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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 conscious 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 Coursebooks, for instance, often contain outdated reading texts, which are less interesting for learners than the English learners encounter outside the classroom (cf. authenticity 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 ultimately 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 incidental (or implicit) learning requires a large amount of time and L2 input as well. This means that extensive engagement in different extramural L2 activities 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 specifically, 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-MarshTainio 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 command 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 + 46 +
