The Informal Acquisition of English Vocabulary Through Media as a Key Factor of Success in Formal EFL Learning

Sa？etak Croatian high school students are increasingly presented with opportunities for incidental out of school EFL learning through the Internet, subtitled TV programmes, music and video games with English language content. This paper statistically analyzes the data collected by means of a questionnaire, with the aim of comparing the EFL grades of 78 high school students with their approach to unfamiliar English vocabulary they encounter through media: how often they attempt to determine meaning through context or look it up. Research questions also address the relation between students’ EFL grades and their opinions on the extent of various media influence on their English vocabulary acquisition. The results of Chisquare tests have shown that successful EFL students try to guess meaning from context as well as check for meaning significantly more frequently. Moreover, statistically they report acquiring a larger amount of vocabulary by listening to music and watching films than less successful EFL students. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of Croatian adolescents’ incidental English vocabulary acquisition through media and draw attention to the potential use of these findings within formal EFL teaching