Oh My Gosh! Engagement With Extramural English Among 6-Year-Olds

Abstract:

Young learners increasingly engage with English outside the classroom walls (extramural English, EE). This study presents empirical research exploring EE engagement among three 6-year-olds in Norway, where English is learned as an additional language (L2). Data were collected through a show-and-tell procedure in the home, where the 6-year-olds demonstrated their engagement with digital technologies in English, while reflecting on language use and learning. Audio-recorded observations of EE engagement and commentary from the children and their parents were analyzed inductively to explore engagement with games, YouTube, and music, and to unpack environmental factors that may contribute to L2 learning. The findings showed that the 6-year-olds’ EE engagement was characterized by social interaction and shared interests with family members, in homes with generally positive attitudes toward English. The data analysis reflected the interrelated dimensions of engagement—behavioral, cognitive, and emotional—and showed how the joint engagement with English-language technologies in the home induced a readiness to interact in English. While family members at times functioned as knowledgeable others in the young learners’ EE engagement, the 6-year-olds themselves became experts in the show-and-tell procedure. We offer concrete advice for formal instruction of English, proposing that targeted classroom instruction can be designed in response to learners’ engagement with EE, specifically by drawing on the interactional readiness elicited by the joint engagement with digital technologies and the show-and-tell procedure.