The emergence of COVID-19 has significantly disrupted society at large as well as the educational system. The excellent accessibility and availability of extramural IDLE, however, boost students’ digital learning and allow them to exercise their communicative competence on their own. This study examined the under-researched relationship between extramural informal digital learning of English (IDLE) activities and communicative competence. This multiple case narrative inquiry research collected data through narrative frames, interviews, and multimedia language learning histories from one state university in an English-as-a-foreign-language Indonesian context. The results showed that students’ types of extramural IDLE activities varied due to their different purposes and interests. Students watch a video, play digital games, and have technology-enhanced socialization as their extramural IDLE activities. Students perceive their extramural IDLE activities positively as it provides them with authentic sources, various content, and engaging activities to improve their communicative competence. Extramural IDLE activities improved students’ communicative competence as in grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociocultural competence, strategic competence, interactional competence, and formulaic competence. Findings suggest that students’ extramural IDLE activities significantly affect their communicative competence.
