The Impact of Online Informal Learning Of English (OILE) Through Fandom Participation

Abstract

This research set out to explore the role that online fandom participation had in the language learning process of pre-graduate English teachers in Mexico. To this end, the data were collected by means of five individual interviews with students, who had previously identified themselves as former participants of online fandom and who claimed that they significantly developed their English skills as a result of this fandom participation. The evidence indicates that by becoming invested in fan communities of predominantly English-speaking media, the participants became fluent in the target language, mostly by themselves. This learning took place outside the language classroom in an engaging and stress-free environment; regardless of whether the participants were conscious of it or not. This study’s implications suggest as technology and education move forward, alternatives to incorporate extra-curricular tools aligned with the learners’ interest and in the benefit of their language learning process, should be sought.