English learning in and out of school

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English learning in and out of

school

A qualitative study of upper secondary school teachers’ cognition

Att lära sig engelska i och utanför skolan

En kvalitativ studie om gymnasielärares kognition

Adis Tucek

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences English

English III: Degree Project 15 credits

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Title: English learning in and out of school

Titel på svenska: Att lära sig engelska i och utanför skolan Author: Adis Tucek

Pages: 23 Abstract

The prevalence of the English language in society today has made it possible for people to learn English in different situations and in different ways. Therefore, it was of interest to research upper secondary school teachers’ beliefs and experiences concerning how their students learn English in different situations in school and out of school and concerning their students’ motivation. It also becomes of interest to compare scientific results with teachers’ beliefs about learning, acquisition, motivation and teaching a second language to see whether misconceptions persist and potentially suggest implications for professional development. To understand teachers’ beliefs and experiences, a qualitative study of semi-structured

interviews was conducted with five teachers of English at upper secondary school. The results showed that four out of five teachers found assignments that were of their students’ interest more beneficial for their English proficiency and motivation. Regarding students learning English in out-of-school contexts, the results showed that some teachers thought students got better English proficiency through such activities and some thought they had minimal effect. As to students’ motivation towards learning English in school and out of school, two of the five teachers found their students very motivated towards English in school, whereas all the teachers thought their students were motivated towards encountering English out of school. To research teacher cognition is important since teachers’ beliefs might have an impact on what they do in the classroom and therefore on the students’ learning experience.

Keywords: Second language acquisition and learning, extramural English, internal and

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Sammanfattning

I och med att det engelska språket växt till sig större inflytande i det svenska samhället och i den svenska skolan så har möjligheterna till att lära sig engelska i olika situationer och på olika sätt ökat. Därmed var det av intresse att undersöka gymnasielärares erfarenheter och åsikter om deras elevers engelska inlärning genom olika situationer i skolan, utanför skolan, och gällande deras elevers motivation. Det är även av intresse att jämföra vetenskapliga resultat med lärarnas åsikter om dessa ämnen för att se ifall det existerar missuppfattningar och potentiellt föreslå åtgärder för professionell utveckling. För att undersöka

gymnasielärares erfarenheter och åsikter, utfördes en kvalitativ studie i form av semi-strukturerade intervjuer med fem gymnasielärare som undervisar i det engelska ämnet. Resultaten visade att fyra av de fem intervjuade lärarna ansåg att uppgifter som fångade elevers intresse och dom ansåg var roliga, fungerade bättre för deras engelska

språkfärdigheter och motivation till att lära sig engelska. När det kom till att deras elever lärde sig engelska genom engelskaaktiviteter utanför skolan, var det skilda åsikter ifall sådana aktiviteter hade någon påverkan på deras språkfärdigheter. Slutligen var alla lärare överens om att deras elever var motiverade till att engagera sig i engelsktalande aktiviteter på fritiden, medan enbart två av fem lärare ansåg deras elever vara väldigt motiverade till engelska i skolan. Att undersöka lärares åsikter och kognition är ett relevant forskningsämne idag då åsikter kan spegla vad man gör i praktiken och därmed ha en påverkan på elevers erfarenhet av lärande.

Nyckelord: Förvärv av engelska som andraspråk, extramural engelska, inre och yttre

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1. Introduction and aims

According to the Swedish curriculum, education should contribute to students’ language development and at the same time encourage them to be curious and develop a desire to learn. Skolverket (2011) also writes that good proficiency in the English language increases students’ opportunities to be involved in different social and cultural contexts worldwide. There is a highly relevant modern-day factor concerning the reason why English is as popular as it is today and that is the globalization and popularity of American and British media. This could be movies in English, newspapers, the internet, social media, video games, etc.

Skolverket (2008) states that the English language is the leading language when it comes to internationalisation, global communication, and interculturalism, which makes English a global language. Indeed, today 1.39 billion people out of the world’s 7.7 billion people speak English (Sawe, 2019). This means that 18% of the world’s population and approximately every fifth person in the world can use English in their lives. In other words, English is one of the most used languages today and is closely connected to culture, world-politics, education, and economy.

According to Skolverket (2008), a global language like English has been vital for progress in modern society and therefore English has become a compulsory subject in Swedish schools. The English subject is compulsory from primary school to year two of upper secondary school. This means that every Swede who has gone to school has encountered English for at least eleven years. In addition, almost every student encounters English in their spare time as well. English is frequently used in Swedish media, music, IT-communication, television, social media and video games. Pinter (2017) writes that upper secondary school students mostly use their computers to play video games, which allows students to develop their English. English is also used within higher education in Sweden as the course readings often are in English. Therefore, it is evident that a good proficiency in English is required to accomplish university studies (Kulturdepartementet, 2002).

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language teacher cognition and there is growing evidence that shows that teachers are highly influenced by their beliefs and their views of the world. While research in this area is

expanding, there is a research gap when it comes to teacher cognition about effective school assignments. Therefore, this study aims to investigate teacher cognition regarding effective school assignments. Language teachers’ beliefs concerning the target language have an important role in how language teachers approach and conduct their teaching (Borg, 2015). Therefore, it is important to research upper secondary school teachers’ beliefs and

experiences about: (a) their students’ experience of learning English in school and through different assignments; (b) extramural English activities and their effect on students’ English proficiency; and (c) their students’ motivation. It also becomes of interest to compare scientific results and teachers’ beliefs about English learning, acquisition, motivation, and teaching a second language to see whether misconceptions persist and potentially suggest implications for professional development for teachers. More specifically, the research questions are the following:

1) What are upper secondary school teachers’ experiences and beliefs of their students learning English in the classroom through different types of assignments?

2) What effect do upper secondary school teachers believe extramural English activities have on their students’ English proficiency?

3) What are the participating teachers’ beliefs about their students’ motivation towards learning English in school and out of school?

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2. Background

In this section, different topics and terminology related to second language acquisition in different contexts will be discussed. The first topic to be discussed is (2.1) second language acquisition (see Section 2.1) followed by the Swedish school curriculum and the Swedish school council (see Section 2.2), Extramural English (see Section 2.3), motivation (see Section 2.4), and teacher cognition (see Section 2.5).

2.1 Second language acquisition and learning

Second language acquisition (SLA) is ‘‘the human capacity to learn a language other than the first, during late childhood, adolescence or adulthood, and once the first language or

languages have been acquired’’ (Ortega, 2015, p. 1).

The Swedish Schools Inspectorate (2011) identifies two different environments in which English is encountered: school contexts (where students engage in learning English) and out of school contexts (where students might acquire English). Therefore, it becomes important to state the difference between acquisition and learning before discussing the terms. The term acquisition describes the gradual development of language proficiency while using the language in natural communicative situations with others who know the language. This kind of language development normally takes place without a teacher and through real-life situations where gaining knowledge about the language is not a priority. Acquisition of a language could be compared to the process of how humans learn their first language through real-life situations (Hedge, 2000; Yule, 2016). Second language acquisition could be

conducted in different ways as Swedish people are exposed to English in different out of school contexts. Sundqvist (2009, p. 28) gives examples of occasions where English is used in the Swedish society. According to Sundqvist (2009), English is the dominant language on the Internet, in video games and television. Sundqvist also points to the dominance of English in different social media and the fact that English-speaking films and shows are not dubbed but subtitled. On the other hand, according to the Oxford’s dictionary, the term learn concerns the gaining of knowledge by studying, experiencing, or from being taught (Learn, 2020). Hedge (2000) and Yule (2016) define language learning as a more conscious process of obtaining knowledge of a language through, for example, analysis of its vocabulary or grammar; this process normally takes place with the help of a teacher. Both terms (acquisition and learning) are relevant to this study and it is important to distinguish the difference between them as upper secondary school teachers and their students have

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that language teachers argue that students should learn grammar and vocabulary to get the basic building blocks of a language first, which is considered important in order to give the students more knowledge about the language. Others argue that it is better to involve the richness of the natural language meaning-making process which is considered to prepare students better for real-life situations but consequently not teach students rules of how to write and speak. Lundberg (2007) is of the opinion that teachers need to suppress the traditional way of teaching a language which is through vocabulary assignments, grammar assignments, and text translation. Lundberg states that those kinds of methods are out of date and should not be a priority in modern language learning. Hedge (2000) discusses how different activities can be beneficial for students’ English proficiency while some activities can be disadvantageous. Accordingly, activities where students can relate their real-life experiences help students to be more motivated towards learning. The Swedish School Inspectorate (2011) did a subject evaluation of English in Swedish compulsory school where they observed nearly 300 lessons at 22 different schools in different parts of the country. The inspectors found that the learning environment mostly was secure and supportive. They also found little evidence of activities that caught students’ interest in life-long English learning or activities that provided students with real-life challenges. According to Skolverket (2011), Swedish education should encourage students to acquire a desire for life-long learning, but it is not mentioned what teachers should do in their classrooms to accomplish this goal.

2.2 The Swedish curriculum and the Swedish school council

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students learning the language so they can participate in social environments where English is used.

2.3 Extramural English

The term out-of-school English has been mentioned in previous sections and it is important to clarify the meaning of the term. Benson (2001) uses the term out-of-class (which is the same as out-of-school) and explains it as any kind of learning that takes place outside the classroom. As mentioned above, examples of learning outside the classroom are watching TV, using the internet, video games, etc. Accordingly, if a second language (L2) learner has an encounter with a foreigner and it leads to a conversation in the L2, it can also be seen as learning outside the classroom. Another view of out-of-school learning is presented by Lundahl (2012) and is known as informal learning, which is explained as learning that does not include goals to achieve and is a kind of learning that just occurs without being planned. Moreover, Lundahl suggests that students’ everyday knowledge increases through social interaction from various kinds of input. The term out-of-school English is closely related to the term Extramural English (EE). Sundqvist (2009) defines EE as language activities that involve learners outside of the classroom in their spare time. This definition is used in this study when referring to English language activities outside the classroom. Sundqvist (2009) points to the importance of bridging the gap between the use of English as a second language (ESL) in school and the use of ESL in extramural contexts. According to Skolinspektionen (2011), students find EE activities authentic and relatable to real-life whereas students have the opposite opinion concerning English activities in school. Accordingly, English in school is not challenging in terms of real-life situations and because of that, in some cases students do not find English in school as beneficial as EE activities. Therefore, Skolinspektionen (2011) also points to the importance of bridging the gap between EE activities and English in school. EE activities are activities for which the learners generally have a genuine interest, meaning that they do not generally get involved in extramural activities to learn the language (Benson, 2001; Olsson, 2011).

Since the 1990s, extramural English and its effect on students’ English proficiency have become more relevant, discussed and researched. Sundqvist (2009), for instance, showed that gaming and other extramural English activities correlated positively with vocabulary and oral proficiency among learners at compulsory school and higher. It was found that time spent on extramural English activities had a positive effect on students’ grades and it turned out that the kind of activity the students engaged in was important. Sundqvist (2009) shows that activities on the internet such as playing games or watching videos contribute to

students’ language development more than other activities. The reason for this is that

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states that, even though extramural English has had a positive impact on students’

proficiency, most of the students in her study believed that English was learned inside the classroom. Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) showed similar results where frequent and moderate gamers scored higher on a test of vocabulary than non-gamers. This pattern was also

presented in listening and reading comprehension tests where gamers, in general, scored better than non-gamers. Jensen (2017) did a similar study that examined what kind of gaming activities students took part in and what impact these activities had on students’ vocabulary proficiency. Vocabulary tests were conducted at the beginning and at the end of a week. Jensen’s (2017) results also showed that the English proficiency of students who played online games had increased significantly more than that of students who did not play at all. In a study done by Suh, Kim, and Kim (2010), 220 elementary school students were to do a survey to show if there was any difference in students’ English proficiency while learning English through online gaming and lessons in school or just in school lessons. The results showed that the students who played online games performed slightly better on tests such as listening, writing, and reading comprehension than the students who did not play online games while no difference in speaking and listening could be found. Ryu (2013) discussed some interesting points in a study that examined how non-native speakers and online gamers took part in language learning within gaming as well as beyond the game. The results showed that second language development did take place via gaming, even though learning the language was never in focus as completing the game was the most important goal. As EE activities are proven to affect students’ English, Sundqvist and Sylvén (2016) suggest that gaining insights into students’ EE activities is essential to adapt teaching methods.

2.4 Motivation

According to the Cambridge dictionary, motivation is a term used when a human is enthusiastic about doing something while demotivation is a lack of interest in and

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example, pass tests or get good grades which are not connected to their interest, pleasure or satisfaction (Deci & Ryan, 2008). In addition, Hsiu (2007) defines external motivation as an event where the focus is on accomplishing a goal that has been set up and not focusing on the work getting to the goal. From an internally motivated student’s perspective, the joy of a special activity could be enjoying learning English because it is fun and interesting. For an externally motivated student, the reward could be a specific grade, money, acknowledgment, etc.

The degree of motivation is an important aspect that can be explained. Therefore the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) helps with defining concepts of different degrees of motivation. Vallerand et al. (1992) developed AMS with seven subscales of motivation: three types of internal motivation, three types of external motivation and amotivation. The first type of internal motivation presented by Vallerand et al. (1992) is an internal motivation for knowledge. This type is based on the fact that the individual feels pleasure or satisfaction while learning something. The second type is presented as an internal motivation for accomplishments which means that an individual feels satisfaction in accomplishing something. The third type is an internal motivation for stimulation, meaning that an individual wants to perform an activity to experience stimulation. Vallerand et al. (1992) further present three types of external motivation. The first type is identified regulation, which is experienced when an individual wants to perform an activity to get

acknowledgments or the feeling of importance and personal value. The second type is introjected regulation where an individual completes an activity because s/he feels pressure or guilt. The third type is external regulation, where individuals perform an activity to get rewards such as specific grades in school or to avoid negative consequences. The last degree of motivation in AMS is a complete lack of motivation and that is referred to as amotivation. Amotivation is when an individual experiences a complete lack of interest and enthusiasm towards doing something.

When it comes to motivation towards learning or acquiring a second language (L2), Dörnyei (2009) developed the L2 Motivational Self System. The central feature in this system is the Ideal L2 Self, which is a representation of oneself in future situations. For example, a learner might view her/himself as being more proficient in the L2 in the future. The second

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(2013) point to the importance of developing students’ internal motivation as it is better in the long run.

Hedge (2000), Josefsson and Lindwall (2010), Mayer (2014), and Yule (2016) discuss the affective factors that can harm the process of learning a second language and cause amotivation such as problematic environment and self-consciousness. Accordingly, a too controlled environment where teachers control everything can cause amotivation. Also, students in their adolescence with self-consciousness can feel awkwardness and amotivation in speaking another language. Mayer (2014), Josefsson and Lindwall (2010) discuss how the classroom environment can harm learning where Mayer discusses that students are likely to learn more and have more motivation towards learning if they are personally engaged in the activities. In contrast, students can become demotivated if the activities are irrelevant or if there is too much information to comprehend. Josefsson and Lindwall (2010) argue

additionally that internal motivation can diminish if the learning environment is perceived as too controlled and obstructive. In contrast, Annerstedt (2007) discusses that a positive learning environment helps students feel comfortable, ready to learn and willing to try their best during class. Therefore, the environment in the classroom becomes important for students’ development. Annerstedt (2007) writes that a positive environment is closely connected with motivation and positive self-consciousness and points to the way students’ self-consciousness can become both negatively and positively affected by their teachers. Accordingly, students’ self-consciousness becomes positively affected if the teacher shows interest in their emotions, hobbies, and lets the students have a say on what should be done in the classroom. Hedge (2000) and Yule (2016) further discuss how self-consciousness can harm a student’s learning where Yule (2016) argues that self-consciousness can create a strong element of unwillingness and embarrassment in producing sounds of another

language. Hedge (2000) argues that students can find second language learning demanding as they might think their language proficiency is at a low level which can generate

embarrassment. Problematic self-consciousness is a typical problem with students in their adolescence period and can result in amotivation.

2.5 Teacher cognition

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learning have an important role in how teachers approach their teaching (Borg, 2015). Borg (2009) argues that ignoring teachers’ cognition is likely to hinder their ability to internalize new material in their teaching, which becomes problematic when prior beliefs are

inappropriate, unrealistic, or naive. Therefore, this subject becomes important. The relation between beliefs and action is interactive: beliefs are thought to drive actions and experiences, while reflection on action may lead to a change of beliefs (Richardson, 1996). Borg (2011) states that such beliefs may or may not correspond to what research findings have shown as hard facts.

There is a research gap when it comes to teacher cognition about effective school

assignments. However, Kumaravadivelu (2003) tried to find whether there is a teaching tradition that is most effective in the teaching of English and concluded that there is no method that works best when teaching a second language and that there is no best method to be discovered either. Accordingly, every L2 teacher needs to systematically observe their classroom, strategically plan and adjust what methods work the best for the specific group in question. Even though Kumaravadivelu (2003) state that there is no best method, there are some type of activities that authors write work best for students (see section 2.4). Therefore, it is of interest to research whether participating teachers’ beliefs agree with what other authors state work best and if there are mismatches, practical implications can occur in the classroom.

Even though there is a research gap of most effective assignments there are some studies concerning some specific teaching aspects. The existing research mostly focuses on the teaching of grammar and vocabulary in schools. For example, Phakiti and Plonsy (2018) conducted a study on grammar assignments. Phakiti and Plonsy (2018) showed that 89% of the participating teachers believed that grammar should be taught. Similarly, the teachers that participated in Farrell and Lim’s (2005) study believe that teaching grammar is crucial in order to enable students to use language structures correctly in both spoken and written work. In the Phakiti and Plonsy’s (2018) study, an argument in favour of grammar

assignments was that students cannot get enough authentic exposure to a second language to learn everything, so grammar is necessary. On the other hand, a teacher stated that grammar is boring and is of little help to students. 94% of the respondents agreed with the statement that students should be taught simple language rules before complex ones. Accordingly, teachers believed that, if the language of assignments is too complex, the students would not find them comprehensible, which would affect their motivation.

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positively by the students whereas the teachers disagreed with the statement. The

participating teachers emphasized that reading was a positive motivational factor in language learning, but for the students to increase their English proficiency, they would need to read a lot more than one book per semester.

Teacher cognition concerning motivation has also been explored. For example, in Phakiti and Plonsys’ (2018) study, 69% of the participating teachers believe motivation is an important factor when learning a second language. Estling Vennestål and Lundberg (2010) state that the teaching environment should help students become stimulated, curious, and with a desire to learn; the authors then consider whether engaging students in a variety of assignments might increase students’ motivation. Teachers in Olsson and Sturesson’s (2012) study

believed that varying assignments help students feel that the lectures are meaningful. Olsson and Sturesson (2012) did a study on teachers’ beliefs on motivating English activities and it showed that the participating teachers believed that one should not only conduct

assignments that are from the textbooks and other typical assignments such as grammar. The teachers believed that for the students to feel that the lectures are meaningful, other

assignments that are of students’ interest should be introduced as well. Furthermore, teachers in Olsson and Sturesson’s (2012) study believed that the class environment is important for students’ motivation. The participating teachers stated that if the students do not feel comfortable in the environment, they will probably not reach their potential. Hardré and Hennessey (2013) did a qualitative study where teachers also expressed that they believe students’ motivation can be changed through environmental influences or direct

intervention. Lundberg (2007) states that there is an unwillingness to learn English in schools as students find it embarrassing to speak a L2. Therefore, the class environment becomes important to reduce awkwardness and anxiety. Lundberg (2007) suggests how to create a positive environment that stimulates motivation. Lundberg (2007) argues that awkwardness and anxiety by students can be reduced if the education provides the students with opportunities to be involved in planning classes and if the teacher adjusts assignments in favour of students’ interests sometimes.

3. Methods

In this section I describe the methods adopted in this study. Specifically, Section 3.1 focuses on the selection of the participants. Section 3.2 focuses on the data collection tool, why this particular tool was chosen and how the research was conducted.

3.1 Participants

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to qualitative studies, handpicked selections are the most efficient selection method as the researcher is interested to find as informative and detailed results as possible. Accordingly, the investigator must select respondents who will be able to express the results needed for her/his study.

One of the foci of this study is to collect teachers’ beliefs about the exposure to EE activities and its benefits for language development. According to Europe’s video games industry (2019), 74% of young people aged between 15 and 24 play video games. Since in Sweden students enrol in the first year of upper secondary school when they are 15 or 16 years old, it became relevant to gather upper secondary school teachers’ beliefs and experiences of their students’ second language acquisition in different contexts.

The participants in this study were therefore upper secondary school teachers who work in different schools in the same county in western Sweden. They were first contacted in person with the help of personal contacts. During these initial conversations, no details of the study were explained. Then, an informative email was sent out to the teachers who had expressed their interest in participating in the study (see Appendix 2). Specifically, the email contained details such as the purpose of the study and ethical aspects. The relevant ethical aspects were that their participation was voluntary, that the participants could end their participation at any time, that they would be anonymous, and that the interviews would be audio recorded with the help of my mobile phone if they allowed it. They were also informed that the

gathered data was only to be used and listened to by me. Since all the participants were native speakers of Swedish, the email was written in Swedish. The teachers then decided whether they wanted to participate or not. The location and date for the interviews were individually discussed.

Information about the participating teachers is presented in Table 1 below; the teachers’ names are pseudonyms.

Table 1. Participating teachers in the study.

Teachers: Time working as

an upper secondary school teacher:

Classes: Subject

combination:

Agneta 11 years Social-science program, economic program

English/ Spanish

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Pon 22 years Social-science program, economic program

English/ Mathematics

Magdalena 30 years Business-science program

English

Ali 15 years Healthcare program

English/ Psychology

3.2 Data collection tool: Semi-structured interviews

The data collection tool used in this study consists of semi-structured interviews. This method works in line with the study’s aims of researching perceptions and experiences (Hassmén & Hassmén, 2008), while obtaining detailed information. Semi-structured interviews allow the interview to be relevant to a topic while the respondents can express themselves with as much detail as they want. According to Denscombe (2009), semi-structured interviews are interviews where the researcher is prepared with questions and subjects that are relevant for the interview, but the investigator is ready to be flexible with the sequence of the questions and is amenable to let the respondent share their ideas in a more free and detailed way.

The questions that were asked in this study can be found in Appendix 1. These interview questions were all designed by me with the guidance of my supervisor. The interview guide followed two main themes: students’ learning of English in school and out-of-school and students’ motivation towards English. All the interviews took place at the teachers’ schools in a room where we could be undisturbed. At the beginning of each interview, the participant was informed that they could end their participation at any time, that they would remain anonymous, and that the interview would be recorded if they agreed. All the teachers agreed to continue their participation and to be recorded. The interviews lasted between 25 and 40 minutes. As this study was done in Sweden, the questions and interviews were conducted in Swedish. During the interviews, I made sure all questions asked by me were asked and

formulated in the same way so no misinterpretation would take place. The answers were later transcribed and translated by me.

4. Results and analysis

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and motivation towards extramural English activities. The results are analysed by comparison with previous research and discussions of conflicting results.

4.1. Learning English in the classroom

When it comes to learning English in the classroom and the effect of different assignments in school on students’ motivation and proficiency, all five teachers agreed that different types of assignments had different effects on their students’ English. Pon, Ali, Tor, and Magdalena all explained that students showed more interest in the classroom when working with

assignments they found interesting and fun. Tor additionally expressed that he believed assignments and classes where students are involved to decide what to do affect their language development and motivation positively. Mayer (2014) argues that students are likely to learn more if they are personally engaged and involved in assignments (see section 2.4). As an example of such an assignment, Ali talked about having students watch a movie in which they were interested and answer questions about it. According to Tor, the assessment of these assignments showed better results than assignments that were not of students’ interest. Magdalena further believed that assignments that students found too controlled and boring resulted in worse assessment and motivation. However, Magdalena also expressed that such assignments might be necessary for their development as well. Magdalena gave examples of such assignments which were grammar and listening assignments. Phakiti and Plonsy (2018) showed similar results: a teacher believed that students found grammar boring (see section 2.5). Magdalena also believed that students might find grammar boring, but she believed that grammar is necessary for students’ development as well. This indicates that teachers such as Magdalena, even though they think that specific assignments are not interesting for students, still conduct such assignments as they deem them necessary for the students’ language development. Whereas the other teachers saw a positive correlation between interesting and fun activities and assessment, Agneta was of a different opinion. Specifically, Agneta said:

I think my students increase their English proficiency when the assignments have rules that they learn and then use. They do not necessarily have to enjoy the assignments to get better English proficiency. I think if I, as a teacher, give the

students assignments they think are interesting all the time, I might lose my authority and respect while the students might forget that they are in school to learn and not only to have fun.

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example, controlled grammar tasks. Agneta’s statement is not in line with concepts (see section 2.4) that state that such assignments hinder students’ language development and can cause amotivation (Hedge, 2000; Josefsson & Lindwall, 2010; Mayer, 2014; Yule, 2016). This creates a mismatch between Agneta’s stated belief and what other authors have stated which can cause practical implications and affect students’ learning experience (see section 5 for further discussion of this mismatch). Agneta did not, however, mention that such

assignments had any effect on students’ motivation whereas the other teachers thought students were less motivated towards assignments out of their interest such as grammar assignments. Tor further stated that students need to feel inspired to learn, which can

happen if assignments are adjusted to what is relevant for the students’ future in the modern society.

In contrast, Agneta stated that students can forget that they are in school to learn if they are only given assignments of their interest. Agneta explained that a teachers’ job is to increase students’ proficiency, and that job is best done through assignments and lectures that students take seriously. Agneta’s statement is in line with Skolverket’s (2011) guidelines regarding (see section 2.2). This is important as teachers’ beliefs of what their job is can affect what they do in the classroom (see section 2.5). It could, for example, create practical

implications if teachers believe their job should focus on conducting assignments that are fun all the time and not focus on learning, which could disturb students’ learning development. Magdalena also expressed her concerns about the issue of students not being serious where she said that students should be given assignments they find interesting and fun to some extent and not all the time; otherwise students might not take such assignments seriously and might not learn anything. However, Skolverket (2011) also adds that education should stimulate students’ curiosity about the English language and culture, though it is not mentioned how that is best accomplished. It could be done through assignments students find interesting and fun or through assignments that only focus on developing their English proficiency.

4.2. Acquisition of English through extramural English activities

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(2012) also stated that video games can have positive effects on the development of a second language as it provides them with a linguistically rich environment. It is important for teachers to be aware of their students’ EE activities, especially if they believe such activities affect students’ English.

As to EE activities’ effects on students’ English proficiency, three out of the five teachers found EE activities beneficial for their students’ English. Pon, Ali, and Agneta thought that students who engage in EE activities are more proficient in English than those who do not engage in such activities. Pon said that all aspects of the English language are affected by EE; this opinion is in contrast with Suh, Kim, and Kim’s (2010) study which showed that no difference in speaking and listening was found between gamers and non-gamers. Ali, on the other hand, identified areas most positively affected by EE activities:

As I have noticed, those students that engage in EE activities have scored better on my vocabulary, listening and speaking tests. I think they score better on those tests because they mostly listen and speak during EE activities, like listen to music or speak in video games. I think those students encounter the English language way more than the ones not engaging in EE activities, and therefore score better on these tests. Agneta shared the same opinion of areas most positively affected by EE activities. As

mentioned above, Pon stated that video gaming is the most popular EE activity. Pon further also stated that the majority of students who play video games play video games online. This means they get the opportunity to communicate with other players in the world. Pon believes that such activity affects students’ listening and speaking proficiency. Ali, Agneta, and Pon’s thoughts of EE activities’ effect on students are in line with what was found by Sundqvist (2009), Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012), and Jensen (2017) (see section 2.3). The fact that these teachers’ opinions are in line with what previous research has shown can have an important role in language development (see section 5 for further discussion).

Magdalena and Tor, on the other hand, stated that they thought EE activities had very little effect on students’ English proficiency. Magdalena said that she does not believe students learn English through EE activities and that they do not even think about learning anything while engaging in such activities. Magdalena expressed it as follows:

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Magdalena’s beliefs are therefore in contrast with previous findings (see section 2.7). Clearly, if teachers believe what research suggests (i.e., that students learn English in their spare time as they engage in EE activities), then the teachers will be amenable to choosing assignments that can motivate students. If the teacher is not aware of EE’s effect on students’ English, teachers might adapt and conduct assignments that students might find too easy as the students might have developed their English more than the teachers think through EE activities. In that case, it becomes a practical implication.

As to learning English, Magdalena believes that learning takes place with instructions and guidance. Her opinion is in line with previous studies presented in section 2.1 which state that learning is a conscious process of obtaining knowledge that normally takes place with the help of a teacher (Hedge, 2000; Yule 2016). Magdalena specified that students do not learn through EE activities and that students learn English inside the school. This is in line with Sundqvist’s (2009) results that showed most students believe they learn more English inside school than extramurally. Even though students believe they learn more English in the classroom, it is also shown that EE activities affect their English even if it is in a smaller sense. Tor’s answer was not entirely in line with Magdalena’s. Tor stated that he thought students do not learn English through EE activities in general, but that in some cases, students might recognise a word or two from films or shows they have seen in English.

4.3. Motivation towards English in school

The respondents were asked to express their beliefs on their students’ motivation towards learning English in and out of school. Ali and Magdalena were the only teachers who found their students to be very motivated towards learning English in school, which means that the majority of the teachers in this study believed the opposite. This result is not in the line with Skolverket’s (2009) school evaluation where the majority of participants (seven out of ten teachers) believed students were very motivated to learn in school. This result is also not in line with Skolinspektionen (2011) which found that students use English lessons to relax. Ali thought his students were motivated towards English as they think they will need it in their future:

My students are extremely motivated during my classes, at least I believe so. The students have through different assignments expressed that they believe English is the biggest and most important language in the world which makes them realise they need to be good at it.

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(2011) that English is an important language for their future; specifically Skolverket states that better English proficiency increases the students’ opportunities to be involved in different social and cultural contexts worldwide. Ali also believed that his students’ ideas about the importance of English in the world might be related to what he has discussed with them in class. Ali’s perception of his students’ need for English in the future is in line with Skolverket (2009) which states that eight out of ten students find what they learn in school necessary for their future. English is an important language in society and the future, which makes it important for teachers to be aware of the importance of the subject in school. As presented, Ali believes English is an important language and according to Ali, his students believe so as well as his lessons have pointed to the importance of the language. This is an example of why teacher cognition is important and how teacher cognition affects how lessons are conducted and planned.

Magdalena also thought her students were very motivated towards English, but for the reason of passing the course:

I think my students are very motivated towards the English subject in school. I think they are that in terms of English being a compulsory subject and students need to have passed English to graduate upper secondary school.

Magdalena’s answer can also be connected to Vallerand et. al’s (1992) motivation scale, but to external regulation where individuals are motivated to get rewards such as grades. What Magdalena believes can be related to Dörnyei’s motivation component called Ought-to L2 Self, which has to do with experiencing motivation towards the L2 to avoid negative consequences. Magdalena also stated that students show great motivation when they can relate the assignments to their lives. Magdalena’s statement is in line with Mayer’s (2014) statement that students are likely to learn more if they are personally engaged in assignments (see section 2.4).

Unlike Ali and Magdalena, Tor, Agneta, and Pon stated that their students’ motivation towards learning English depends on what type of activity they are doing in class. In Tor’s words:

For my students, their motivation depends on what we are doing. When we do an activity that they think will be beneficial for their future, they tend to show great motivation. However, when I am having a lesson on the use of prepositions, for example, they tend to show very little motivation.

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However, this is something the Swedish School Inspectorate (2011) did an evaluation of and found little evidence of schools providing such assignments for students (see section 2.1).

4.4 Motivation towards extramural English activities

As to teachers’ beliefs on students’ motivation towards EE activities, all teachers agreed that they think their students are motivated to engage in EE activities, even though not every student thinks about it. Ali stated all his students are motivated towards EE activities as all their interests can be met in such activities:

I think all students are very motivated towards EE activities as English is the biggest language in the world and it can be found everywhere. Every student can find a movie, show, book, or a game they are interested in and matches their interests. I also believe almost every student encounters music with English lyrics today.

Ali’s perception of the popularity of English is in line with Sawe’s (2019) statement that English is the most used language in culture, world-politics, and education (see section 1). Ali’s thoughts are also in line with Olsson (2011) and Benson (2001) who state that learners often have a genuine interest in engaging in EE activities (see section 2.3). Tor stated that he believed his students have an internal motivation towards EE activities as he thinks his students must enjoy it or else they would have done the same things but in Swedish:

When it comes to EE activities, I believe it has to do with internal motivation;

otherwise, they would just stick to activities in Swedish (their first language) as that is the easiest. I think they find EE activities very enjoyable, perhaps because the USA has this effect of making Swedish people believe everything is better in English. For example, most of my students would rather watch a Youtube video in English than Swedish, as it is more popular in the world.

Tor’s statement of students finding EE activities enjoyable is in line with Vallerand et. al’s (1992) motivation scale and can be connected to internal motivation for stimulation (see section 2.4). The teachers’ beliefs on this subject are aligned with Skolinspektionen (2011) which states that students find EE activities necessary. In general, the findings concerning teacher cognition on students’ motivation towards EE activities are in line with previous research on students’ motivation. The participating teachers’ beliefs show that no misconception of this topic exists in this case.

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were more motivating because the students could decide what activity to do by themselves, which would make the activity more enjoyable than in the classroom where they are told what to do. Magdalena, Tor, and Agneta, on the other hand, believed students are more motivated towards English activities in school and pointed to the importance of passing the course, which would mean the students experience a motivation of external regulation (Vallerand et al., 1992; see section 2.4).

Out of the five teachers, Tor, Ali, and Magdalena were the ones who stated they had made use of their students’ EE activities in school. Interestingly, all of them did it in the same way, namely by letting the students do background research of their favourite EE activity and present it in their class. Tor further expressed the importance of involving the students’ activities from times to time where he believed such activities were beneficial for the students’ motivation:

I have used that assignment many times because I believe students got more motivated during the assignment. I got a feeling they wanted to present their favourite EE activity in the best way possible for their classmates… They told me it was the most interesting assignment they had done in English in school.

Tor’s experience of his students being more motivated during assignments containing their EE activities is in line with Hedge’s (2000) statement that students are more motivated during activities that relate to their real-life experience (see section 2.1) but also to

Annersted’s (2007) statement of students being more motivated when working with their hobbies (see section 2.4). In contrast, Agneta believed such assignments are problematic for her students as the students do not take such assignments seriously. According to Agneta, such assignments only cause students to be unserious during classes.

5. Discussion

When it comes to the first research question of teachers’ beliefs and experiences of their students learning English in the classroom, it turned out that four out of five teachers

believed assignments that students found interesting and enjoyable worked best for students’ language development. This result is comparable with what Olsson and Sturesson (2012) found on teacher cognition where the participating teachers believed that for the students to feel the lectures meaningful, they should be given assignments that are interesting for them (see Section 2.5). Agneta, however, believed that assignments that were controlled with structure and rules work best. The latter is not in agreement with Hedge (2000), Josefsson and Lindwall (2010), Mayer (2014), and Yule (2016) who state that environments and

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Agneta’s belief and previous research. However, such types of highly regulated assignments may work best for Agneta’s students. Kumaravadivelu (2003) states that there is no most effective teaching method in the classroom as all teachers need to adjust methods that work best for a specific group in question (see section 2.6.2). To be able to see which methods work better for a group of students, one would need to observe the implementation of such

methods in the classroom. Nevertheless, it is an interesting finding that not all teachers agree that this is the case. In relation to the fourth research question of how close or distant the research field and participating teachers’ cognition concerning L2 learning are, it is clearly shown that the distance is small in this study as four of five teachers shared beliefs that are in line with research findings. There is however a mismatch between Agneta’s beliefs and what research findings suggest. Specifically, Agneta believes that successful assignments are those that are controlled by the teacher with clear structure and rules for students to follow, while previous research in this topic suggests that students might find assignments that are

completely controlled by the teacher unmotivating (see Section 2.4). Mismatches as Agneta’s can have practical implications by creating an atmosphere where students do not want to learn as they believe the assignments are boring and unmotivating. This might result in that students do not want to try new things and will only do what is required without pushing themselves (Wery & Thomson, 2013). This can be solved if teachers are aware of this problem and know how to deal with it. Teachers could become more proficient in this topic by

attending professional development workshops or being exposed to materials which could help them to create an environment with internally motivated students. Nevertheless, the mismatch was small which could mean that the teachers are well aware of how to conduct assignments that work best for students in general and as the research field suggests.

However, as Kumaravadivelu (2003) stated in Section 2.5, there might not be specific type of assignments that works best for students as all students and classes are different and need individually adapted assignments.

As to the second research question on teachers’ beliefs concerning the effect of EE activities on students’ English, three out of five teachers believed EE activities affected students’

English positively. Their beliefs are in line with previous research presented in section 2.3. As to the other two teachers, they believed EE activities had a minimum or no impact on

students’ English proficiency. This result is not in line with evidence shown by researchers in section 2.3. This shows that misconceptions between teacher cognition and evidence from research can exist in schools. Misconceptions about the effect of EE exposure on students’ language proficiency can have a practical implication on students’ language learning experience based on the kind of activities teachers choose for their students and it is

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do not think about learning through such activities. Ryu (2013) also states that students do not think about learning when performing such activities, but that does not mean they are not learning. Ryu’s findings still showed that EE activities had a positive impact on students’ English proficiency.

As to the fourth research question, the results showed that there were misconceptions and mismatches to some extent regarding the effect of EE activities on students’ English

proficiency. This is a problem as it can affect the students’ learning process in different ways. For example, the students who engage in EE activities may be better at English in some aspects than students who do not engage in such activities. This could mean that these students would need different or more adapted assignments to continue their development. Mismatches within this topic can also be solved if teachers attend professional development workshops or read materials that can help them become more proficient in the topic of EE and how to include or adapt their assignments out of students’ EE activities.

In relation to the third research question, the majority of the participating teachers did not believe their students were very motivated towards English in school. This is a mismatch with respect to what Skolverket (2009) showed in the school evaluation where the majority of teachers believed that students are motivated to learn in the classroom. On the other hand, the number of participants in this study was low and no generalisation can be made.

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explained that the reason was for passing the course. In short, this is a difference of internal motivation for stimulation or knowledge and external motivation for external regulation (Vallerand et al. 1992; see section 2.4).

Finally, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of this study. A limitation of this study concerns the low number of participants, which does not allow for generalisations. Also, all the participating teachers work in the same region, which might give a result that does not represent Swedish teachers in general. Finally, it should be noted that the results are based on self-report data. This means that there is no way to determine whether teachers shared their real opinions or not. At the same time, this kind of data does not provide any

information concerning what actually goes on in the classroom. So, it is not possible to determine whether the beliefs of the participating teachers are actually reflected in their teaching practices. Therefore, it would be interesting for future research to combine the analysis of answers to interviews or questionnaires with classroom observations in order to get more evidence and a closer look at what goes on in a classroom. For future research, it would also be interesting to focus on student cognition instead of teacher cognition to see what students believe in terms of learning English in school and extramurally.

6. Conclusion

This study aimed to research teachers’ beliefs and experiences concerning: their students’ learning of English in the classroom, students’ engagement with EE activities and its effect on their English proficiency, and students’ motivation. It was also of interest to compare

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Appendix one: Interview guide

Syfte med studien: Studiens syfte är att, med hjälp av intervjuer, få lärares och

universitetsstudenters erfarenheter och åsikter om att lära sig engelska som andraspråk på fritiden och i skolan samt motivation till att lära sig engelska i skolan. De insamlade svaren kommer att diskuteras och analyseras i studien.

Intervju: I och med att intervjun efterfrågar erfarenheter och åsikter, finns inga svar som

kan vara rätt eller fel. Intervjun beräknas ta ungefär 30 minuter, men kan bli både längre och kortare beroende på svaren. Innan intervjun startar kommer jag som utför intervjun fråga efter deltagarens samtycke till att intervjun spelas in.

Sekretess och etik: Allt insamlat material kommer att behandlas med största aktsamhet.

Inga personliga identiteter eller detaljer kommer avslöjas och studien genomförs i enlighet med Vetenskapsrådets regler för god forskningsed. Ljudinspelningarna kommer enbart att höras av mig som genomför studien.

Frivillighet: Deltagande i denna studie är frivilligt. Deltagaren har rätt att när som helst dra

tillbaka sitt medgivande och utgå ur studien. Ljudinspelning kommer enbart ske vid godkännande av deltagare, och även där kan deltagaren när som helst dra tillbaka sitt medgivande och utgå ur ljudinspelningen.

Tema ett: Förvärv av engelska som andraspråk och engelska utanför skolan

Öppningsfråga: Vet du ifall dina elever stöter på det engelska språket på sin fritid? Följdfråga: På vilket sätt har du fått reda på det?

2. Kan du ge exempel på olika aktiviteter på engelska som du vet dina elever ägnar sig åt på sin fritid?

3. Har du märkt av ifall vissa av dina uppgifter har en bättre påverkan än andra på dina elevers engelska?

Följdfråga: Kan du ge exempel på vilka uppgifter du uppfattat har bättre påverkan än andra på dina elevers engelska?

4. Tycker du att det är en bra idé att involvera elevers fritidsaktiviteter i undervisningen? Följdfråga ifall svaret var ja: Varför tycker du det?

Följdfråga ifall svaret var nej: Varför tycker du inte det?

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6. Tror du att dina elevers fritidsaktiviteter på engelska har haft någon effekt på deras språkfärdighet?

Följdfråga ifall svaret var ja: Vad för effekt tror du det ger?

Tema två: Engelska och motivation

Öppningsfråga: Med tanke på elevers motivation, hur skulle du säga att dina elevers motivation är till att lära sig engelska i skolan?

2. Tror du att dina elever är motiverade till att engagera sig i engelsktalande aktiviteter utanför skolan? (T.ex. videospel på engelska, filmer utan svensk text osv.)

Följdfråga: Varför tror du dom vill engagera sig i engelska aktiviteter utanför skolan? 3. När tror du dina elever är mest motiverade till att engagera sig med engelska på fritiden? 4. Tror du dina elever är mer motiverade till engelska aktiviteter utanför skolan än i skolan? Följdfråga ifall svaret var ja: Varför tror du att dom är mer motiverade till engelska aktiviteter utanför skolan?

Följdfråga ifall svaret var nej: Varför tror du dina elever är mer motiverade till engelska aktiviteter i skolan?

5. Tycker du att dina elever är mer motiverade under vissa lektioner än andra?

Följdfråga: Under vilken typ av lektioner tycker du dina elever är mer motiverade än andra? 6. Har du märkt av någon typ av lektionsaktivitet som inte brukar vara så motiverande för dina elever?

Följdfråga ifall svaret var ja: Kan du ge exempel på sådana aktiviteter?

7. Har du provat att använda dina elevers fritidsengelska i några uppgifter eller projekt i skolan? (T.ex. format lektioner med hjälp av de aktiviteterna).

Följdfråga ett ifall svaret var ja: Hur gjorde du det?

Följdfråga ett ifall svaret var nej: Ifall du skulle välja att göra det, hur tror du att du skulle gjort det?

Följdfråga två: Vad fick du för feedback på dessa aktiviteter?

8. Märkte du någon skillnad i motivationen hos dina elever när du knöt an till deras fritidsengelska jämfört med när du inte gjorde det?

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Appendix two: Information letter to participants

Hej,

Mitt namn är Adis Tucek och jag läser till ämneslärare i Engelska vid Karlstads Universitet. Jag skriver detta mejl i och med det självständiga arbetet på 15 högskolepoäng som jag ska genomföra i min utbildning. Det är viktigt att för dig som är villig att delta i denna studie får den information som är nödvändig. Jag är intresserad av att studera vad för erfarenheter och åsikter gymnasielärare har till att elever lär sig engelska som andraspråk genom olika

situationer i klassrummet och utanför klassrummet, samt elevers motivation till att lära sig Engelska i olika situationer. Studien kommer som sagt fokusera på erfarenheter och åsikter, vilket innebär att inga rätta eller fel svar finns.

I och med att studien utgår från människors erfarenheter och åsikter, skulle jag vilja

intervjua gymnasielärare. Därmed berörs olika etiska aspekter som är viktiga att veta om som deltagare. Intervjun tar 30–45 minuter och det är helt frivilligt att delta. Intervjuerna

kommer vid godkännande att spelas in med hjälp av min mobil och dessa inspelningar utgör datan i undersökningen. Deltagarna kommer att vara helt anonyma och datan kommer enbart behandlas av mig. Deltagarna kan när som helst under intervjun och under studiens gång avbryta sitt deltagande i studien.

Tveka inte att höra av dig ifall du har frågor eller funderingar. Med vänlig hälsning Adis Tucek

English learning in and out of school