The importance of English as an international language is gradually increasing. English education for synthetic communication abilities is becoming important, with alternatives to English education for entrance examinations also being emphasized.
For Korean students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) with little contact with native English speakers, it can be more effective to study English by reading rather than listening and speaking. English language newspapers are an excellent authentic language learning material, in that it can provide authentic English usage that is often missing in EFL textbooks. In addition, English newspapers, which contain a wide variety of topics and information, are efficient and useful learning materials that improve students’ reading ability. The sentence structures and vocabulary used in textbooks are chosen, and strictly adjusted, to reflect the students’ present level. The sentence structures and vocabulary used in authentic materials are neither simplified, nor adjusted, for foreign language learners.
The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of English lessons that utilize English newspapers to improve reading comprehension skills, as opposed to lessons that only use a standard textbook, and to investigate the beliefs and attitudes among EFL leaners toward English Newspaper in Education (E-NIE). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) using SPSS 18.0 was performed for the former and a survey was conducted for the latter. The experiment was carried out over the span of three months, with both experimental and control groups being tested before and after the experimental period. Forty 9th-grade students were chosen as subjects: 20 for the experimental group and 20 for the control one. Each group was divided into two subgroups on the basis of their scores on the word test prior to this experiment: advanced learners, intermediate leaners (novice learners were excluded). The experimental group participated in lessons using both English newspapers and textbooks, while the control group participated in traditional lessons just using textbooks.
The results of the study showed the experimental group achieved greater improvements in reading comprehension when compared to the control group. The differences between one of the subgroups were statistically significant. Notably, there were very significant differences between the two advanced subgroups of experimental and control group, while no significant differences were seen between the two intermediate subgroups. The results showed that using English newspapers in an English class had positive effects on students’ reading ability for advanced students. This is seen in the data from ANCOVA.
According to the results of survey in this study, students had a tendency to focus on language rather than content. Using English newspapers in a reading class had a more positive influence on the students’ motivation and interest than only using textbooks.
The success in E-NIE presupposes teacher’s thorough preparation for teaching. The teachers need to be mindful of selecting timely articles to ensure students’ interests in the content of the newspaper. The teachers who use English newspapers as a form of education should have extensive knowledge and information on current events in English newspapers.
This study reveals that English lessons using English newspapers have great effects on improving advanced students’ reading comprehension skills but more long-term studies should be conducted in order to reveal the correlation between E-NIE and reading comprehension.