The informalisation of English language learning: A first national research project

The availability of English through traditional and new media has recently increased exponentially, thus multiplying the opportunities for contact with the language worldwide. Concomitantly, extensive L2 experience outside institutional settings is likely to lead to the informalisation of both language learning and use across Europe and elsewhere. However, little is known about the acquisitional and sociolinguistic impact of media-induced contact with English in Italy at present. To address this gap, the Italian national PRIN project that is presented in this article investigates students’ private worlds and undetected processes of L2 learning and appropriation at four universities situated in different regions in Italy. The national investigation is informed by a plurality of theoretical premises that are integrated into a multidimensional and interdisciplinary research framework that builds on (i) the spatial dimensions of informal contact with English, (ii) the crucial role of language input in language acquisition, (iii) media register variation giving way to individualised language input, and (iv) the evolving attitudes and stances towards English as an additional language. The stages of the research project will be presented. These involved the creation and administration of a questionnaire about university students’ experiences with English and a receptive lexical test, ethnographic investigations into L2 media users’ behavioural patterns, motivations and attitudes, and longitudinal studies of untutored high-exposure respondents. Finally, a preliminary statistical overview of the participants’ profiles and preferred modalities of informal contact with English is provided as a first illustration of the generalisations that can be obtained via the data collections within the project.