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Article published In: ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 176:1 (2025) ► pp.76–110

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Adolescents’ informal exposure to English as a second language in the context of Galicia

Effects on vocabulary, grammar, and writing

ORCiD logo with link | University of Vigo
 | University of Washington
Published online: 17 February 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.23010.alo
Abstract
This study examines the effects of informal English exposure on vocabulary, grammar, and writing. A total of 178 Galician adolescent learners of English completed a placement test, a language background and an out-of-school English activities questionnaire, and three language tasks: a grammaticality judgement test, a vocabulary test, and a writing task. Findings revealed that the most common out-of-school activities were listening to music, watching films without subtitles, and gaming. Positive correlations were found between learners’ performance on the language tasks and the activities of watching films without subtitles, watching films with captions, reading, writing, and, to a smaller extent, listening to music, gaming, and speaking online. Gender-related differences were noticed in the frequency of some out-of-school activities and the correlations with learners’ performance on the three language tasks.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Out-of-school English
  • Out-of-school English among adolescents
    • Out-of-school English among adolescents and L2 vocabulary knowledge
    • Out-of-school English among adolescents and L2 grammar knowledge
    • Out-of-school English among adolescents and L2 writing
    • Out-of-school English among adolescents and gender
  • The study
    • Participants
  • Materials and procedures
    • Questionnaires
    • Language tests
  • Procedures
  • Data analysis
  • Results
    • Type and frequency of out-of-school English activities
  • Discussion
    • Type and frequency of out-of-school English activities
    • Pedagogical implications
    • Limitations of the study
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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