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EXTRAMURAL ENGLISH ACTIVITIES AND INDIVIDUAL LEARNER DIFFERENCES
Recently, however, Krashen et al. (2018) refined the original comprehensible
input hypothesis of Krashen (1982) and explained that "input must be at least
interesting so that acguirers will pay attention to it" (Krashen et al. 2018: 2).
By attention, Krashen et al. (2018) do not mean that learners need to pay con¬
scious attention to the L2 input; they mean, rather, that the L2 input learners
are exposed to should be of interest and relevance to them. Coursebooks, for
instance, often contain outdated reading texts, which are less interesting for
learners than the English learners encounter outside the classroom (cf. au¬
thenticity gap underlined by Henry (2013). Krashen et al. (2018) assert that
ideally, L2 input should be “compelling”, creating a state of “flow” outlined by
Csikszentmihdalyi (1990) for learners where they do not perceive the learning
process as real learning but immerse themselves into the experience and remain
motivated to learn the particular L2 (Piniel—Albert 2017). To reflect on this
flow experience, Krashen et al. (2018) proposed the theory of Compelling Input
Hypothesis, which means that because of being interested in certain L2 content,
learners feel motivated and “compelled” to be exposed to it, which can ulti¬
mately lead to incidental learning. This theory describes the type of learning
taking place when learning English through extramural English activities,
particularly because, as Grabe (2009) underlines, that learning through inci¬
dental (or implicit) learning requires a large amount of time and L2 input as
well. This means that extensive engagement in different extramural L2 ac¬
tivities is a prerequisite for such learning to take place.
2.5 PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON LEARNING ENGLISH THROUGH EE ACTIVITIES
As the term extramural English activity originates in Scandinavia, more spe¬
cifically, in Sweden, there is an abundance of research in the area investigating
the benefits of EE activities (Piirainen-Marsh-Tainio 2009, Simensen 2010,
Sylven-Sundgvist 2015). In addition to these, previous research in different
countries indicates that primary and secondary school EFL learners engage
heavily in EE activities in their free time (Besser-Chik 2014, De Wilde et al.
2019, Grau 2009, Kuppens 2010, Lindgren-Munoz 2013, Piirainen-Marsh¬
Tainio 2009, Simensen 2010, Sundqvist—Sylvén 2012, 2014, Sylven-Sundgvist
2016). De Wilde et al. (2019) even found that if extensive exposure to English
begins at an early age it may be so significant that students can acquire a com¬
mand of English up to an A2 level before starting to participate in formal EFL
instruction.
The findings of previous research show that learners devote a large amount
of their time to extramural English activities and this engagement heavily
contributes to the improvement of their foreign language skills. Along with
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