Exploring six-year-olds’ L2 English digital learning in the home

Abstract Young L2 English learners constitute an underresearched group in the fields of L2 acquisition and ELT. However, emerging research has shown that young children learn English informally, even prior to formal instruction in school, often influenced by their engagement in English-language media, such as watching YouTube and gaming. This study adopts an ethnographic perspective to explore how three six-year-olds in Norway engage with English-language media platforms and games in their homes, and how such engagement influences L2 learning. The study’s focus is on methodological and ethical issues when researching children in private spheres. Data were collected through a show-and-tell procedure which demanded thorough ethnographic groundwork and considerable researcher flexibility. The findings showed that all three homes offered affordances for L2 learning. We argue that in order to capture socially situated engagement with digital technologies, it was crucial to collect data in the actual socially situated practice in the young learners’ homes.