This study explores the motivation that students in Swedish upper secondary school have for engaging with, and learning, English both in and out of school to find out if there is a gap between them and find a way to possibly bridge this gap if it exists. Students’ motivation has been described as important for their learning and motivation and its effects have been studied in several ways. A study with focus on how informal learning and out of school (extramural) English improve students’ English proficiency have been conducted by Sundqvist (2010) and Socket (2013). The effect of schools, and teachers in particular, on students’ motivation in school or during class has been studied by Sundqvist (2015), Bernaus and Gardner (2008) and Ushida (2005), while a study on what actually motivates students was done by Saeed and Zyngier (2012). This study is conducted through group interviews with four focus groups made up of three students each which come from two different upper secondary schools in Sweden. The results of these interviews are analysed through Ryan and Deci’s Self-Determination Theory (2000) to determine how motivated the students are and how their motivation is affected by different factors. The results show that students are highly motivated to engage with English activities on their own volition, and that they are highly motivated to learn English. The results also show that teachers have a great effect on students’ motivation and can both raise and lower it depending on how they conduct their lessons. Students want more choice, to learn through authentic English experiences and a teacher that they can relate to.

Abstract This study aimed at investigating some of the possible effects of the computer on adolescents’ language development. As a base for the study Sundqvist’s (2009) study on extramural English (EE) was used. The work of David Crystal provided a substantial background on the English language, which was complemented by the work of Halliday among others.          In the study ten national writing tests were examined and analyzed, and a small survey of the ten students’ Internet habits was performed. The mistakes and errors made by the students in the tests were compared to their value of exposure to Internet English (EIE) in order to establish possible links between their Internet habits and their writing mistakes. The study found that the five boys that took part spent more time online and engaging in activities where English was used than the girls of the study. It was also found that the students who spend the most time online made substantially more errors and mistakes regarding the apostrophe, mainly in contractions. It was also found that the students who spent little time online and had a low value of EIE were more likely to make mistakes and errors regarding verbs and agreement.                       Although the study was too limited for any generalizations to be made, it hinted at some possible links between Internet habits of adolescents and their performance on the national test and their general language proficiency.

Technology advances at a fast rate and pupils encounter a larger amount of English outside school than they do in the EFL classroom. In addition, an update to the Swedish curriculum (LGR 11), that concerns digitalization takes effect in July this year (2018). That is why this thesis aims to explore Swedish EFL teachers’ use of pupils’ extramural (out-of-school) English experience of new media in the EFL classroom. New media is a means of mass communication, a product or service that provides entertainment or information through a computer or the Internet. New media is generally created by the users and for this thesis, relevant new media are social media, social networks sites, online streaming, fan sites and gaming. The results of this study show that about two-thirds of the 27 teachers surveyed in this study have used new media in their English teaching sometime in the last two years. Most of the teachers use it because they are interested in new media, to catch the attention of the pupils or because they find the content of new media useful for their teaching. One-third of the teachers did not use new media and reported that they did not have sufficient knowledge on how to use new media in their English teaching. The results also show that even though new media is used by many of these teachers, the use of it is basic and few reflections are made during the use of new media. Further research about why teachers lack knowledge and how the use of new media can be extended would arguably give a better understanding of teachers’ use of pupils’ extramural English experience of new media. / <p>Engelska</p>

The aim of this study was to show whether there was a correlation between teachers’ opinions on the use of English in the EFL classroom and the students’ grades. The participants were four classes consisting of 75 students and four teachers from two Swedish upper secondary schools. A mixed-method was used consisting of two questionnaires and the students’ final grades from their English 5 course. The questionnaires were self-administrated and distributed via Google drive. Findings from this study indicate that there was no relationship between the teachers’ opinions and the students’ grades, but that Extramural English seems to affect the students’ grades. The extent of this has, however, not been established in this study. Further research within this area is needed.

This study explores the possible relationship between extramural English (EE) and students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in the EFL classroom in the Swedish upper secondary school. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, and the data was collected through a questionnaire and interviews. The results of the study suggest that EE usage positively affects students’ language proficiency and their self-perceptions of their English ability, which in turn is beneficial for their WTC in all contexts inside the classroom. The results also show that the students who spend the most time in EE contexts reported higher levels of WTC than the non-frequent users of EE. Productive EE activities were also found to be more beneficial for raising students’ WTC than receptive activities. The connection between EE and WTC is, however, not absolute since a minority of the students reported a high frequency of EE but low WTC, which indicates that several other factors might also be influencing upper secondary school students' WTC.

Studies relating to Electronic Games (EG) and the development of language acquisition for ESL learners have shown remarkable results. A Swedish study researching vocabulary proficiency reported that “frequent gamers had a higher total mean score than the moderate gamers, and in turn the moderate gamers had a higher score than the non-gamers” (Sundqvist &amp; Sylvén, 2012, p. 313). Regarding oral proficiency, willingness to communicate and language strategies Horowitz (2019) illustrates that verbal linguistic competence increases concurrently with extended periods of exposure to EG. Games and grades in English similarly seem to have some overlap (Sundqvist &amp; Sylvèn, 2012; Uuskoski, 2011). “Massively multiplayer online games, role-playing games, strategy games and shooter games also had noticeable statistically significant correlations with good grades” (Uuskoski, 2011, p. 43). The adage of the more you use it, the better you become seems to have further implications when the use of EG seems to not only increase the average grades, vocabulary, and oral skills in addition to possibly increasing the motivation of EFL students. However, a vital aspect that has often been overlooked in other studies is how students and users of EG perceive their own language learning and what implications this entails for learners of English. This study consists of the attitudinal values of 50 adolescent students in an International School in Stockholm towards L2 language skills and language motivation through EG. In order to measure the study a quantitative analysis was conducted based on answers from a questionnaire. The results showed that a majority of the students had positive attitudes towards the use of Electronic Games (EG) and increasing their English proficiency. It was additionally discovered that both receptive and productive skills when playing were considered useful with significant differences between girl and boy gamers. In regards to EG and student motivation to learn more in school by playing EG a majority however found EG to not give any major contributions. Furthermore, students believed they learned the most English at school although EG and other sources had some importance.

Sweden is seen as a successful adopter of English as an additional language (EAL) and the country is a frontrunner in the globalization of the English language. Much of the success could be attributed to the large presence of English in Swedish society. Additionally, EAL learners are acquiring the English language out-of-school to a larger extent, often referred to as Extramural English (EE). Therefore, it is important to investigate how EE affects learners, teachers and discuss how it can change education. This has been done by evaluating the current state of research through a systematic literature review. It was found that learners engage in a variety of EE activities, with playing online games and watching movies being the activities with the most English exposure. Learners engage in these activities mostly out of their own interests or because of other socially driven motives. EE affects their opinion of English and could have negative effects on their attitude towards school English. Teachers are aware of the gap between EE and school English and try to integrate activities similar to EE activities in class. However, it is a challenge to find authentic material that fits a large number of learners’ interests. In conclusion, there is a need for more research that could point to a clear cause-and-effect relationship between EE and high proficiency in English. This thesis also calls on teachers, principals, and school leaders to prepare to change education if EE becomes a more widespread phenomenon.

The present study aims to investigate the possible impact that extramural English (EE) has on students’ foreign language anxiety (FLA) in the Swedish EFL classroom. The focus lies specifically on speaking anxiety and its relation to EE, if certain EE activities have a greater importance than others, and if there are gender differences in EE activities and levels of speaking anxiety. The study was carried out in a secondary school in Stockholm, Sweden. The 142 participants attended the last term of ninth grade when the study was carried out. Quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire and results demonstrated that the more extramural English the participants engaged in, the lower their levels of speaking anxiety were. Results also showed that productive EE activities seemed to have a greater impact than receptive activities on FLA. Finally, the study also revealed gender differences in preferred EE activities as well as in levels of speaking anxiety. The participating girls, as a group, had higher levels of speaking anxiety than the boys and were more involved in receptive EE activities than the participating boys. Additionally, the boys spent more time on activities involving video games than girls.

The umbrella term used in research to imply exposure to the English language outside the classroom is “extramural English”. The impact of the engagement in activities by second language learners of English through extramural activities is generally perceived as positive for language development. The aim of this study is to investigate the perceptions of teachers in Swedish lower secondary school on the influence of online extramural English on the written and spoken English proficiency of students, enrolled in years six till nine, learning English as a foreign language.A qualitative study in the form of an online questionnaire, consisting of open- and closed-ended questions, is used to answer three research questions: 1. What is the overall perspective of English teachers on their students’ proficiency in English and the influence of extramural English? 2. What is the perspective of English teachers on their students’ proficiency in written English and the influence of extramural English? 3. What is the perspective of English teachers on their students’ proficiency in oral English and the influence of extramural English? Teachers clearly believe that oral communication and listening skills benefit more than reading and writing skills from online extramural activities in English.

English is a globally used language and with the emergence of the digital era, it surrounds usall over the world. This had led to pupils in Sweden meeting English even outside school,which is a concept called extramural English, EE in short (Sundqvist, 2009). This thesisexamines Swedish teachers, who teach years F-3, beliefs on the concept of extramuralEnglish, as well as how they incorporate extramural English via digital resources in theirteaching. To investigate this, both a survey and three interviews with teachers who teachstudents in year F-3 are analyzed.This study shows that most of the teachers who participated are not familiar with the conceptof extramural English, but they all work with similar materials and have similar attitudestowards the concept. This thesis highlights the importance of educated teachers oncontributing factors and pedagogical conditions that extramural English provide to languageteaching, in order to maintain pupils' motivation and create a meaningful English teaching. / <p>Engelska</p>