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INTRODUCTION
extramural English activities in the scope of the present research project and
how it is possible to learn an L2 by engaging in EE activities. Consequently, as
learners usually pursue these activities without any external obligation and
EFL teachers, the kind of EFL learning taking place by doing them requires a
certain degree of learner autonomy; therefore, the notion of learner autonomy
is also addressed. This is followed by an overview on how it is possible to learn
English almost unknowingly from extramural English activities, which includes
a detailed overview of the relevant second language acquisition theories of (un)
conscious L2 acquisition. In addition, as learners’ engagement in extramural
English activities occurs for the sake of the learners’ own entertainment, the
kind of EFL learning taking place when doing extramural English activities
involves L2 learning motivation (or the lack thereof), too, because learners may
(or may not) feel more motivated to learn English in order to be able to under¬
stand content in the English language more easily. Besides, as extramural
English activities provide a relatively stress-free environment, as opposed to
the EFL classroom, the lack of teacher correction and grading may result ina
decreased level of L2 anxiety and an increased level of L2 willingness to com¬
municate (WTC). Asa result, individual learner differences, such as L2 learn¬
ing motivation and two related other variables, namely L2 anxiety and L2
willingness to communicate, are discussed in more detail. In the case of these
individual learner differences, L2 anxiety and L2 WTC were also chosen to be
part of this research because, as previous research shows, these latter two
variables correlate negatively (Teimouri et al. 2019, Zhang 2019) and posi¬
tively (Hashimoto 2002, MacIntyre et al. 2001, Peng 2007, Peng—Woodrow
2010, Yashima 2002), respectively, with L2 learning motivation. What is more,
L2 anxiety and L2 WTC were found to correlate with each other negatively,
too (Chu 2008, MacIntyre 1999, MacIntyre et al. 1999, Sallinen-Kuparinen et
al. 1991, Yildiz—Piniel 2020); therefore, it may be concluded that these three
individual learner variables are closely-related and may play an important role
in describing Hungarian secondary school students’ L2 learning motivation
in the extramural context, too.
Chapter 3 presents a detailed description of the research methods of this
research project. This chapter elucidates why the so-called mixed methodol¬
ogy is adopted and how the different research methods are mixed. First and
foremost, to map the extramural interest of Hungarian secondary school
students, a previously unknown domain, at the beginning of the project,
qualitative methods were required. Based on the qualitative results, students’
extramural interests and individual learner differences are investigated in
two additional quantitative questionnaire studies. The questionnaire method
was adopted because it provides an opportunity to run both descriptive and
inferential statistical methods and allows for pointing out general trends. In