Extramural English in Scandinavia and Asia: Scale Development, Learner Engagement, and Perceived Speaking Ability

Abstract

This article comprises two international studies. Study 1 aimed to develop a scale to measure the frequency of learners' voluntary, informal, out‐of‐school engagement with English, so‐called Extramural English (EE) activities. It involved three stages – pilot study, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis – followed by measuring the test–retest reliability and known‐groups validity of the scale. L2 English learners (N = 907; mean age: 17) from Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) and Turkey participated. The analyses led to a 32‐item EE Scale that loaded onto eight factors: EE Digital Creativity, Gaming, Internalized, Music, Niche Activities, Reading and Listening, Social Interaction, and Viewing. Study 2, in which the scale was implemented, aimed to explore the frequency of EE activities and examined whether EE predicts learners' perceived speaking ability in different settings. Learners from Scandinavia (N = 197) and Asia (N = 125; China and Turkey) participated. Data analyses showed that both samples engaged most frequently in EE Music, Viewing and Reading and Listening. Ordinal regression analysis revealed that EE predicts perceived speaking ability in both contexts, but differently so. Thus, EE seems to play different roles for learning English in the different settings. Implications are discussed regarding the context‐specific nature of EE.