A longitudinal study on young learners’ extramural English, English vocabulary knowledge and attitudes towards English prior to English instruction

Abstract Most previous studies focusing on extramural English (EE) and vocabulary acquisition are one-off studies measuring the relationship between EE and language performance measures at one time. This study contributes to EE research by adopting a longitudinal design to investigate learners’ EE, vocabulary knowledge at the level of meaning recall, and attitudes. We collected data from two cohorts of primary school children prior to formal English instruction (ages 10–11 and ages 11–12). At two measurement times, one year apart, we measured their vocabulary knowledge in a meaning recall test, their EE engagement, and their attitudes towards English. The results indicated that young learners’ vocabulary knowledge increased significantly over time, even if engagement with EE did not increase significantly. The participants in the two cohorts had positive attitudes towards English at both measurement times. Analyses showed that English vocabulary knowledge at Time 2 was predicted by English vocabulary knowledge at Time 1.