Students spend more time using English out-of-school compared to in school. Situated in previous research on Extramural English, this study will be drawing on interviews with a specially selected sample of upper secondary school students who engage in intense and personally meaningful interactions in English-mediated communities online. This qualitative research study seeks to answer how and where these students communicate. Furthermore, the students’ experiences of use of English in school and in online communities will be explored. Results are based on a thematic content analysis. Based on the result, students experience high confidence in their L2 English proficiency in online communities. However, some of the participants experience anxiety and worries when using English in school. Teachers need to be aware of their students’ Extramural English to understand challenges related to students’ in- and out-of-school L2 English experiences.

Digitala spel har blivit alltmer populära och lättillgängliga i dagens samhälle, och nästan alla, särskilt i den yngre generationen, spelar någon typ av spel. Forskning har visat att spel kan ha en positiv inverkan på elevers andraspråksinlärning genom bland annat ökad motivation och bättre receptiv språkförmåga. Speciellt onlinespel ger utmärkta förhållanden att lära sig engelska eftersom spelen oftast är på engelska, samt att kommunikation, som oftast sker på engelska, med spelare från andra länder är nödvändig för att prestera bra i spelen. Den här studien visar med hjälp av en gruppintervju och tre individuella intervjuer, att eleverna själva ser onlinespel ha en övervägande positiv inverkan på deras motivation och lärande inom engelska som andraspråk. Förutom att de upplevde att de lärde sig mer naturlig engelska i spelen berättade de att engelskan i skolan blev roligare eftersom de kunde följa lektionerna lättare.

An increasing amount of people play games in their spare time, especially children and teenagers. Several studies have shown a positive correlation between gaming and ESL grades. It is therefore important to examine how teacher perceive and use games and extramural gaming in their classrooms, which is the aim of this thesis. In order to fulfil this aim, the research questions "how and to what extent are games used in the classroom", "how and to what extent is gaming as an extramural activity used in the classroom" and "what attitudes do teachers have towards using games or extramural gaming in the classroom" were used. Data was gathered using a mixed-methods design with a questionnaire and interviews. The questionnaire was distributed to 53 Swedish ESL teachers (47 of which completed the entire questionnaire), and three Swedish ESL teachers were then interviewed to provide further information. The results showed that games are not used in these teachers’ Swedish EFL classrooms, and students’ interest in games as an extramural activity is only used to a very small extent in their classrooms. The participating teachers’ attitudes were mildly positive to the possibility of students learning from games, and positive to the possibility of student becoming more interested if games were used or referenced in education. However, teachers could generally not see themselves using gaming to their advantage, and many claimed not to know how they would use games or their student’s extramural gaming in the classroom. This suggests a lack of knowledge among the teachers, and a need for further education on the subject so that the full potential of this increasingly popular extramural activity can be taken advantage of in the classroom.

<p>Since the 1950’s medial resources have accelerated at an apparent pace. The access to several TV channels, to the Internet and to cell phones has increased and is available almost every student. In the society of today young people are exposed to media technology everywhere. It is apparent that children as well as adolescents and adults are affected by television, music, the Internet in one way or the other. The aim of this essay was to investigate if students think that TV, music and the Internet affect their English language learning outside the classroom. Furthermore, the purpose was also to see in what ways their teachers use these kinds of media recourses.</p><p>Questionnaires were handed out to three ninth grade classes (56 students) and interviews were made with their English teachers. The investigations showed that the majority of the students thought that they learned a lot outside of the school, mostly from TV and films. They claimed that they learned things like words, phrases and pronunciations.</p><p>Two of the three teachers who were interviewed used TV and music frequently in their teaching because they thought it was of importance to their students’ different learning styles, while the third teacher rarely used any of the resources mentioned above. Even though their methods differed they were of the same opinion that TV, music and the Internet have a huge impact on their students.</p>

The purpose of this study is to examine the status of academic freedom and, more specifically, intramural and extramural speech at universities in the U.S. since 2000. Court opinions and briefs from benchmark court cases and the faculty's perspective of current academic freedom issues are analyzed to determine dominant trends and themes that have evolved since 2000. While others have studied the relationship between the First Amendment and academic freedom, this analysis brings current the discourse concerning the effect First Amendment court decisions have on the faculty speech. The central research question is to determine the effect court decisions have on the intramural and extramural speech of faculty and specifically to study how federal, state, and local events since 2000 have affected (a) the academic freedom of faculty in general, (b) the way universities handle faculty intramural speech, (c) the way universities handle faculty extramural speech when they speak both as a citizen and a public university employee, and (d) the ability of faculty to defend their academic freedom. Using post-modern theory, the two-phased mixed methods study deconstructs and analyzes (a) the six First Amendment court opinions and briefs and (b) the 19 interviews of public university faculty members. The first phase identified 11 dominant themes, which were used as the basis for the coding and the 19 interviews of public university faculty members. The interview coding and analysis identified 15 themes. Based on the Pearson Correlation Coefficient, four themes were identified in the court opinions and six in the interviews are discussed. The second phase also included surveys of the faculty interviewed and a quantitative analysis of the responses in order to classify the sample. The study found that public universities have complete control over academic freedom, and that it is a privilege granted to faculty based on their scholarly association with the university, not a right. Public university administrators, general counsels, deans, department chairs, and faculty will benefit from the study as it provides an intensive analysis of post-2000 court case logic and the current perceptions and apprehensions that faculty have concerning their intramural and extramural speech rights. / text

Since the 1950’s medial resources have accelerated at an apparent pace. The access to several TV channels, to the Internet and to cell phones has increased and is available almost every student. In the society of today young people are exposed to media technology everywhere. It is apparent that children as well as adolescents and adults are affected by television, music, the Internet in one way or the other. The aim of this essay was to investigate if students think that TV, music and the Internet affect their English language learning outside the classroom. Furthermore, the purpose was also to see in what ways their teachers use these kinds of media recourses. Questionnaires were handed out to three ninth grade classes (56 students) and interviews were made with their English teachers. The investigations showed that the majority of the students thought that they learned a lot outside of the school, mostly from TV and films. They claimed that they learned things like words, phrases and pronunciations. Two of the three teachers who were interviewed used TV and music frequently in their teaching because they thought it was of importance to their students’ different learning styles, while the third teacher rarely used any of the resources mentioned above. Even though their methods differed they were of the same opinion that TV, music and the Internet have a huge impact on their students.

This thesis considers the teaching of English literature within extramural organisations for adults in England between 1885 and 1910. This challenges the assumption that the beginnings of English as a tertiary-level academic subject can be traced back only as far as the foundation of the Oxford English School at the end of the nineteenth century; in fact extramural English courses had been flourishing for decades before this, and these reached their zenith in the final years before it was introduced at Oxbridge. Oxford created an Honours School of English in 1894, and the Cambridge English Tripos was established in 1917; in ideological terms, such developments were of course crucial, yet it has too often been the case that the extramural literary teaching being conducted contemporaneously has been sidelined in studies of the period. My first chapter will consider the development of English in various institutional and non-institutional environments before 1885, including Edinburgh University, Dissenting Academies, and Mechanics’ Institutes. Thereafter I will explore the campaign, led by University Extension lecturer John Churton Collins, to incorporate English literature as an honours degree at Oxford. Focusing on the period between 1885 and 1891, this second chapter will assess the veracity of some of Collins’s most vehement claims regarding the apparently low critical and pedagogical standards in existence at the time, which he felt could only be improved if Oxford would agree to institutionalise the subject, and thereby raise the standard of teaching more generally. Collins’s campaign enjoyed more success when he drew attention to the scholarly teaching available within the University Extension Movement; my third chapter is underpinned by research and analysis of previously unexplored material at the archives of London University, such as syllabuses, examination papers, and lecturers’ reports. I examine the way in which English literature, the most popular subject among Extension students, was actually being taught outside the universities while still excluded from Oxbridge. Thereafter my penultimate chapter focuses on an extramural reading group formed by Cambridge Extension lecturer Richard G. Moulton. This section considers Moulton’s formulation of an innovative mode of literary interpretation, tailored specifically to suit the abilities of extramural students, and which also lent itself particularly to the study of novels. Uncollected T. P.’s Weekly articles written by Arnold Bennett highlight the emphasis that he placed on pleasure, rather than scholarship. My final chapter considers Bennett’s self-imposed demarcation from the more serious extramural pedagogues of literature, such as Collins and Moulton, and his extraordinary impact on Edwardian reading habits. A brief coda will compare the findings of the 1921 “Newbolt Report” with my own assessment of fin-de-siècle extramural education.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether listening to music as an out-of-school activity, and English songs in particular, motivated a group of Swedish upper-secondary students to learn extramural English. One aspect that comes into focus is whether the students perceived that there were particular aspects of second language acquisition (SLA) that improved as a result of listening to music. The study focuses on the correlation between the needs of the listeners and the nature of their motivation for learning. This is a qualitative study based on the analysis of semi-structured interviews. The results show that all of the students perceived listening to music as an aid in their extramural English acquisition. A majority of the students had the intrinsic motivation for learning as they exhibited curiosity, emotions and internal needs as the primary factors that empowered them to expand their extramural English. The minority of the interviewees showed signs of extrinsic motivation to learn the vocabulary of the lyrics of the songs they listened to. The learning they experienced was linked to the expectancy in improving their academic performances. They may, however, have had a combination of the extrinsic and intrinsic forms of motivation where the former had a dominant position. In both cases the respondents showed awareness of the correlation between their extramural English acquisition and listening to vocal music. It is suggested that vocabulary acquisition was the primary aspect of language learning that benefited from listening to songs, followed by listening skills. The possibility to make their own choice to listen to music is linked to deep language learning, vocabulary learning in context and mastering listening skills.

Using a corpus of school essays of Swedish students in year 9 and 12 of junior and senior high school, the present study compares the level of formality and frequency of discourse markers in the respective year groups. Based on previous literature, discourse markers found in the essays are categorized as either formal or informal. Ten randomly selected essays from each year group are analyzed. The results show that there are discrepancies between grade 9 and year 12 in both formality and frequency of discourse markers. The differences can be connected to second language acquisition and contexts in which the Swedish students acquire English. Outer input of English, made possible by new technology and globalization, has a significant impact on language acquisition, a phenomenon which is new and relatively unexplored.  The results of the current study are discussed in the light of the relevance and impacts of the frequent exposure to English through internet activities and media consumption and how it effects language learning. By focusing on discourse markers, which make up an important part of written and spoken language, I attempt to point out patterns that may be relevant and useful for English teachers. Awareness of how combined mechanisms effect and develop students´ acquisition and how to interpret differences in how students use specific grammatical elements such as discourse markers may be useful as a pedagogical analyzing tool. Not least when it comes to the assessment of essays.

The English language is becoming more common in our society. Research shows that students learn English in their spare time as well as in the classroom. The purpose of the study is to investigate teachers’ experiences of students’ previous knowledge in English, if it has changed over time in speech and vocabulary and what sources the teachers perceive that the students meet in their spare time. I considered it appropriate to use qualitative data collection in the form of semi structured interviews with experienced teachers. The result shows that the teachers in my study can see a change in previous knowledge over time and that the sources are often connected to the internet. I found that both the previous research and the results of my data in this study agree that extramural English is rewarding for students’ English knowledge. There has been a big change in an increased level of previous knowledge in English. An important conclusion is that this increase of previous knowledge contributes to greater variation of knowledge among students, which puts higher demands on teachers to individualize the teaching.