The role of out-of-class contexts in EFL learning

This book is the PhD dissertation defended by Elena Mestereaga at the Doctoral School of Humanities, West University of Timisoara, in July 2019.

The author works as an English teacher in Hunedoara County and her main didactic and research interests are focused on the development of learning approaches which facilitate EFL learning in a harmonious and spontaneous manner.

Addressed to teachers of English, the thesis reports the findings of an in-depth study which establishes the social and contextual factors that contribute to the linguistic development of three categories of Romanian EFL learners: secondary school learners, high school learners and university students.

The aims of this study are threefold: to explore the role of personal English learning ecologies in skills development, to elucidate the English language use and learning in out-of-class contexts and to identify practical ways of promoting linguistic development in both contexts, in and out of EFL classes.