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EXTRAMURAL ENGLISH ACTIVITIES AND INDIVIDUAL LEARNER DIFFERENCES
the findings, it may also be concluded that a large proportion of these EE ac¬
tivities provide participants with a plethora of L2 input, eguipping participants
with the opportunity to learn L2 elements incidentally (cf. Schmidt 1993, 1995,
2001) and to actually practice and use the English language while acguiring
new L2 elements, too (cf. Bialystok 1981). The interview results also show some
typical gender differences between participants. Girls reported that they tend
to do activities that are more gender-specific to girls, but not exclusively, as
some female participants also like engaging in EE activities traditionally con¬
sidered to be more masculine (cf. girls playing video games); at the same time,
boys also reported pursuing EE activities that are gender-specific to them. It
is important to note, however, that gender differences in this study may be due
to the sampling method.
The results also show that some students consciously seek opportunities to
regularly engage in EE activities. Many participants even pursue them with
the aim of improving their EFL skills. For some participants, EFL lessons at
school are less motivating, yet they show interest in English as they do sever¬
al EE activities. As a result, it may be concluded that they are interested in the
English language; however, school-based EFL lessons are not inspiring or
motivating enough for them, and EE activities are more interesting and en¬
gaging. This may partly explain what Oveges and Csizér (2018) found in their
nationwide survey in Hungary, which shows that Hungarian secondary school
EFL teachers perceive Hungarian secondary school EFL students to be less
motivated in EFL classes than students actually are. Their self-reported EFL
learning motivation is relatively higher than their teachers’ perceptions.
The results of Study One informed Study Two, and the EE activities collect¬
ed in Study One are used in Study Two. However, it is important to note that
only the more frequent EE activities were included in Study Two, as the more
marginal EE activities, which are expected to be pursued only by very few
students (e.g., doing sports and using English for communication), had been
omitted.
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