“The Best Way to Learn a Language is Not to Learn it!”: Hedonism and Insights Into Successful EFL Learners' Experiences in Engagement With Spoken (Listening) and Written (Reading) Input

Abstract

AbstractInput is indispensable for language learning. Although opportunities for listening and reading, the two only channels of language input, can be scarce outside class in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts, highly proficient learners often expose themselves to input aplenty. Their experiences of immersing themselves in input and their perceptions of these experiences have received very little attention, yet they bear significant theoretical and practical implications for EFL teaching and learning, especially with regard to less‐successful learners. The present study examined the experiences and perceptions of eight successful EFL learners. The data from the qualitative questionnaire and in‐depth interviews were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Findings that are particularly enlightening, and even surprising, include the prevalence of hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure itself), the specific value of spoken input (listening), the non‐necessity for abundant exposure to both forms of input in outside‐class contexts, and the challenge to the ossified conventional belief that only reading improves writing and only listening improves speaking. The article culminates with a discussion of these novel, significant findings.