English Learners Outside the Classroom: The Effects of Participating in Extracurricular Activities

Chapter 1: Definition of the Problem

Academic success and engagement have been linked to participation in extracurricular activities. These links have been documented in quantitative and qualitative measures, such as grade point average and motivation (Camacho et al., 2015). California has more English learner (EL) students than any other state (1.3 million), as well as the most significant proportion of ELs (21%). Overall, 38% of California students begin their education as English learners (Santibañez et al., 2018). However, extracurricular activities in immigrant groups are underexplored.

Researching the significance of extracurricular activities among immigrant adolescents is crucial. While parents from immigrant backgrounds have high academic expectations for their children, they also express a lack of knowledge of aspects that might help them navigate the American education system. Several studies have been conducted on the impact of extracurricular activities on student development. Some of them stress the value of participating in these activities because they help students develop personal qualities such as self-confidence, time management, and discipline (Albayrak et al., 2021).

Purpose of Study

Extracurricular activities, which are not part of the academic curriculum but are used by schools, increase every opportunity to broaden learning and knowledge based on real-world experience. Furthermore, extracurricular activities are linked to language learning since they create new experiences by interpreting various language abilities. When it comes to studying English as a second language, extracurricular activities are beneficial since they expose learners to the language in a real-world setting (Chakraborty et al., 2021). This study aims to determine the impact of extracurricular activities on EL students in high school who are learning English as a second language. It also seeks to determine if there's a link between outside-of-classroom

socialization and students' well-being and sense of belongingness. This research will build up on existing literature to identify current techniques utilized to integrate ELs into school culture.
Overall, the study tries to answer the following research question: To what extent do extracurricular activities affect the English language acquisition and social well-being of High School English Learners?