An investigation into the use of out of class english learning activities of 10th grade students at a high school in hai duong province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES


NGUYỄN THU THẢO

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF OUT-OF-CLASS ENGLISH
LEARNING ACTIVITIES OF 10th GRADE STUDENTS AT A HIGH
SCHOOL IN HAI DUONG PROVINCE
NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG HỌC TIẾNG ANH
NGOÀI LỚP HỌC CỦA HỌC SINH KHỐI LỚP 10 Ở MỘT TRƢỜNG
THPT TẠI TỈNH HẢI DƢƠNG

M.A. Minor Program Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01

HANOI – 2021


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES


NGUYỄN THU THẢO

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF OUT-OF-CLASS
ENGLISH LEARNING ACTIVITIES OF 10th GRADE STUDENTS AT

A HIGH SCHOOL IN HAI DUONG PROVINCE
NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG HỌC TIẾNG
ANH NGOÀI LỚP HỌC CỦA HỌC SINH KHỐI LỚP 10 Ở MỘT
TRƢỜNG THPT TẠI TỈNH HẢI DƢƠNG

M.A. Minor Program Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01
Supervisor: Lê Thị Hồng Duyên, Ph.D.

HANOI – 2021


DECLARATION
I, Nguyễn Thu Thảo, hereby certify that the thesis entitled “An investigation
into the use of out-of-class English learning activities of 10th grade students at a
high school in Hai Duong province” is submitted for the partial fulfillment of the
Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of
Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. I also
declare that this thesis is the result of my own research and efforts and it has not
been submitted for any other purposes.
Hanoi, 2021
Student
Nguyễn Thu Thảo

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to offer my sincerest gratitude to my
honorable supervisor, Dr. Le Thi Hong Duyen, who has supported me throughout
my thesis with her patience and sincerity. It was her guidance that has enabled me
to find the right way to complete this study.
My heart-felt thanks go to all of the lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of
Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies for their
valuable lectures on which my minor thesis was laid the foundation.
A special word of thank goes to all the 10th grade students at the chosen
school who has participated in my survey. Without their support, I could not have
such relevant data.
Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my family and my friends for their
notable assistance and constant encouragement throughout my research work.

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ABSTRACT
The study is concerned with the use of out-of-class English learning
activities of 10th grade students at a high school in Hai Duong province. The main
purposes of the study are to investigate the English learning activities implemented
out of the classroom by students, the factors affecting their choice and their attitudes
s towards the use of those activities. Data were collected through a questionnaire
and an interview and then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results
showed that there were a wide range of English out-of-class activities implemented
by students. However, the receptive activities were carried out the most due to
living and learning environment of the learners and the culture of Vietnamese
people. Besides, interests, personal needs and context were the factors that affect
students‟ choice. In addition, the finding also indicated that all students recognized
the importance of the use of English out-of-class activities. These activities brought

positive changes to students such as the English exposure, English proficiency and
outcome and the ability of independent learning. Moreover, the researcher has
found out a new finding which was not mentioned in any previous related studies.
No matter which skills the activities are, as long as they helped students to develop
their speaking and listening skills, they are evaluated as the effective ones by
students. From the findings of the research, some pedagogical suggestions were
proposed to bring out-of-class learning closer to students as well as maximize the
English learning development outcomes.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION .................................................................................................. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... iv
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ................................................................... vii
ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................. viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale for the study .................................................................................... 1
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study .................................................................... 2
1.3. Research questions .......................................................................................... 2
1.4. Scope of the study ........................................................................................... 2
1.5. Significance of the study ................................................................................. 2
1.6. Organization of the study ................................................................................ 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 4
2.1. Definition of OCLL activities ......................................................................... 4
2.2. Classification of OCLL activities ................................................................... 5
2.2.1. Self-instruction ...................................................................................... 5

2.2.2. Self-directed naturalistic language learning .......................................... 6
2.2.3. Naturalistic language learning ............................................................... 6
2.3. Advantages of OCLL activities ....................................................................... 7
2.3.1. Increasing the exposure to the target language ..................................... 7
2.3.2. Improving the learning proficiency and outcome ................................. 9
2.3.3. Fostering learner autonomy ................................................................... 11
2.4. Factors that influence the choice of out-of-class learning activities ............... 13
2.5. Review of previous related studies ................................................................. 15
2.5.1. Previous related studies overseas .......................................................... 15
2.5.2. Previous related studies in Viet Nam .................................................... 16

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2.6. Summary ......................................................................................................... 18
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................... 19
3.1. Restatement of research questions .................................................................. 19
3.2. Context of the study ........................................................................................ 19
3.2.1. Setting of the study ................................................................................ 19
3.2.2. Participants ............................................................................................ 20
3.3. Research types ................................................................................................. 20
3.4. Data collection instruments ............................................................................. 20
3.4.1. Questionnaire ......................................................................................... 21
3.4.2. Interview ................................................................................................ 21
3.5. Data collection procedures .............................................................................. 22
3.5.1. Questionnaire ......................................................................................... 22
3.5.2. Interview ................................................................................................ 22
3.6. Data analysis methods ..................................................................................... 22
3.7. Summary ......................................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................ 24

4.1. Research question 1: What English learning activities do 10th grade students
implement out of the classroom? ........................................................................... 24
4.2. Research question 2: What factors affect their use of out-of-class English
learning activities? ................................................................................................. 28
4.2.1. Extrinsic factors that decided students‟ choice of out-of-class English
activities ........................................................................................................... 28
4.2.2. The language skills and language knowledge that affected students‟
choice of out-of-class English activities .......................................................... 31
4.3. Research question 3: What are students' attitudes s towards those out-of-class
activities? ................................................................................................................ 32
4.3.1. The importance of the use of out-of-class English in students‟
daily life ........................................................................................................... 33
4.3.2. Advantages of out-of-class English activities reported by students ...... 34

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4.3.3. Students‟ evaluation of the effectiveness of out-of-class English activities
......................................................................................................................... 35
4.4. Summary ......................................................................................................... 40
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................... 41
5.1. Recapitulation ................................................................................................. 41
5.2. Concluding remarks ........................................................................................ 41
5.3. Limitations of the current research ................................................................. 42
5.4. Implications of the findings ............................................................................ 43
5.5. Suggestions for further research...................................................................... 43
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 45
APPENDIX 1 ........................................................................................................ I
APPENDIX 2 ........................................................................................................ VI
APPENDIX 3 ........................................................................................................ XI

APPENDIX 4 ...................................................................................................... XIII

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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Table 4.1: Out-of-class English learning activities that students
reported engaging in ............................................................................................. 24
Figure 4.2.1: Factors affecting students‟ choice of out-of-class English learning
activities ............................................................................................................... 28
Table 4.2.2: The language skills and language knowledge affected students'
choice of out-of-class English activities .............................................................. 31
Figure 4.3.1: The importance of the use of out-of-class English in students‟ daily
life......................................................................................................................... 33
Figure 4.3.2: Students' report on the positive changes due to out-of-class English
activities ............................................................................................................... 35
Table 4.3.3: Students‟ evaluation of the effectiveness of English language
out-of-class activities ........................................................................................... 36

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ABBREVIATIONS
OCLL: out-of-class language learning
ESL: English as a Second Language
ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies
IUH: Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
In the era of globalization, everything is globalizing, from economies of
countries to the social lives of people. In this rapidly changing world, English is
also becoming a global language that is spoken by millions of people all over the
world for different reasons, which makes it the most widely used lingua franca.
Therefore, in many parts of the world people are struggling to learn the English
language through formal or informal education no matter how old they are. In
Vietnam, students are learning English at a fast pace. In addition to traditional
English classes at school, they also register extra-classes at English centers. It is a
fact that the demand for both learning and teaching English in Vietnam is great and
more and more increasing. For this reason, a large number of English centers appear
every day in Vietnam, which leads the reality of learning English to a complete
chaos (Le, 2010). Meanwhile, Brown (2000) pointed out that not many people could
achieve fluency in a foreign language solely within the confines of the classroom. In
other words, learning English is encouraged to occur outside the classroom. As a
matter of fact, English is used practically in different contexts, for legal procedures
and also for internal written communication in the government. Most signs and
public documents are written in both languages, English and Vietnamese. There are
television channels in English such as VTV4 and films can be seen in English at the
cinema. If one chooses, there is no shortage of chances to use the English language
outside the class on a daily basis.
However, from my teaching experience as well as observation, students at a
high school in Hai Duong province, especially the 10th students, have difficulty in
using English to express their ideas. This refers to the lack of exposure to English
language. Being aware of this problem, it is the researcher‟s responsibility to help
these students overcome their difficulty. For this reason, “An investigation into the
use of out-of-class English learning activities of 10th grade students at a high school
in Hai Duong province” was carried out to gain some insights into the

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circumstances of out of class English learning activities done by the students. It was
hoped that the finding of this study would contribute to the understanding of how
students can be assisted in learning the English language beyond the formal
classroom.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
The study aimed at investigating the use of out-of-class English learning
activities of 10th grade students at a high school in Hai Duong province.
This overall aim was specified into the following objectives:
- To investigate the out-of-class English learning activities carried out by 10th
students
- To find out the factors that affect their choice of out-of-class English learning
activities.
- To explore their attitudes s towards the use of out-of-class activities.
3. Research questions
In an attempt to achieve the aims and objectives stated above, the following
research questions were addressed:
(1) What English learning activities do 10th grade students implement out of the
classroom?
(2) What factors affect their choice of out-of-class English learning activities?
(3) What are those students' attitudes s towards the use of out-of-class activities?
4. Scope of the study
The study only focused on the out-of-class English learning activities of 100
tenth grade students at a high school in Hai Duong province. Therefore, students of
other grades would be beyond the scope of this study.
Among this number of students, half of them would be chosen from English
selective classes and the other half from non-English selective classes.

5. Significance of the study
This study is expected to contribute to the understanding of the current outof-class English learning circumstance of students. The results of the study are

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believed to help both students and educators become aware of how students are
assisted outside the formal class, hence determine the effective ways to implement
out-of-class learning for students. Additionally, the findings of the present study are
also contributed to the empirical evidence of related researches in the context of
Vietnam. Therefore, the literature review of out-of-class learning is enriched and
educational policies of foreign languages for Vietnamese students are navigated
more precisely.
6. Organization of the study
The study is divided into five chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction states the problem of the study, aims of the study,
significance of the study, and scope of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature review reviews the literature related to out-of-class language
learning, including definition of out-of-class language learning, its classification and
advantages, and the factors affecting the choice of out-of-class language learning
activities.
Chapter 3: Methodology mentions the issues of methodology consisting of research
questions, study design, participants, and data collection instruments consisting of
questionnaire and interview, data collection procedures, and data analysis.
Chapter 4: Findings and discussion gives a detailed presentation of data and
detailed description of data analysis. This focuses on presenting, analyzing and
discussing the results obtained from the study based on the questionnaire and
interview questions. Besides, the chapter also presents some discussion and
interpretations of the findings of the study. The implications of the study are also
given in this chapter.

Chapter 5: Conclusion summarizes the key points in the study, provides
implications of the study, discusses limitation, and gives suggestion for further
research.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition of OCLL activities
In the literature, out-of-class learning activities have been termed differently
by researchers. Ihsan (2012) has compiled all the terms used so far, for example
out-of-class learning by Benson (2011); out-of-class language activity by Hyland
(2004) and Chausanachoti (2009); out-of-class practice by Al-Otainbi (2004), outof-class language use by Anderson (2004) and OCLL strategy by Pikard (1996).
Among all of those, Hyland (2004) showed one distinction that needs to be clarified
between the two concepts of learner strategy and learner activity. In fact, Oxford
(1990) defined “strategies” as “the specific actions, behaviours, steps, or techniques
that are used consciously to achieve a particular purpose”. Hence, language learning
strategies are the intended actions to improve a progress in apprehending,
internalising and using the target language. In another words, out-of-class strategies
are included in out-of-class activities. Since this study is expected to look more
broadly at all the out-of-class use of English, including activities carried out for
pleasure as well as purposefully for learning, it was decided to use the term “out-ofclass activities”. A number of researchers and scholars have made their effort to
define the term “out-of-class learning activities”. For instance, Maros and Saad
(2016) claimed that OCLL strategies basically refers to the activities by language
learners involving the use of target language outside the class. In addition,
McKinney et al. (2004) gave specific examples of activities that have been
categorized into “out-of-class learning” such as volunteer work, internships, service
learning, involvement in school organizations and other co- and extra-curricular
activities. Similarly, Yap (1998) defined the term “out-of-class learning activities”
in her study in the Hong Kong context as informal learning activities which take

place outside the classroom.

Moreover, Sundqvist (2011) referred to what the

present study examines as “extramural English”, which is a cover term for any type
of contact or linguistic activities that learners do or are involved outside the walls of

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the classroom in their spare time. It includes everything from traditional grammar
exercises to participation in conversation exchanges with other speakers of the
language and the playing of video games. Sharing the same point of view,
Sumonviriya (2007) provided the definition of the term “OCLL activities” as the
activities in which learners select to get involved themselves regardless of the
assignment from the teachers. Therefore, the activities include both direct activities
which students intentionally participate in for the purpose of learning English and
indirect activities which refer to the activities that students involve in for pleasure
and directly benefit their English learning.
In short, it can be seen clearly that even though different words are used and
a large number of definitions have been proposed by various researchers and
scholars, “OCLL activities” refer to the same students‟ doings related to English
language usage, more specifically in listening, speaking, writing, vocabulary
learning and grammar learning beyond the traditional classroom setting (Maros &
Saad, 2016). Another emphasis is that students are voluntarily engaged in these
activities with direct or indirect purposes.
2.2. Classification of OCLL activities
Up to now, in terms of classification of OCLL activities, the division of
Benson (2001) has been recognized and used the most widely by a large number of
fellow researchers and scholars such as Wiengnil (2010), Hyland (2004) and

Manfred (2012). Accordingly, OCLL activities are categorized into three subdivisions: self-instruction, self-directed naturalistic language learning and
naturalistic language learning.
2.2.1. Self-instruction
Self-instruction refers to student work that focuses particularly on the form
of language. As for self-instruction, learners deliberately plan to improve the target
language all by themselves from initiating the study topics, organizing the study to
searching for references as well as learning resources. They do this with less or even
without the help and interaction from others such as teachers or native speakers of

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the language. The obvious examples of this kind of OCLL are reading a grammar
book to improve grammar, doing writing or listening to phonetics.
2.2.2. Self-directed naturalistic language learning
According to Benson‟s explanation (2001), this kind of OCLL occurs when
learners create or seek out a language learning situation but may not focus directly
on learning the language while they are in that situation. In other words, these
activities are carried out partly with the intention of learning the language but
mainly by other purposes. For instance, learners may subscribe to an English
newspaper everyday with the underlying aim of improving their vocabulary, but
may read it mainly for the news without undertaking any specific learning activities.
Other examples are listening to English songs, watching films and TV channels in
English or playing computer in English – the sources of entertainment that can be
exploited for linguistic purposes.
2.2.3. Naturalistic language learning
Natural language learning takes place during actual communication using the
language with other speakers through target language verbal or texts but not with
the explicit intention of learning the language. In other words, it is used to represent
the situation where learners learn unintentionally through direct communication and

interaction with people in the community of the target language groups. For
example, students are engaged in discussions with English speaking classmates or
colleagues.
From the aforementioned elucidation, the fundamental difference among the
three kinds of OCLL lies at the intention when learners carry out the activities. To
clarify this, self-instruction and naturalistic language learning are opposite at the
degree of purposed intention to acquire the language contents or skills. More
specifically, at the time of learning, learners of self-instruction only focus on
improving the language proficiency while that aim is merely the by-product in the
process of communicating or interacting with people of the target language
(naturalistic learning). Besides, it is obvious to see that self-directed naturalistic

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language learning is the combination of self-instruction and naturalistic learning. It
means that learners create the learning opportunities by themselves but the main
reason is not to learn the language. Instead, it rather focuses on the communication
or some other things beyond the language respects.
2.3. Advantages of OCLL activities
Up to the present, a great many researchers who are in favor of out-of-class
activities have conducted the study to find out as well as prove the advantages of
this kind of learning. Among all of them, the three benefits that stand out are
increasing the exposure to the target language, improving the learning proficiency
and outcome, and fostering learner autonomy.
2.3.1. Increasing the exposure to the target language
Countries in which English is not a primary language often lack an authentic
English environment. In such countries, in-class instruction may be the only contact
students have with English. Once students leave the classroom, they are totally
immersed in their own first-language environment, which seems to offer little

exposure to English materials and few chances to see or use English in real settings.
Besides, most English classroom instruction and activities in those non-English
speaking countries such as Taiwan adopt textbooks or pre-selected materials (Guo,
2011). It is a matter of fact that although these materials provide valuable
information to learners, students seem to have little interest in them as textbooks
often fail to achieve a meaningful level of involvement on the part of the learners.
This problem applies to many other EFL contexts where students speak the same
language and have limited exposure to the target language out of the classroom
(Bresnihan & Stoops, 1996). The situation does not happen more optimistically than
in Vietnam. It is worth noting that Suh et al. (1999) investigated out-of-class
learning and students‟ perception of their impacts on the conversational skills and
found that out-of-class learning activities cannot replace the need for in-class
instruction. Nevertheless, sole reliance on classroom instruction is far from
sufficient for EFL learners to practice the target language (Xiao & Luo, 2009). To

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support this statement, most of the students in Nunan's (1989) study thought that
solely classroom instruction was insufficient for the improvement of their English
proficiency, hence they believed in the merits of engagement in out-of-class
learning environments. In Stoller‟s (2002) point of view, out-of-class learning
activities are also necessary for learners to reinforce what has been learned in the
classroom. By means of such activities, students can move beyond the traditional
EFL classroom and can connect what they have already learned with real life
learning opportunities providing authentic language input (Pearson, 2004).
Therefore, learning need not be confined to the classroom with set textbooks and
practice (Griffiths & Keohane, 2000). To speak differently, more effort needs to be
made to increase opportunities for students to encounter English. Ellis (1994)
claimed that a combination of formal language instruction and the exposure the

natural target language use will maximize the benefits of language learning.
According to Benson (2001), students at each level of education should be made
aware that language is not a set of rules to know by heart. Instead, it is something
that students can be exposed to and learn incidentally outside the classroom. When
put in a more realistic context, learners will find dozens of opportunities to make
learning concepts real and relevant.
Therefore, OCLL lends learners a channel to be exposed to the practical
activities outside the classroom setting. It helps students to realize that although
they are not in an English-speaking environment, they are still surrounded by
English as long as they make a little effort to pay attention to the language as it is
used in their daily lives. In line with this viewpoint, Guo (2011) also claimed that
creating and involving students in real life activities outside the classroom enlarges
students‟ learning environment (Guo, 2011). Instead of presenting only formulaic
English in textbooks, an out-of-class activity can increase students‟ exposure to
English in existing and familiar contexts. The study done by Guo (2011) showed
that students often do not notice the language such as signs, restaurants menus, etc.,

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in the environment outside the class. That is the reason why teachers should bring
their students‟ attention to those learning opportunities.
2.3.2. Improving the learning proficiency and outcome
As Nunan‟s studies of successful language learners from a variety of
contexts and language learning backgrounds demonstrated, activities outside the
classroom‟ can play a crucial role for learners in their second language development
(Nunan, 1991). As stated by Lai, Zhu and Gong (2015), out-of-class learning
embodies an important context for successful language development. They are
important because they contribute greatly to ESL learning (Hyland, 2004). Foreign
language teachers often see that their students who make an effort to work with the

target language outside class make more progress than those who do not do so. In
the literature, it was generally found that English proficiency and out-of-class
learning are correlated with each other (Olsson, 2012). Research is now showing a
link between students‟ work with foreign language outside the classroom and their
proficiency level. Specifically speaking, studies are revealing that students who
work more with the target language outside their classes tend to have higher
proficiency levels. For example, Halbach (2000) reports that the students who were
more successful in her university level English course tended to use a set of learning
strategies in their work after class more often than the unsuccessful ones, as
measured through an examination of the learning logs that twelve of the students
completed for the course. Similarly, in a study by Nunan (1989), a majority of
students found classroom instruction itself to be insufficient for the development of
English competence; on the other hand, engagement in outside classroom learning
enhanced their language development, demonstrating the need to incorporate
activities outside the classroom for greater learning success. Similarly, Chan (2016)
carried out a study in order to explore how students can use popular culture and outof-class learning to contribute to their language learning. As a result of the study, it
was revealed that OCLL and learning proficiency was interrelated and participants
primarily did self-initiated and interest-driven out-of-class learning and so increased

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their school performance. Bialystock (1981) conducted a study investigating the
factors that contributed to learners‟ language proficiency and concluded that OCLL,
especially in communicative situations, in the target language were helpful for the
development of learners‟ language skills and enabled learners to carry out the
language tasks successfully. Kuh, Douglas, Lund, & Ramin-Gyurnek (1994)
specified the correlations between out-of-class experiences and educational gains
among university students. Accordingly, these gains include complexity of
cognition such as critical thinking and intellectual flexibility, growth in knowledge

acquisition and application, humanitarianism, interpersonal and intrapersonal
competence and practical competence. The study of Lai, Zhu & Gong (2015) was
an example to clearly indicate that out-of-class activities can also foster language
acquisition among EFL learners. According to the results of the study, the nature of
out-of-class learning activities correlated with students‟ marks, their enjoyment of
learning the language, and their confidence in their ability to learn it. When the 82
middle school students, who had revealed that their classes were traditional because
they focused on form, were involved after school in activities related to meaning
and use of the language, such as watching films and listening to songs, they enjoyed
the language, felt they could learn it and obtained better marks. What‟s more,
learners in the times of high-tech take advantages of advanced technology. They
carry out out-of-class learning through their daily technology-related activities such
as playing computer games (Uuskoski, 2011), using technologies like Skype and
podcasting in English (Godwin-Jones, 2005) as well as watching TV programs and
films (Webb & Rogers, 2009). These activities are all deemed to positively affect
English learners' proficiency levels. A study carried out by Piirainen-Marsh and
Tainio (2009) focusing on teenagers playing video games also showed the relation
between technology-related activities beyond the classroom and the learning
proficiency. The study explored the effects of video games on their language
learning process and came to the conclusion that the games gave players the
opportunity to practice their English as well as listen to different accents of English.

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It is obvious that the higher the learning proficiency is, the better learning
outcome will become. Robb and Kano (2013) did a large scale experiment and also
found out that in the language learning outcome there was a huge difference
between those students who did extensive reading outside the classroom and those
who did not. Waite‟s study (2011) also expressed the consensus on the positive

relation between out-of-class activities and academic transcript. He claimed that
when learners enjoy their studying, they receive better results. He added that
students, especially children, enjoy as well as become more engaged and interested
in learning when their interests and outdoor activities are brought into the class.
Also, the study by Hafiz and Tudor‟s study (1989) proved that the use of out-ofclass activities, helped improve performance on all tasks accomplished by the
subjects. Their study revealed the significant levels of improvement on all seven
language tests of the experimental group, which had spent three months reading for
pleasure one hour per day.
Rubin (1975) identified seven general characteristics of the good language
learner, which include such out-of-class strategies as seeking out opportunities to
use the language by looking for native speakers, and going to the cinema or to other
cultural events. It can be suggested that out-of-class learning is a necessary
complement to mainstream EFL programs, and being exposed to the target language
outside the classroom is considered among the most important qualities of an
effective language learner (Dörnyei & Skehan, 2003).
2.3.3. Fostering learner autonomy
Another outstanding advantage of out-of-class activities is nurturing the
autonomy of learners. Pegrum (2000) suggests that out-of-class foreign language
learning leads students to become autonomous learners who can benefit from the
language learning environment outside the classroom in their own time. Regarding
the out-of-class foreign language learning activities as illustrated in the present
study, Stoller (2002) argues that such activities lead to student-centeredness,
increase cooperation and motivation; therefore, it raises students' confidence, self-

11


esteem, and autonomy. Learner autonomy was first defined as “the ability to take
charge of one‟s learning” (Holec, 1981). In other words, the autonomous learners
have to be responsible to their learning and undertake the learning activities on the

basis of their own judgment. According to Benson (2001), learner autonomy
typically refers to learners who are capable of controlling their own learning. As
viewed by Dam (1995), autonomous learners choose their own goals, time,
materials, methods, and tasks, implement their choices, and then evaluate their
actions. In an examination of the concept, Little (2007) revealed that the term
derives from learner-centered theories within constructivist epistemologies; it is also
referred to as “independent learning.” It is obviously seen that OCLL activities are
partially related to autonomous learning since they aim at promoting independent
learning outside formal classroom context. To speak differently, learner autonomy
and autonomous learning are broader terms of out-of-class learning activities.
Students who are willing to carry out out-of-class learning activities are considered
to possess the trait of autonomy (Pearson, 2004).
Benson (2001) remarks on the importance of autonomous learning that it has
been in a concern of researchers in the language education field for over 30 years.
According to him, equipping this quality of autonomy in learners can enhance the
outcome of language pedagogy. Most subjects gave evidence that indicated they
were able to exercise learner autonomy to some extent (Pearson 2004). Autonomy is
generally agreed to be an extremely important factor in motivating students. It
allows for a form of flexibility and captures student interest in an individual and
personal way. Little (2009) further specified that autonomous learners feel more
competent in the things they do as they take the initiative in carrying out actions. A
small-scale research study revealed that successful students felt they had succeeded
largely due to their own autonomous learning outside of school, while those who
had failed tended to blame their formal learning experience (Lamb, 2002). In
addition, Norton and Toohey (2003) have, in particular, examined learner
motivation for OCLL and noted “…. These „autonomous‟ learners have variable

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motivations, learning styles, cognitive traits, strategies and personality orientations
that are seen as causal of their success or failure in language learning” (2003, 58).
Hence, it is fair to say that, autonomy, which is partly fostered by out-of-class
activities, plays a vital role in the learning success. This quality allows learners to
develop their habit of life-long learning and prepares them to be good learners who
always have a thirst for knowledge and seek for opportunity to improve themselves,
including their language skills.
2.4. Factors that influence the choice of out-of-class learning activities
As observed and concluded by Guo (2011), the context in which learning
takes place makes a vital contribution to the success of learning. Sharing this
viewpoint, Hyland (2004) claimed that context is a very important consideration in
any study investigating out-of-class learning as the result of the investigation into
the out-of-class English language learning activities of student teachers conducted
in Hong Kong in 2004. Although English is valued as a passport to higher education
and better career prospects and the importance of English is continuously stressed
by the Hong Kong government (So, 1989), it is the environment in this country that
becomes an obstacle to those who wish to practice English outside the class. When
interviewed, some participants in Hyland‟s research (2004) revealed that they had to
avoid using English due to the negative connotation its use implied. For example,
because many people think that English is a more superior language than Chinese,
they would consider the people who use English as arrogant ones or those who want
to look more superior and very competent by showing off their English. These
answers are in line with the results of Lin (1996) and Pennycook (1997) when their
findings indicated that the use of English can be interpreted as a marker of social
distance and power, and English has been viewed as an imposed and colonial
language, a language of superiority. To put it briefly, the negative connotation in
Hong Kong as mentioned above is a real example to prove the important role of
context to the occurrence of out-of-class activities.

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In addition to the context which facilitates the out-of-class activities,
personal choice and enjoyment are important factors, too. To clarify, subjects made
most use of the activities which they had chosen for their own needs (Pickard,
1996). What‟s more, Doyle and Parrish (2012) mentioned that if something is not
enjoyable, students are less likely to choose to do it. In Hyland‟s research (2004),
participants also indicated that their choice of out-of-class activities were influenced
by whether the activity was intrinsically interesting to them or not. These factors are
also in accordance with the study of Murray (2004) in which learning needs or
purposes for learning and interest are the two core reasons for the repertoire of ways
to learn of the participants.
Last but not least, belief also plays an essential role in the implementation of
learning activities beyond the classroom. BALLs (Belief about Language Learning)
have been found to influence many learning behaviors of ESL learners, such as the
choice of learning strategies (e.g., Yang, 1999) and self-regulation (Wenden, 1999).
Results of Manfred‟s research (2012) showed that subjects who implemented outof-class activities tended to possess more positive beliefs regarding their English
learning. Besides, as found in Manfred‟s research (2012), students who perceived
out-of-class language-learning activities as useful tended to endorse more the
statement that “Everyone can learn to speak a foreign language”, and believed that
they had a special ability for learning foreign language. At the same time, they
believed they would learn English well, enjoyed practising English with people
from English-speaking countries, and believed they would find a better job with
good English. On the contrary, many participants in Barker‟s study (2004)
regardless of level or environment voiced the same objections to the idea of
speaking English to each other outside the classroom while some others even
suggested that the idea of students using English outside the classroom is only
feasible with high-level or highly motivated students. This is because they did not
have belief in the benefits of out-of-class practice as well as in themselves. To put it

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simply, in order for learners to wish to try this kind of practice, they must first
believe in the advantages that out-of-class activities bring to.
2.5. Review of previous related studies
The topic of OCLL activities has drawn significant attention of researchers
all over the world. In fact, a great number of researches have been conducted up to
now with remarkable results. These studies, which were carried out in various
contexts, are reviewed in this section.
2.5.1. Previous related studies overseas
This part presents the researches into various aspects of OCLL topic in the
countries where English are taught and learnt as the second language.
Manfred (2012) gathered information on the BALLs (Belief about Language
Learning) and out-of-class language-learning activities of young adult ESL (English
as a Second Language) learners in Hong Kong. Questionnaires was used to collect
the data. The findings showed that the activities of watching films and television,
reading and listening were the most implemented outside the class. Besides, there is
an association between BALLs and the implementation of activities. Specifically,
learners who regarded out-of-class language-learning activities as useful were found
to possess more positive beliefs regarding their English learning in terms of BALLI
(Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory) items.
Pickard (1996) investigated out-of-class language learning activities
employed by 20 students who were studying English in Germany. Data was
collected by using out-of-class learning strategies questionnaire and in-depth
interview. The results showed that the most-cited activities are the passive ones of
reading and listening due to the accessibility of materials whereas the active skills
of speaking and writing receive less attention principally owning to the fact that
availability of speaking opportunities in the foreign language setting was limited.
Besides, students were reported that they selected activities and learning materials

according to their own needs and intrinsic motivation.

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