Assessing the relationship between extramural English and L2 writing

Abstract This study examines the relationship between engagement in extramural English (EE) activities and second language (L2) writing among 96 high school learners of English. Participants completed an EE questionnaire and a writing task. Their texts were analyzed using measures of syntactic and lexical complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Watching audiovisual content with English captions or without subtitles showed the strongest positive correlations with multiple writing metrics, including fluency, complexity, and grammatical and lexical accuracy. Listening to music and gaming were linked to fluency and lexical diversity, respectively. Reading, writing, speaking face-to-face, and listening to non-musical audio showed weaker but significant correlations. No significant relationships were found for watching with L1 subtitles or speaking online. Findings highlight the potential of audiovisual EE input to support L2 writing development.