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Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 33:1 (2020) ► pp.171–201

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Boys like games and girls like movies

Age and gender differences in out-of-school contact with English

 | University of Barcelona
Published online: 21 August 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.18042.mun
Abstract
In many contexts learners are enriching their limited contact with the foreign language in the classroom with unlimited contact outside the classroom thanks to the easy and immediate availability of the Internet and digital media. This study aimed to document the characteristics of the contact with English that a large sample of Catalan-Spanish learners have outside the classroom, to explore possible age- and gender-related differences, and to examine the association between out-of-school contact and classroom grades. The responses to a survey showed the type of activities in which young and old adolescents and young adults engage. The analyses showed differences between the three age groups, as well as large differences in the choices of males and females. The analysis of the association between respondents’ English-classroom grades and the different activities showed that reading had the highest positive correlation, followed by watching audiovisual material with L2 subtitles.
Resumen
Actualmente en muchos lugares el contacto limitado con la lengua extranjera del aula se ve enriquecido con un contacto ilimitado fuera del aula gracias a la facilidad e inmediatez de internet y los medios digitales. Este estudio se propone documentar las características del contacto con la lengua inglesa fuera del aula de una muestra (n = 3048) de estudiantes (bilingües catalán-castellano), explorar posibles diferencias relacionadas con la edad y el género, y examinar la asociación entre el contacto fuera del aula y las calificaciones obtenidas en clase de inglés. Las respuestas a un cuestionario muestran los tipos de actividades a las que se dedican más frecuentemente tres grupos de edad: adolescentes jóvenes, adolescentes mayores, y jóvenes adultos. Los análisis muestran diferencias entre los tres grupos de edad y también entre géneros. Finalmente, el análisis de la asociación entre las notas de clase y la frecuencia con la que participan en las diferentes actividades muestra que la lectura es la actividad que está más fuertemente relacionada con las notas, seguida por el visionado de material audiovisual con subtítulos en inglés.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Before school instruction
    • 2.2School learners
    • 2.3Young adults
  • 3.The current study
    • 3.1Method
      • 3.1.1Participants
      • 3.1.2The survey
    • 3.2Analyses and results
    • 3.3Discussion
    • 3.4Conclusions and limitations
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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