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Pop Culture and Language Learning: Learners’ Stories Informing EFL

Abstract This paper reports on a life history research project which involves collecting the language learning stories of adult Japanese English foreign language (EFL) learners who have attained intermediate to advanced levels of fluency without having studied or lived overseas. In these stories the learners reveal what they did to learn the language outside of the classroom. An analysis of the stories provides insights into the prominent role pop culture plays in their language learning. The author uses these insights to illustrate the kind of knowledge that life history research can provide language educators and how this knowledge might inform pedagogical practice.