Behind grades: Extramural, environmental and individual factors in learning English as a foreign language

Sammanfattning: The EF English Proficiency Index has presented high English proficiency levels for Swedish students. Previous investigations have studied different factors that contribute to high proficiency in a second language, such as the engagement with the language in the free time, or personal characteristics such as motivation or learners’ home environment. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate correlations between Swedish 9th grade studentsʼ grades in the English subject with three factors; 1) their extramural activities, 2) their home environment, and 3) the students’ personal characteristics. The participants in this study were 49 students of ages 15-16 years old from a primary school in northern Stockholm. They answered an online survey with four open-ended questions and 35 statements in which the participants answered on a Likert scale between 1-6. The results suggest a weak correlation between extramural activities and the students’ English grades, a weak correlation between home environment and the students’ grades in English, and a moderate correlation between individual differences and students’ English grades. Given the small sample size and potential limitations of the study, the results cannot be generalized to a larger population and further investigation, such as a qualitative study through interviews with students and EFL practitioners, may provide us with a more in-depth understanding of the connections between the investigated factors and Swedish students’ proficiency levels in English.