Even though foreign languages often constitute an integral part of the linguistic landscape of a particular location, there is evidence that students do not necessarily notice the presence and role of foreign language elements in their local environment (Chesnut, Lee & Schulte 2013; Dagenais et al. 2009). Studies with older learners of the potential learning benefits of encounters with rich linguistic landscapes, have reported on attempts to bring environmental English to the attention of older learners and to use such examples for language learning (Barrs 2013; Rowland 2012). Work of this kind with younger learners is rare. Building on previous work using linguistic landscapes with young German learners of English (Roos & Nicholas 2019), we report on how primary school students (aged 10-12) enrolled in English language learning in Germany engage with their local English landscapes. Students were asked to photograph examples of English in their environment. They then wrote down (1) what their examples suggested about the use of English and (2) whether and how what they had found related to examples located by other students (cf. Sayer 2010). Following their reflections on what they had found, the students were asked to write about the usefulness of this approach for their own language learning. We discuss their written reflections in relation to the aspects of the use of English in their local environment that they became conscious of and whether this awareness was perceived as beneficial for their learning. The learners' comments reveal how a process of active, learner-centered discovery contributed to diverse aspects of the learning of English, e.g. by supporting the development of language awareness. The comments also show that engagement with their English landscapes can raise learners' awareness of the potential and value of their linguistic environments for EFL learning (Cenoz & Gorter 2008; Starks, Macdonald, Nicholas & Roos 2020), thus providing support for the idea of using "environmental English" (Sayer 2010: 144) in the language teaching process. We consider implications for teacher education.
