Extracurricular Activities in TEFL Classes

Abstract

This study investigated the attitudes of Moroccan teachers (N=14) and students (N=97) towards the use of extracurricular activities in TEFL classes. A review of the literature showed a strong relationship between the use of extracurricular activities and students’ learning of English. The present study, therefore, aimed to explore the importance of these activities in improving English learning in Moroccan universities. Based on a quantitative and qualitative method, it examined the role of extracurricular activities in developing students’ self-learning of English. The results of this study revealed that teachers rarely used extracurricular activities to motivate students to learn. They also demonstrated that students shared positive attitudes towards extracurricular activities as an effective tool to learn English and improve their academic skills. In short, the pedagogical implications of these findings are that extracurricular activities facilitate teaching English, motivate students to learn and make them more sociable and ready for long-life learning.

Keywords

• extracurricular activities
• TEFL
• motivation
• self-centered learning
• communication