Contemporary young students in Asia and in the Nordic region are increasingly learning English outside the classroom by using technology (a.k.a. Informal Digital Learning of English [IDLE]). This comparative study examines to what extent IDLE influences Korean and Swedish students’ willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC), a critical antecedent affecting actual L2 communication behaviour. After having achieved a cross-cultural equivalence of the research instrument, Korean (n = 388) and Swedish (n = 144) secondary school students were surveyed. Results of hierarchical regression analyses show that Frequency of IDLE (the total amount of IDLE activities) predicts both cohorts’ L2 WTC, while Receptive IDLE activity (consuming English content) and Productive IDLE activity (producing English content) are predictors for only Koreans’ L2 WTC. Results suggest that Korean and Swedish students tend to more frequently initiate English communication when engaging in IDLE activities. Results also suggest how Receptive and Productive IDLE activities could uniquely facilitate the L2 communication behaviour of Korean EFL learners, who learn English in a linguistically and culturally homogeneous society. Apart from context-specific pedagogical implications, this study could provide insights for L2 learners worldwide who have been learning language remotely with minimal supervision.

中文翻译：

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非正式英语数字学习在韩语和瑞典语EFL学习者交际行为中的作用

亚洲和北欧地区的当代年轻学生越来越多地通过使用技术（又名英语非正式数字学习 [IDLE]）在课堂外学习英语。这项比较研究考察了IDLE在多大程度上影响了韩国和瑞典学生用第二语言 (L2 WTC) 进行交流的意愿，这是影响实际 L2 交流行为的关键前因。在实现研究工具的跨文化等效后，对韩国 ( n  = 388) 和瑞典 ( n  = 144) 中学生进行了调查。分层回归分析的结果表明，空闲频率（空闲活动的总量）可以预测两个队列的 L2 WTC，而接受性空闲活动（消费英语内容）和生产性空闲活动（产生英语内容）仅是韩国人 L2 WTC 的预测指标。结果表明，韩国和瑞典学生在参与 IDLE 活动时倾向于更频繁地发起英语交流。结果还表明，接受性和生产性空闲活动如何能够独特地促进韩国 EFL 学习者的 L2 交流行为，他们在语言和文化同质化的社会中学习英语。除了特定于上下文的教学意义外，这项研究还可以为全世界一直在远程学习语言且监督最少的 L2 学习者提供见解。