In many countries around the globe, English is the first foreign language children learn in school. In Sweden, the teaching of English generally starts in third grade, that is, when the pupils are around 9 years old. By then, they usually already know some English as many of them have encountered the language in their spare time, for example through music, television, the internet, or other forms of media. In fact, there is a widespread belief that young people, teenagers in particular, learn much or even most of their English outside of school rather than in the language classroom. It is reasonable to assume that similar beliefs about teenagers’ out-of-school learning of English exist also in other countries where English dominates the media landscape. Due to the lack of research in the field, however, there is a need for evidence-based studies that examine the correctness of such assumptions (Higgins 2009; Sylvén 2004: 234).

This chapter presents findings from my PhD study (Sundqvist 2009), which mainly used quantitative methods, and aims to contribute to our understanding of language learning beyond the classroom. As will be argued below, young people’s skills in English are clearly affected by the activities they engage in–in English–outside the classroom, in their spare time. I will refer to such activities as extramural English and, furthermore, provide evidence of extramural English as, indeed, an important variable in language learning. In addition, the present chapter contributes to research on language learning beyond the classroom by showing that it is important to investigate not only how young people learn outside of class, but also in what way extramural English contributes to their proficiency. Finally, the chapter also pinpoints the