gain more knowledge, and the affective filter hindering people to learn due to personal reasons such as anxiety. It is worth noticing language learning theories have yet to come to consensus, meaning studies on informal learning become somewhat useless when research cannot say why and how the students learn the second language.
Studies of informal learning during the past 16 years have increased. The conclusions of the studies indicate extramural English activities increase the students’ vocabulary. Researchers are not in perfect agreement on what kind of, if any, type of extramural activity is necessary for increased vocabulary, even though gaming through and through seems to be a major
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reason for many students’ larger vocabulary and overall communication skills, where gaming is referred to any games played on a screen. Sundqvist’s (2015) have dug deeper and showed gamers who play multiplayer games online score signifiable higher than players who play single player games. The hypothesis from the study is that it is important for the students to be active within their gaming. The more social interaction can be done through the game the greater chance to meet co-players were English needs to be used in order to socialize and play the game, which increase the students’ contacts with and use of the language. In the studies used where gender is taken into account boys score higher than their girl peers, this contradicts the latest statistics from Skolverket (2019b) showing girls get higher scores and more girls than boys have a passing grade in English, though only by a little.
This finding can be argued as interesting both for Swedish curriculum-writers and the lone teacher, the curriculum for English as a second language does not state how to teach, only what. With this research about how students learn from informal sources it can be questioned why this is not specified.
Within second language learning the amount of language you are surrounding yourself with is of importance. Even if intake of the language, i.e., listening and reading, is important so is producing the target language. The number of hours of English the students have of formal learning within the classroom is only 60 hours throughout grade 1-3 (Skolverket, 2019a), and it is easy to argue that this is not enough time for both intake and output of the English language, which is why knowledge of informal language learning and its consequences for the formal classroom is important to study. Within the core content of Lgr11 (Skolverket, 2019c) different media should be part of the formal English lessons; “Clearly spoken English and texts from various media” (Skolverket 2019c, p. 35), with gaming being a huge part of many students’ life’s as well as its impact on communicative skills, it could be argued gaming to be part of the English lessons.
This paper will look at what researchers have concluded the last ten years of the consequences of informal learning for the formal learning of vocabulary. The timeline is limited because so much has happened the last ten years within the digital field. It is important for teachers to consider not all children have access to the internet. According to statistics from SCB (2020) five percent of the population in Sweden do not have access to the internet. Not having access to the internet is one of thirteen criteria for poverty, and
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the economic status of the family could be one reason why students do not have access to digital extramural English activities. According to Statens medieråd (2019), five percent of children age five to eight do not have any access to the internet. Whether this has to do with the family’s economic status or them being young, and hence not given access, is impossible to tell. But it is still important for teachers to consider not all students have access to extramural English activities, which put these students behind their peers. Streaming services where it is possible to choose which language you want to hear compare to if you watch a movie on live television where the language is set, allows the students to choose English which give them an advantage toward students whose parents might not be able to afford this. The smartphone industry has grown rapidly the last decade and more and more people have access to this technology, even at a young age, but again the family’s economic status might stop a student from accessing this. According to Statens medieråd (2019) 84 percent of Swedish children age five to eight have access to a tablet and 55 percent to a smartphone as of 2018, which according to the research is more access and younger children than four years ago, 2016.
1.1 Word-definition
Informal learning is a term which, in this paper, refers to all learning that does not take
place within the formal classroom. It does not limit itself to the use of digital tools although most students’ extramural activities in English, according to the studies used in this paper, do, in fact, take place in the digital world.
The term primary school is referred to what counts as primary school within the country were the study is executed. The age and grade of the participants will be stated in each study for clarification.
The term English as a second language, ESL, YELL (young English language
learners) and countless other varieties of the term are used to describe when non-native
English speakers are learning English as a second language in a formal or informal way.
Extramural is a term Pia Sundqvist (2009) started using in her research about informal
English language learning. It is used to describe activities that take place outside of the classroom and the formal learning, it does not define a specific activity but is, within this
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paper, used exclusively to describe activities were students get in contact with the English language in some way outside of a school environment.
Gaming is referred to digital games played on a computer, tablet, or smartphone,
sometimes played online but this is not a criterion. When students, in the studies used in this paper, are questioned on their extramural activities the kind of game they play is not stated, this is later seen as a flaw in some studies. This means it is impossible to say if a student plays a game meant for learning English or just as a spare time activity, as well as if it is a single player game where no interaction is needed or a multiplayer game where players interact over mic.
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2. Aim and research question
The aim of this study is to conclude what the consequences of informal learning for the formal classroom are, and, hence, be able to work with it. Were all digital activities being of interest, but gaming is studied the most. With these conclusions’ teachers will be able to use informal learning where the outcome is positive and work around it where the outcome might be negative. This is important not only for the children who have the opportunity and will to surround themselves with extramural activities that contains English, but also children with no English activities outside of the formal classroom. Since the Swedish schools not only have a teaching assignment, but also should work as an equalizer, where gender, extramural activities, socioeconomic status, and parents’ ability should not affect the possibility for equal schooling.
The research question is: What are the consequences of informal English language learning for the formal classroom in primary school when it comes to vocabulary?
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3. Methods
A total of seven studies are included, for oversight see table 1 in the appendix, in this paper, which were all found while searching in the databases ERIC through EBSCO and SwePub. All publications used in this paper are peer reviewed and published between 2010 and 2020, where the reason for exclusions of publications before 2010 are because the digital world and the access to it for young learners have extended a lot the past years. Considering this, publications before 2010 would therefore not be as relevant. A limitation is also set to publications which are accessible online through Malmö university, due to the current pandemic a visit to the library at the university is not possible. Sources, only used for references, are found through references within the primary publication used, from searches made in Skolverket’s browser, Statistiska Centralbyrån’s (SCB) browser, or from the Swedish government’s website.
3.1 Key words
Key words used are: informal learning, primary school, ESL, extramural.
These are extended to: incidental language learning, contextual language learning, informell inlärning, young learners, elementary school, barn, grundskola, lågstadie, mellanstadie, English as a second language, EFL, English as a foreign language, YELL, young English second language learning, andraspråksinlärning, spare time, free time, out of school activity, fritid, fritids, fritidsaktivitet.
The Swedish words are translations of the English words used.
3.1.1 Motivation for key words
Informal learning, and its’ equivalence terms, are important search terms within this study
since the gain of informal learning and its consequences for the formal classroom is what this study is all about.
Primary school, and equivalence as well as translated terms, are used because those
describe the relevant schooling for the students in this paper.
ESL, and other terms for English as a second language, for students in non-English
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Extramural, but also other terms, are used as a compliment to informal learning, where
the learning takes place, aka outside formal learning within a school context. It is also a term Pia Sundqvist started using in her 2009 study, which later has been adopted by other researchers as well as used by herself in her later studies which are in this paper.
Informal learning and its synonyms, ESL and its synonyms, and extramural have been the most important key words during the search. The reason behind it is without those key words no search results relevant for this paper were found, for reasons stated above. Primary school and its synonyms were used as secondary key words to help narrow it down to students either within the grades relevant for this paper, or within primary school were ESL-students around the world either have not had any formal English or just a few years of formal English. This can make older students relevant for this study, though, but for one case, students older than the age of twelve are excluded.
3.1.2 Exclusion criteria
Students with more than two years of formal English learning, or older than twelve years are excluded, but for on study because of its relevance around the gender issue. Students studying ESL within an English-speaking country for immigration reasons are excluded, since their condition vary because they live in an English-speaking country. Studies published prior to 2010 are excluded, for reasons stated above.
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4. Result and discussion
Swedish children are surrounded by English throughout their days; hence they have plenty of opportunity to acquire English through their extramural activities. Therefore, the question for this research paper is what the consequences of informal English language learning are for the formal classroom in primary school when it comes to vocabulary. Firstly, the studies will be, briefly, presented with the method used and the main claim/s and/or conclusion/s. Secondly, the studies will be analyzed and compared to one another according to their findings, where gaming, motivation, time, gender, and the importance of teacher’s thoughts of informal learning are a part of the result. Lastly, a discussion will be made around the result were focus will be on age of the students, gender, socioeconomics, student motivation and time spend on the subject.
4.1 Summaries of studies
Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) have noticed that even though gaming has been concluded in several studies to boost English vocabulary in second language learners, this has previously been studied in older children. Therefore, they have been studying 112 Swedish 10-year-old fourth graders learning English, most, but not all, had Swedish as their L1. They used a questionnaire to ask about language contact, and let the students write a diary about their language contact outside of school. In the study the students were divided in three groups after their results; non-gamers, moderate gamers who spend less than four hours per week playing games and frequent players who spend more than four hours per week. Their result is that previous results with older children also apply to the younger ones. What really boosts the English language learning is not the games themselves, but the motivation they get for learning the language in which the game is played. In this study they also notice a gender issue where boys are more likely to play certain computer games, and, hence, have a bigger vocabulary than girls.
Jensen (2017) does a similar study, when she studies how much time a student spends on seven pre-chosen activities, such as, listening to music, writing, and gaming, per week and compare it to a vocabulary proficiency test the students take. The students in the study are 49 eight-year-old, and 50 ten-year-old native Danish speakers who have had two formal English lessons per week for one year. Her result concludes with Sundqvist and Sylven’s
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(2012) that gaming has a big impact on young English learners, but she concludes that more research needs to be done around what types of games are played and what interactions come with the gaming.
Puimége and Peters (2019) have studied 616 ten- and twelve-year-old native Dutch Flemish children which have not yet had any formal English learning. They used a questionnaire about the learners’ extramural English, such as playing English language games and watching English language video with or without subtitles, together with vocabulary tests both in English and Dutch. Their conclusion is that the students learn a lot of vocabulary before formal learning because they use English in their spare time. Through the questionnaire they can see that the number of extramural activities containing English increase with age, and so do their vocabulary. Finally, they conclude motivation to understand is stronger than the motivation to learn.
De Wilde, Brysbaert and Eyckmans (2020) study native Dutch-speaking children as well, when studying 780 children age ten to twelve. They used questionnaires to get to know the learners and their exposure to English outside of school. The children were also tested on their English skills in the areas; receptive vocabulary, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Their findings are that extramural English activities do show substantial language gain for a large part of the children in the study, but there were also big individual differences. Gaming, social media, and speaking were found to be of most use, were the researchers claim this is because they are interactive and make the children produce language as well.
Sandberg, Maris and de Geus (2011) used three different school classes of 75, English as a second language learners, fifth grade children age eight to ten (the research paper does not state which country they are in). They were studying the effects of mobile devices for learning and let the three different classes do three different activities within the study. One of the classes only had formal classroom learning, the second class was taken to a public zoo where they were supposed to use a mobile device, the third group did the same thing as the second but were also allowed to bring the mobile device home with them. Their results show a motivation from the third group to learn on their own time, and they claim informal learning outside of the classroom is beneficial for formal learning within the classroom.
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Sundqvist and Wikström (2015) study three groups of 80 9th grade native Swedish, English second language learners. The students were sorted into groups of non-gamers (mostly girls), moderate gamers with less than five hours gameplay per week, and frequent gamers (only boys) with more than five hours gameplay per week. The students kept a language diary as well as being tested were they examined vocabulary as well as assessed essays and grading. Their findings concluded frequent gamers to score higher on vocabulary tests followed by moderate gamers where non-gamers had the lowest scores. The frequent players wrote somewhat shorter essays than the non-players, where text length usually is an indicator on proficiency in a second language, though the frequent gamers did use more advanced words indicating this should be taken into account while looking into proficiency for L2.
Kuppens (2010) studied 361 6th grade native Dutch speaking Flemish students with no prior formal English using a questionnaire where he asked the students about their use of English, and let the students take a translation test. In his study Kuppens claimed watching tv had short term effects on English vocabulary, and girls scored better than their male peers after watching tv. All whilst boys scored better after playing computer games.
4.2 Result
Five of the seven studies used in this paper conclude digital games to be of great use for informal vocabulary learning, even though most of the studies do not give an answer to why this is, though most argue motivation to play a big part. Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) claim motivation to understand and be understood while playing the game is the reason for the students increased vocabulary, and motivation is also described within Puimége and Peters (2019) as well as Sandberg, Maris and de Geus (2011). Where the latter claim a possibility to use a mobile device for learning in your spare time drives motivation, Puimége and Peters claim understanding as the biggest motivator. Jensen (2017) also claim motivation to be a big part of informal English learning, were she claims the students no longer to be learners while playing the games, but users. While playing the game the students are not tested or graded on their language skills, but instead users of the language. This makes them, according to the study, more daring and willing to talk and/ or write, to understand and be understood to advance in the game.
Jensen’s (2017) study belongs to the majority which claims gaming to play a big part in informal learning, and in the study question what kind of games make a difference for
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students increased vocabulary. A short study from Sundqvist (2015) claims active multi-player games, specifically those played online worldwide, to be particular good for informal English learning since the students need to communicate with other players in a common language in order to play the game. Again, motivation to understand and be understood, seems to be a common denominator. This is also true in the study by De Wilde, Brysbaert and Eyckmans (2020) who concludes social media and speaking to also be factors for increased vocabulary.
Interest in the subject is, in Sundqvist and Sylvén’s (2012) study, divided within the different gaming groups. Frequent gamers thought English to be interesting or very interesting, and whilst this is true for all groups to some extent, the largest group who thought English not to be interesting at all was found in the non-gaming group. The writers draw the conclusion frequent gamers have a motivation for learning English to be able to participate properly in their extramural activities, a motivation for the language not as frequently found in non-gamers. Motivation to learn in order to understand and be understood is a big factor for language learning, and, hence, a consequence for the formal learning when not considered.
Time spent on gaming is a factor considered in Sundqvist and Wikström’s (2015) study, as well as Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) where players who spend more than four or five hours a week playing games were found to have a larger vocabulary than players who spend less amount, or no, time. Puimége and Peters (2019) conclude language usage frequency and vocabulary expand at the same rate, this is something other studies’ results show as well, even if they do not state it as clearly.
When time comes into consideration all digital English extramural activities are of interest. In the study made by Sandberg, Maris and de Geus (2011) time was the only factor for increased vocabulary between the two test groups and the control group. As a matter of fact, one of the test groups and the control group spend the same amount of time on an English activity, the difference was the test group used a mobile device, and they had the same result on the tests taken after the lessons. The third group scored higher, but when the extra time spend, for when the students used the mobile device on their spare time as an extramural activity, was taken into consideration the test scores leveled out. In the formal classroom time works against every teacher, where only 60 hours are spent on English within grade 1-3 (Skolverket, 2019 a), consequently, students who have the means
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to use English in their spare time benefit from this since they are spending a lot more time on the subject compare to their peers.
Questionnaires used in four of the studies about what kind of extramural activities the students spend their free time on show watching tv was one of them. Even if English was the spoken language of the show or movie it had less effect for students’ vocabulary. Kuppens (2010) showed watching tv only had short term effects for vocabulary, and there was a difference between girls who indeed increased their vocabulary more while watching tv, compared to boys whose vocabulary had greater impact by computer games, even in the long run.
Gender is, therefore, another aspect worth considering. In Sundqvist and Sylvén’s (2012) study they found girls who did game, more often played single games where interactions with others are non-existing, whilst boys played multi-player games were understanding and making yourself understood was essential to be able to get further in the game. Worth noting is the group with frequent players, more than four hours per week, were all boys but one, and in the non-gaming group the vast majority were girls. In Jensen´s (2017) study this is confirmed with Danish students where boys are gaming more than twice as much as girls. In Sundqvist and Wikström’s (2015) study the non-gaming group was all girls, were the frequent, more than five hours per week, were all boys. In all studies where gender was a factor, boys, in general, scored higher on vocabulary tests.
Digital extramural activities are indeed a source for learning, but a big factor for student success within the classroom is, according to Sandberg, Maris and de Geus (2011), how teachers use the knowledge of their students when they teach. They suggest, teachers must embrace informal learning and to not see it as a threat to formal teaching, which make the teacher him- or herself part of what the consequences informal learning has for the formal classroom.
Kuppens (2010) goes even further and gives suggestions on how to bring informal learning tools such as games and movies inside the formal classroom, to use it as a mean of learning. Though this suggestion comes with a warning the positive attitudes students have for their extramural activities, whether they are in English or not, might fade. The conclusion in this study is that you cannot put the sign of equality between unintentional informal learning and intentional formal learning.
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4.3 Discussion
4.3.1 Age
The age group for this paper is students age seven to nine who attend grade 1-3, but the studies which are a part of this paper mostly contains students older than that. This is due to the fact there are not a lot of recent studies done on younger students, but the participants of all studies, but one, have had either no or less than two years of formal English. The one publication with older students with more than two years of formal English have been used because the study showed such clear results of extramural activities’, in this case gaming’s, impact on the students’ communicative and vocabulary skills it was impossible to disregard. This fact and the fact the other students had no, or less than two years of formal English make the results relevant even for younger students. Though it is still not ideal to transfer the abilities of older children, even without any formal English learning, to younger for several reasons. Puimége and Peters (2019) state that extramural English increase with age and vocabulary increase at the same pace, meaning older students have more access to screens such as mobile phones or computers and more access and time allowed to spend on games and movies. Movies for younger children are more often dubbed, where movies meant for children older than eleven are not, this gives older students greater access to the English language and less choice to choose a movie were Swedish is the spoken language. Multiplayer games which, according to several studies used in this paper, are claimed greater for language learning are also more often made for older children. But, with this taken into account, recent studies of children’s’ screen time from Statens medieråd (2019) shows 96 % of eight-year-old children use the internet, including streaming of movies and television shows, at least a few times a week, and 66 % of them use it at least an hour daily, though with streaming removed that number drops to 30 %. For children age seven, the same numbers are 57 % when streaming is included, and around 29 % without streaming, which is slightly lower. Less than a third of the young children use the internet in ways that could be considered to promote vocabulary learning, so the question is if their informal learning has any consequences for the formal classroom, apart from single students.
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4.3.2 Gender
Gender is always used as a generalization, where the conclusions in the studies where gender is considered boys have greater vocabulary than girls. This is so coherent it becomes relevant for this paper, because, even at a younger age, boys’ and girls’ media consumption differs, were, according to Statens medieråd (2019) girls are more likely to watch videos and use social media such as Snapchat, whereas boys mainly play games such as Minecraft and Roblox. Even though Minecraft, in some versions, have been translated to Swedish, English is the main language to use in both these games. They do not require output from the player, but they still actively need to use some input from the game to play it. Snapchat and most other social media are on the other hand translated into Swedish. Though important to note when boys and girls are discussed within this paper it is in general terms, not all boys like gaming and not all girls like social media, this is purely based on findings in the studies used as well as generalizations within statistics.
Even though boys scored higher in vocabulary tests in the studies where gender were taken into account, girls still pass the subject in a slightly higher percentage, according to Skolverket (2019b) It should be noticed it’s only 1,6 percentage points difference, and it does not show which grade the students got, only that it was passing grades. According to DEJA –Delegationen för jämställdhet i skolan (Delegation for equality in school, writer’s
translation) (2009) girls get higher grades on national tests compared to boys, the study show
that girls are better at English, but the gap is getting smaller. An interesting research to conduct would be to see if the language the boys know and use is not what is stated in the curriculum, while the girls learn what is taught in school, hence what is tested and graded. It would, also, be interesting with a more recent study, within the year span of the studies used in this paper to see if the gap is closed, or if any of the genders still score higher than the other. According to the study it is also worth noticing that the grade-differences are not equal to the test results.
DEJA (2019) concludes doing schoolwork, follow the teachers’ instructions and properly do one’s homework are examples of how to behave as a girl or young woman, compared to boys or young men, hence why girls do better in school. The study also determines girls to biologically be ahead of their male peers, this in question of attention, ability to work goal oriented and language abilities, whereas boys have their working memory developed later than girls. Even if boys should have caught up around the end of compulsory school, their self-image as good students might already be harmed. This could be why girls still test
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better and pass the English subject in a slightly higher manner, even if studies showed in this paper show boys to be better at English. Sundqvist and Wikström (2015) discuss, in their study, a common stereotype of studies girls and nerdy gaming boys, where they become equals in the classroom.
4.3.3 The socioeconomic aspect
If informal learning has that big of impact boys only catch up to girls through extramural activities such as gaming, socioeconomics will have a great impact on formal learning. Five percent of children age five to eight, according to Statens medieråd (2019) do not have access to the internet at their home, this makes their chances to engage in extramural English activities referred to in the studies much harder for these students. To add to this, six percent of the students do not have access to a tv, 39 percent do not have any access to a computer, 16 percent do not have any access to a tablet and 45 percent do not have any access to a smartphone. Since this is younger students no conclusions can be drawn, if they don´t have access due to economic reasons, but instead for the fact that they are indeed young. Neither can any conclusions be drawn of the students not having access to at least one of the things listed, nor that students who do have access actually use it for digital extramural activities where the English language is used. The top five apps, and top five tablet games for this age category, either are in Swedish or made in such way knowledge of the language is irrelevant. Still, experience tell there are students as young as seven to nine who understand and/ or speak English on a higher level than they have been taught in school. This means students without or access to digital extramural English activities will potentially lack behind in school. The socioeconomic part is a problem the school and teacher need to face, as well as, make up for within school, either during classroom time or during school-age educare.
4.3.4 Motivation
Motivation is the claim why students learn English through extramural activities such as computer games according to four of the studies, e.g., Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) who claim motivation to be the reason for vocabulary learning while playing games. It should be noted the other three studies do not disregard motivation as a learning tool, they just do not bring it up. Motivation as a teaching tool is well known, but still the word motivation is not mentioned in the curriculum (Skolverket, 2019c). Within the English language learning classroom this would be of utter importance if to believe Peimége and Peters (2019), they
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claim understanding to be the biggest motivator. This is interesting when you analyze the consequences of informal learning in the formal classroom. The biggest motivator is not the learning, but the understanding. To take this into consideration when a formal teaching moment is being planned would not only be valuable in the second language classroom- but with all subjects.
4.3.5 Time
All can agree learning a language takes time, still English as a second language only get 60 hours of formal learning time through grade 1-3 in the Swedish primary school (Skolverket, 2019a). One can only imagine what one extra hour, spend on an extramural activity containing English, every week throughout the semesters of those three grades would do. That would be, approximately, 120 extra hours, twice as many hours spend on formal learning during those years.
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5. Conclusion
To conclude, motivation to understand the extramural activity seems to be key to why students learn English in informal settings, sometimes even before their first formal lesson. Motivation, when it comes to multi-player games also lie within a desire to be able to communicate in a common language, as well as the students’ feelings towards the language when they are learners of it in the formal classroom whereas they are users in the informal setting.
Gender differences with extramural activities equalize results in school where girls otherwise score higher. But to keep in mind families’ socioeconomic status and parents’ ability to provide extramural activities which gain students English learning, and the school’s mission to make sure all students get the same opportunities and education no matter their socioeconomic background. Meaning boys without the possibility of extramural English might need extra attention in school, and while girls, in general, already score higher they might gain even more if given the opportunity of informal learning. An interesting study would be to test if school really is more available to girls, and boys’ general interest in gaming is the only thing helping them keep up. If this would be the case, informal English learning have a huge impact within the formal classroom.
Time is also a pressing factor when it comes to language learning, where the extra time some students spend with digital extramural activities might add to their knowledge. With only 60 hours of formal English in grade 1-3, and, perhaps, no extramural activities in English for socioeconomic vulnerable students, consequences for the formal classroom and the individual student could be significant. Especially when bearing in mind Kuppens (2010) warning about not to remove motivation by bringing extramural activities inside the classroom.
Still, a problem facing all studies in this paper is failure to give an answer to why the students learn within their informal activities, which is a considerable limitation within the studies as they fail to deliver how the knowledge can be of use. The studies mainly have asked students what English activities they do in their spare time and compared it to an English vocabulary test of different sorts. All their conclusions are extramural English activities are good for gaining knowledge and a greater vocabulary and discuss extra time and motivation as reasons for this. Though great findings, the studies lack reasons of why
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certain activities, mainly digital games, make the students learn. Since how languages are learned has not yet reached consensus, why a certain activity works for language learning is still somewhat a mystery.
To conclude, even if informal learning seems to have big consequences for older students formal learning, it does not seem to have a great impact on formal learning for students age seven to nine. This seems to be because of the minimum amount they spend on extramural English activities, though teachers do need to be aware there might be some students who do use English in their spare time. These students have the right, according to Lgr11 (Skolverket, 2019c), to keep developing their language knowledge within a formal setting. Still, experience tells enough young primary students have a better developed English than what they have been taught in the formal classroom, hence, more research is needed on informal learning for younger students, especially since access and use of internet and screens are increasing through all age groups, according to Statens medieråd (2019). Two questions seem relevant for the near future; How do young children acquire English outside the formal classroom, and how may teachers use this knowledge within a formal setting.
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Appendix
Table 1
Writer Participants Method Claim
Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012)
112 Native Swedish ten years old 4th graders learning English. The students were divided into three groups depending on how much time they spend on gaming every week.
A questionnaire about the students’ language contacts and a diary about their language contacts outside of school. Gaming in English is a motivator for learning English. Gamers, generally, found English more interesting than non-gamers did.
Jensen (2017) 49 eight years old and 58 ten years old Native Danish students learning English. They have had two lessons in English per week for one year prior to this study.
Students were to report on how many minutes spend on seven pre-chosen extramural activities and take a
vocabulary test.
Gaming has a big impact on young English language learners English learning.
Puimége and Peters (2019)
616 Flemish children between ten and twelve years of age with no formal English learning prior to this study.
A questionnaire about the learners’ extramural English, as well as an English and Dutch
vocabulary test.
Students learn a lot of English words prior to formal learning, because of extramural English activities. The older the students the more extramural English activities they have, and their vocabulary increases in the same pace as their extramural activities. De Wilde, Brysbaert and Eyckmans (2020) 780 native Dutch children age ten to twelve. Questionnaires about out-of-school exposure to the English language as well as learner Extramural activities increase the students’ English. Gaming, social media use, and
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characteristics. The students were tested on receptive
vocabulary knowledge in English, as well as listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
speaking were the most beneficial, because they are interactive, multimodal, and involve language production. Sandberg, Maris and
de Geus (2011)
Three different school classes.
One group was a control group with classroom learning, the second group was learning at a zoo using a mobile device, the third group did the same as the second, but they were also allowed to bring their mobile devices home. Students were then tested on word knowledge of the lesson.
Students are motivated to use mobile devices for learning. But the third group only scored higher than the two others when time was not
accounted for. When the extra time spend on the mobile devices outside of school was taken out of the equation the three groups scored similar on the test. Sundqvist and
Wikström (2015)
Three groups of 9th graders divided after how much time they game. Non-gamers were most girls, moderate gamers played less than five hours per week, and frequent gamers played more than five hours per week, the last group contained only boys.
Dividing them into groups and letting the students take a vocabulary test and writing an essay.
The frequent gamers had the highest scores both on the vocabulary test and the essay, followed by the moderate gamers. This indicates gaming as an English learning tool.
Kuppens (2010) 361 Flemish native Dutch students in 6th grade who have had no formal English prior to this study.
A questionnaire was used to determine how much English the students got in touch with, as well as a translation test.
The students have positive attitudes towards English which is seen as a cool language. Boys learn more from gaming, and girls
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from watching television. How to bring this informal learning inside the formal classroom is being discussed with the conclusion the students’ attitude towards these extramural activities might change if made into formal learning.
