Where do Swedish Senior High School students learn most of the English that they know? : Swedish Senior High School students’ beliefs about learning English outside the classroom versus inside the classroom

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study is to investigate Swedish senior high school students’ Extramural English (EE) activities and their beliefs about learning English inside and outside of the classroom. EE is defined as English language activities that learners are engaged in outside the classroom, and includes activities such as listening to music, reading, writing, speaking, surfing the Internet, playing computer games, watching TV, YouTube and movies (Sundqvist, 2009, p. 1). The study also investigated possible gender differences related to students’ reported EE activities, and their reported attitudes about English. This study is based on questionnaire data. Twenty students participated in this study. 9 of 10 participants indicated that they believed that they are learning most of the English they know outside of school by daily contact with popular EE activities such as listening to music, followed by surfing the Internet, reading, watching YouTube, watching TV, playing computer games, writing, speaking and lastly watching movies. Boys reported a greater exposure to EE overall compared to the girls, more specifically, in their contact with music, computer games and writing and speaking in an EE context. Most of the students reported positive attitudes to English both inside and outside the classroom, but overall students reported more positive attitudes to the English that they use in their free time. The study has found no strong gender differences concerning students’ attitudes to learning English.