This is a sample of literature review for my mini research, done as an assignment for Research Methodology class.

1. OUT-OF-CLASS LANGUAGE LEARNING: CASE STUDY OF INDONESIAN
SENIOR HIGH STUDENTS IN BANDUNG.
Ihsan Ibadurrahman
G1025429
Literature Review
Out-of-class language learning (OCLL) is defined as any language learning activities that
are performed outside the class, be it for the sake of learning the language itself or for pure
pleasure. Studies on OCLL, however, show that there has been inconsistency in wording the
term; different authors use slightly different word, for example Hydra (2004) and Chausanachoti
(2009) use „out-of-class language activity‟, Al-Otaibi (2004) prefers to use „out-of-class language
practice‟, and Anderson (2004) chooses „out-of-class language use‟. Pickard (1996), in
particular, uses „out-of-class Language Learning Strategy” for the same definition. A closer look
at the meaning of “Learning Strategy” suggests that it is a method employed in performing
specific learning tasks such as the use of synthesis of learning materials in problem solving
activities (cognitive), and self-regulation in language learning (meta-cognitive), all of which
capture the essence of conscious behaviors (Ellis, 1997; Brown, 2007). MacIntyre succinctly
explains that learning strategy is a conscious behavior that learners use as a plan or tactic towards
success in language learning (as cited in Al-Otaibi, 2004). As such, this study will not try to
attempt learning strategies employed outside the class, rather it describes and quantify out-of-
class language activities (e.g. reading novels, watching movies, and so on) whether done
consciously or unconsciously.

2. Out-of-class language learning is a scope of research that has received much attention
and interest over the years. In this exhaustive research, there has been a great consistency of
receptive skills (listening and writing) being the most widely used out-of-class language learning
activities (Pickard, 1996; Pearson, 2003; Hyland, 2004; Al-Otaibi, 2004; Chausanachoti, 2009).
Specifically, Pickard (1996) sought out to identify out-of-class language learning employed by
20 advanced German learners of English. Survey from the distributed questionnaires reveals that
receptive skills such as listening to the radio, and reading newspapers are among the most
popular activities. Productive skills, such as speaking or writing, are not considered since the
opportunities to use them outside the class are severely limited. However, given the small
number of sampling, such conclusion should be made cautiously.
In EFL contexts, a similar array of activities has also been reported. In Hong Kong,
Hyland (2004) notes that passive skills such as reading books, and surfing the net are among the
most frequently used out-of-class activities by 228 university English-education students. She
argues that a hindrance in speaking English outside the class stems from students‟ fear of
negative judgments primarily caused by social or political factors there. 106 Chinese students
studying English in New Zealand are also reported of employing passive skills as the top five
most frequently used OCLLs (Pearson, 2003). These activities are listening to news on the radio,
independent study in the library, reading books, watching television programs and listening to
the music. According to a study conducted in Thailand, it is reported that browsing the net,
reading posters, and watching movies are the top three OCLL (Chausanachoti, 2009). In Saudi
Arabia, passive out-of-class activities such as watching movies, listening to songs, and reading
for pleasure are the most widely used by 237 English language learners. The frequency differs

3. somewhat between females (n = 97) and males participants (n = 140), with female showing a
higher frequency than the male counterparts (Al-Ottaibi, 2004).
Studies of how OCLL is used in Indonesia seem particularly rare. However, there is one
invaluable study conducted by Martin Lamb (2001) who investigated Indonesia‟s poor learning
conditions in a provincial area. Building on his previous quantitative research on learning
strategies, this exploratory research aims to look deeper into what enables students to learn
English under difficult circumstances. 16 undergraduate students from different faculties
participated in the interview. From the analysis, it is revealed that opportunities to use English in
meaningful communication outside the class are exceedingly rare. This might be due to the
negative images constructed by society to those who speak English in public – the same problem
faced by students in Hong Kong (Hyland, 2004). Other possible means for these students to gain
access to English are through media such as film, newspaper, magazines. Yet, he states that with
their poor level of English, they could not make sense of this authentic text, denying the
comprehensible input needed for their L2 acquisition. The findings need to be considered
cautiously, however, since it pictures only a small scale of population in a remote area of
Indonesia and cannot truly generalize OCLL used in Indonesia as a whole.
So far we have briefly identified some activities students do out-of-class, the question
now turns to „what influences the choice of out-of-class language learning?‟ Some studies
indicate that learners choose activities that are intrinsically interesting to them, activities
suggested by the teacher which have little relevance or interest to them are not highly considered
(Pickard, 1996; Lai and Gu, 2011). Conversely, Al-Ottaibi (2004) argues that the teacher may
bear certain influence to students‟ use of OCLL, especially in Saudi‟s learning environment
where the teacher plays a dominant role in deciding what students do with their learning. As

4. previously mentioned, students might be limited to choose their OCLL due to the lack of
opportunities to use them. Pearson (2004) considers students‟ type of accommodation as a
contributing factor towards these opportunities. He comments that students who live in
University hostels and houses have little opportunity to interact with people in English, they tend
to mix with their friends and chat in L1. On the other hand, accommodation in home-stays
provides students that rare opportunity to interact in English with their English-native-speaking
hosts. Other influencing factors include, but not exclusive to, students‟ preferred learning style
and social context (Lamb, 2002; Pearson, 2004; Hyland, 2004).
The extent to how much these OCLL is used is largely determined by learners‟ autonomy
and motivation (Mori, 2002; Lamb, 2002; Saville and Trioke, 2009). Pearson (2004), in
particular, notes that intrinsically motivated students (the desire to learn the language coming
from one-self, as opposed to external rewards) seem to exert more effort in using the language
outside. However, according to him, we cannot make such easy generalization because the nature
of out-of-class language learning is idiosyncratic in a sense that learners spend their time and
effort outside the class differently. At the heart of the study, he suggests that teachers should
foster learner autonomy in the classroom to develop learners‟ awareness of such out-of-class
strategies. In the same vein, Brown (2007) and Gao (2009) confirm the need for teachers to
develop learners‟ autonomy by helping learners to look beyond the classroom. In other words,
learning English in the classroom is only the beginning of the journey towards the reality that
learners will face outside. In fact, in EFL contexts where opportunity to use English outside is
limited, learner autonomy is “a necessary pre-condition for success in language learning”
(Lamb, 2001).

5. In relation to L2 development, it is generally accepted that exposure to the language is
essential to language acquisition (Harmer, 2007). The rich exposure that OCLL brings to learners
might as well contribute to their L2 achievement. Studies have shown a positive correlation
between the two. For example, reading for pleasure is reported to have a high correlation with
overall language proficiency (Green and Oxford as cited in Brown, 2001). Language gains from
extensive reading have also been reported in detail by Renandya (2007) who observes that
students exposed to free reading have more significant growth not only in their reading
comprehension but also in word recognition and oral sentence repetition compared to those who
are not. Similarly, extensive listening is also reported to be highly beneficial to students‟ L2
improvement (Ucán, 2010). Chausanachoti (2009) provides a comprehensive account of the
perceived benefits of OCLL towards students‟ L2 proficiency. For example, she notes that
listening to songs help improve students‟ accuracy of pronunciation.
As regards to how OCLL is compared across three different proficiency levels (high,
mid, and low-achieving students), it is suggested that the high-achieving group tend to employ
out-of-class language learning more than those in mid or low achieving group (Lamb, 2001;
Marefat and Barbari, 2009). It is also noted that activities that do not require students to
understand English such as using dictionaries, are chosen mostly by low-achieving group. On
the other hand, the use of authentic materials such as magazines, novels, newspaper seem to be
favored more by high-achieving group. This seems to indicate that because of their English,
high-achieving students might just have the ability to comprehend authentic materials that would
otherwise be too difficult for mid or low-achieving group. In other words, as students‟ level of
proficiency increase so do their complexity of OCLL (Pearson, 2004).

6. In the discussion of OCLL and its link to L2 proficiency, there is always the notorious
theory of chicken-and-egg as identified by Gass and Selinker (1994), and Ellis (1997). This
problem of directionality poses a question: which causes which. Is it OCLL that in the first place
causes the growth of students‟ L2 development? Or do learners have to readily achieve a certain
degree of English proficiency in order for them to be able to use OCLL?

7. References
Al-Otaibi, G. (2004). Language learning strategy use among Saudi EFL students and its
relationship to language proficiency level, gender and motivation. (Doctoral dissertation).
Retreived from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (Accession Order No. 3129188).
Anderson, K. (2004). „Teachers‟ conceptions of language learning: out-of-class interactions‟,
Proceedings of the Independent Learning Conference 2003.
Brown, H. (2001). Teaching by Principles, 2nd edn., New York: Pearson Education.
Brown, H. (2007). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 5th edn., New York: Pearson
Education.
Chun Lai & Mingyue Gu (2011). „Self-regulated out-of-class language learning with
technology‟, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 317-335.
Chusanachoti, R. (2009). EFL learning through language activities outside the classroom: A
case study of English education students in Thailand. (Doctoral dissertation).
Retreived from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (Accession Order No. 3363815).
Ellis, R. (1997). Second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gao, X. (2008). „The „English Corner‟ as an out-of-class learning activity‟, ELT Journal, Vol.
61. No. 1, pp. 60-67.
Gass, S. & Selinker, L. (1994). Second Language Acquisition : An introductory course, New
Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th edn., Essex: Pearson
Longman.
Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English, Essex: Pearson Longman.
Hyland, F. (2004). „Learning Autonomously: Contextualising Out-of-Class
English Language Learning‟, Language Awareness, Vol. 13, No.3, pp. 180-202.
Lamb, M. (2002). „Explaining successful language learning in difficult circumstances‟, Prospect:
An Australian Journal of TESOL, Vol. 17, pp. 35-52.
Marefat, F., Barbari, F. (2009). „The relationship between out-of-class language learning strategy
use and reading comprehension ability‟, Porta Linguarum, (12), pp. 91-106.
Mori, S. (2002). The relationship between motivation and the amount of out-of-class reading.
(Doctoral dissertation). Retreived from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (Accession
Order No. 3040345).

8. Pearson, N. (2004). „The idiosyncrasies of out-of-class language learning: A study of mainland
Chinese students studying English at tertiary level in New Zealand‟, Proceedings of the
Independent Learning Conference 2003.
Pickard, N. (1996). „Out-of-class language learning strategies‟, ELT Journal, Vol. 50, No.2,
pp.150-159.
Renandya, W. (2007). „The power of extensive reading‟, RELC Journal, Vol. 38. No. 2, pp. 133-
149
Saville, M. & Troike. (2006). Introducing Second Language Acquisition, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Ucan, J. (2010). „Benefits of using extensive listening in ELT‟, retrieved from:
http://fel.uqroo.mx/adminfile/files/memorias/borges_ucan_jose_luis.pdf