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OCR
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The term extramural English (EE) activities may be similar to the term extracurricular English activities. Sundqvist and Sylvén (2016: 221) defined extracurricular activities as activities where learning occurs “in the pursuit of reaching higher levels of L2 proficiency”, usually connected to an educational setting, for example, English-language film clubs, or different games or activities organized by the school which a learner attends, where the emphasis is placed on language learning or teaching. On the other hand, activities where learners encounter the English language outside of an educational institution, and teaching or learning is not emphasized, are categorized as EE activities. These terms and their attributes are summarized in Table 1 below. Table 1. An overview of the concepts of extracurricular activities and extramural activities Extracurricular Extramural Activities Activities Part of formal education yes no Initiated by the teacher yes no Purpose pleasure / learning pleasure / learning Consciousness yes yes / no As Table 1 shows, both types of activities may be pursued for seeking pleasure as well as for learning purposes. The fundamental difference between them lies in whether they are initiated by the learner themselves or the learner’s teacher, and whether the particular activity takes place within the framework of formal education or not. Finally, in the case of extracurricular activities, learners are most likely to be well aware of the language learning purposes of the event or program; their attendance and engagement in said activities are normally consciously planned. In contrast, the pursuit of EE activities may be solely for entertainment purposes, yet learners may consciously decide to engage in EE activities to improve their general foreign language proficiency. Involvement in either extracurricular or extramural or even both types of English activities may accelerate the second language learning speed (NunanRichards 2015). Moreover, such activities may also promote the functional practice of a particular L2 (Bialystok 1981) when learners can learn an L2 by using it, which is an important aspect of the language learning process. + 19 +
