Using newspapers in teaching English as a second language

Language can be read, written, spoken, and used to teach and establish relationships as well as developourselves and our societies. In Nigeria, English language is used to play these and many other roles. As aresult, its proper teaching and learning become mandatory not only to achieve the myopic aim of passingexaminations but to communicate properly at national and international levels. These can be achieved rightfrom the classroom and at the teacher's resourcefulness in teaching. This paper aims to encourageresourcefulness in teaching English language by highlighting the importance of using newspapers to developthe speaking, reading and writing skills of learners. The paper contains language learning activities usingnewspapers to teach learners at elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels. At these levels, newspaperscan be cut, marked, clipped, pasted, filed and recycled. Discussions can be organized in class based on thearticles in the newspapers. The paper offers recommendations that would improve the teaching and learningof English in general and the use of newspapers in teaching and learning English language in particular.

Keywords:

Newspaper , resourcefulness , elementary , intermediate , advanced , communicative language teaching