Title
Research On Extramural English Engagement and Reflections from My PhD Journey
Wednesday, 16 September 2026
13:00 (CET), 12:00 (GMT)
In this webinar, I will present findings from four studies that guide my dissertation. In these studies, we investigated the relationship between Extramural English engagement and Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (SweSAT) performance in specifically verbal subtests–Swedish and English. The goal of this research is to understand SweSAT test-takers and to evaluate how Extramural English engagement is measured.
The data collected consist of first-time SweSAT test-takers from the spring administrations of 2023 and 2025. The research design is cross-sectional, and the results show a positive relationship between certain Extramural English engagement activities and SweSAT performance, and that Extramural English engagement emerged as a significant mediator of the relationship between gender and English reading comprehension. This mediation effect was not significant for Swedish reading comprehension.
One segment of my presentation will be a reflection on my PhD journey. I will address challenges I have encountered and lessons that I learned from colleagues and from mistakes. I also find it important to talk about life after the PhD: what are the options, and how I have prepared for it.
References
Neagu, T., Eklöf, H., Laukaityte, I., & Wedman, J. (2025). Reading, watching and gaming: exploring the relationships between extramural English activities and academic L2 English reading comprehension in a Swedish university admissions test context. Education Inquiry, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2025.2556572
Neagu, T., & Laukaityte, I. (2025). Gender-related differential item functioning in SweSAT verbal subtests: the role of extramural English activities in first and foreign language performance. Frontiers in Education, 10:1656734. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1656734
Short Bio
Teodora Neagu
Umeå University
I am a doctoral student in Educational Measurement at the Department of Applied Educational Science at Umeå University. My research interests are mainly focused on the role of Extramural English (EE) in relation to its measurement and to SweSAT verbal items and gender-related differences.