Learning English and other foreign languages beyond school walls: insight from Indonesian polyglots

Abstract

In order for learners to succeed in increasing their foreign language skills, they cannot depend on formal education alone and must also depend on informal learning. Although there have been studies on language learning in informal education, there are minimal literature reports on multilingual learning contexts. To address this empirical gap, this qualitative case study explores the informal learning that leads to multiple foreign language learning opportunities. Thus, the purpose of this research was to explore how Indonesian polyglots learn English and other foreign languages in informal schooling. In this study, I collected data through demographic questionnaires and semi-structured interviews obtained from Indonesian polyglots. Findings showed that they learn multiple foreign languages through communities, online platforms, working by learning, and language tutoring. Implications of these findings for learning multiple languages beyond formal schooling settings are discussed.

Keywords:

• English
• informal education
• other foreign languages
• polyglots

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).