Mid Sweden University

This study is an investigation of how so-called extramural English (EE) activities might positively affect Swedish grade five children’s lexical richness (vocabulary), grammar and spelling, and motivation. This study also tries to identify which types of activities are more beneficial than others. The participants of the study were a homogenous class of 20 grade five children. The study was conducted by analysing a written text and a wordlist. The texts were analysed using error analysis to assess the participants’ grammar and spelling proficiency. The texts, together with the word lists, were inputted into the online program VocabProfiler, to assess lexical richness. The results were compared to personal data concerning motivation, amounts and types of EE activities, personal information et cetera, collected using a questionnaire. The study found that there is a potential correlation between EE activities and improved grammar and spelling and lexical richness in grade 5 children in Sweden, where so-called productive activities seem more beneficial than passive ones. Study motivation and attitudes were generally high across all levels of proficiency, and were unrelated to amounts and types of EE activities. Concerning boys and girls, the study found that there might be a shift in type of motivation and performance in L2 learning (where girls have traditionally had higher instrumental motivation and performance), perhaps because boys today tend to participate in productive EE activities to a higher extent, resulting in integrative motivation and higher proficiency.