Exploring learner engagement with languages (LX) within and beyond the English classroom

Abstract

Given the complex language repertoire of a large number of students within Austrian schools, particularly in lower secondary schools, it would be critically important to understand their practices, attitudes, and beliefs towards the multiple languages they encounter in their different areas of life. In this study I redefine and expand on the construct of engagement with language to incorporate an investigation of the different languages (hereafter LX) that learners come into contact with in and outside of school. I propose the construct of ‘engagement with LX’ to depict how learners utilize, reflect on, and relate to the LX in their repertoires in all contexts of their lives, including English as a language of formal foreign language instruction. Participants in this study were nine learners from the same English class in an Austrian middle school. Data for this study were collected using a biodata questionnaire, classroom observations, video-audio recordings of the lesson, and semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed the complexity of learners’ multilingual lives within and beyond the classroom, as well as the interconnections between these domains. Findings have also shed light on the ways learners’ engagement with LX beyond the classroom can support their learning in the English classroom, and the kind of affordances for language learning they perceive across their multiple contexts. The study also offers practical implications in terms of how teachers can engage with learners’ whole LX repertoire to support their learning process.