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STUDY ONE
extent she could understand the book in English beforehand. In her words,
“the plan is that I start reading it in English and then in Hungarian, too. Then
I’ll see how much I misunderstood” (Veronika).
Another aspect of reading is consuming news. As opposed to reading books,
there are a few students read the news in English. The popularity of reading
the news in English lies in the fact that there is a wider variety of news available
in English than in Hungarian, so learners can gain access to more content than
if they were reading exclusively in Hungarian. Similarly, to the case of online
videos, this again reflects on the notion of language learning through use
underlined in the literature (Bialystok 1981), where the emphasis is placed on
the real-life use of a particular L2 (e.g., reading news in English), and in such
cases, learners are considered more of users than simply EFL learners.
Reading blogs in English was not particularly popular among participants
either. Traditional blogs do not appear to be as interesting as video blogs on
YouTube, for instance. However, blogs on cooking or computer parts are some¬
what popular with students. Male participants showed a preference for IT-re¬
lated topics and blogs, too, whereas female ones followed blogs with cooking¬
and baking-related content. When asked why she does not read blogs,
Valentina pointed out that she is not interested in blogging.
On the other hand, Vera points out that she uses blogs to find out informa¬
tion and opinions about trips to or accommodation in foreign countries. She
explains it as follows:
I read reviews about trips or hotels very often because [...] the websites that offer
accommodation bookings, they’re not always legit. We’ve found many times that
they put a good deal on some website, and I decide to take it, and when I get to the
hotel’s address, I’m stood up.
It is apparent that Vera utilizes blogs, and, this way, the English language
to gather and gain access to more information on the Internet. This utilitarian
way of using English was also present in the case of videos when learners
watched tutorial videos in order to have a better understanding of an issue
because the English-language videos usually contain more relevant information
than the videos available in Hungarian.
4.5.7 Using social media in English
The next pattern was the use of social media in English. All participants have a
Facebook account and use Facebook Messenger to keep in touch with their family
and friends. Most students also use Instagram on a daily basis, but boys reported
that some of them have an Instagram account, but they rarely check it. Lucas, for
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