English Newspaper: Learners’ Vigorous Laboratory

 

 

Debbie Affianty Lubis

 

 

How do English learners respond to reading or writing activities you give? A downcast face or a big sigh? Reading English text or writing sentences in English could be a nightmare for some learners. They dislike those activities not just because the teachers are of little help, but they are afraid of encountering difficulties in vocabularies as well as in grammar and structure. The misconception of “so much grammar to learn” during reading or writing activities has created fear among learners to explore the language and accept such activities as challenges. Meanwhile, the thinking of ‘forms” and “patterns” of the English structure has often made the students get a cold feet every time they are about to write in English. Many English learners think that instead of making inferences, they must look up dictionary for any new vocabularies. This hampers their appetite to absorb as much as information from a reading passage. So, how do teachers of English improve the image of reading and writing activities? Understanding the learners as human beings that are unique and have multiple intelligences will help in smoothing such activities. Indeed, variation and use of alternative methods would be helpful.

 

Reading and writing activities can be interesting and meaningful.They can also be stimulating creative and critical thinking. One of the keys is making the utmost use of English newspapers. Of course, daily newspaper cannot replace the powerful “textbooks” but it can serve as beneficial material to lure learners to indulge in reading and writing activities.

 

 

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Lubis, D. A. (2005, March). English newspaper: Learners’ vigorous laboratory. Paper presented at LIA International Conference, Jakarta, Indonesia.

 

 

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