The relationship between extramural English and productive vocabulary knowledge

Extramural English (language contact outside of the classroom) has been shown to be beneficial for language acquisition and for vocabulary knowledge in particular (De Wilde et al., 2019; Lindgren & Muñoz, 2013; Peters, 2018; Puimège & Peters, 2019; Sundqvist, 2019; Sundqvist & Wikström, 2015). Most research has been conducted in the context of formal instruction of English as a foreign language (EFL) and has focused on receptive word knowledge. However, little is known about the relationship between extramural English and productive vocabulary knowledge in young learners without any formal instruction in English. This presentation zooms in on the productive word knowledge of young learners in Flanders who had not received any formal instruction (aged 11-12; n = 65; 39 male) and their Extramural English. Learners were tested on their productive knowledge of 96 single words from the Picture Vocabulary Size Test (Anthony & Nation, 2017). They also completed a questionnaire about their extramural English. The findings show that young learners in Flanders have large amounts of extramural English, especially through gaming and TV viewing. The analyses suggest a positive relation between extramural English and young learners’ productive word knowledge in English (r=.37). A regression analysis showed that playing games in English in particular seems to contribute to learning. Additionally, the analysis indicated that English language audio-visual input without subtitles is also beneficial for productive vocabulary knowledge. However, watching TV with subtitles in the L1 appeared to be negatively correlated to the vocabulary test scores. Finally, listening to songs was not related to the vocabulary test results.