Oldal 47 [47]
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
F. Teacher-initiated English activity but with strong learner input; at the school
but outside the classroom; learner and other peers; for the purpose of learning
English;
G. Teacher-initiated English activity in the classroom at the desk; learner alone;
for the purpose of learning English;
H. Learner-and-teacher-initiated English activity in the classroom but not at
the desk; learner and one peer; for the purpose of learning English (Sundgvist—
Sylvén 2016: 12-13).
There are certain complex activities, such as studying abroad, which may
not be considered a single activity and may involve activities carried out in a
classroom and activities carried out outside of school. In Sundqvist and Sylvén’s
(2016) model, even these activities are treated as a “single” activity where the
most dominant dimensions of them are taken into consideration when placing
them on the axes in the model. Studying abroad, for instance, would be placed
at the left top corner of the model covering a larger area as such activity is
usually not initiated by a learner, especially in the secondary context, so sev¬
eral factors should be considered. It should be noted that the vertical axis
showing the learner’s physical location may also be rather misleading in the
case of internet-based activities. An MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online
Role-Playing Game) player, for instance, physically may be sitting at home, but
psychologically could be in a distant English-speaking digital world, which
can also be considered a “complex activity” and would be difficult to place on
the vertical axis. It would be important, therefore, to fine-tune this model so
that such complex activities could be better placed into the model.
From the visual representation and the descriptions, it transpires that ac¬
tivities A-B-C-D are EE activities because they are all learner-initiated and are
pursued outside of school. As in this research project, the main focus is placed
on EE activities and Hungarian secondary school learners’ engagement in them.
Only these types of activities (A-B-C-D) are included in the investigation.
In the context of EFL learning through EE activities, it may be concluded
that learners may acquire the different elements (e.g., grammar and vocabulary)
of a particular L2 provided that they are exposed to comprehensible input
(Krashen et al. 2018). Krashen (2003: 81) explains that “we acquire language
and develop literacy when we understand messages, that is, when we understand
what we hear and what we read, when we receive comprehensible input.” By
comprehensible input, Krashen (1982, 2009) means the kind of L2 input the
learner can acquire and which is not much above their current L2 proficiency.
Consequently, learners often engage in EE activities that they can understand;
in other words, they will not necessarily start watching a series that is over¬
whelmingly difficult to comprehend.