various types of English writing including formal or informal language and it will also be particularly helpful for those students who may go to live or
work in the target-language community.
3. How to choose the suitable articles
In choosing the suitable newspaper articles that would be used by students, it is helpful to ask yourself a number of important questions:
a. Will my students find the materials interesting?
As language teachers, we are clearly concerned with the development of our students’ language skills. However, we should not overlook the fact
that students invariably respond far more positively and favourably towards materials they find interesting. Our students’ motivation is crucial to the
success of the lesson, and it can be a fruitless and frustrating task to try to make them work with materials they simply do not like.
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It means that, before teaching in the classroom, teachers needs to find the interesting
materials to avoid students’ bored because students’ motivation in crucial to the success of the lesson.
b. Are the materials appropiate for my students in terms of their existing
knowledge?
The ability to integrate new information with one’s existing knowledge e.g. cultural knowledge of the world, subject-specific
knowledge is part of the process of the successful learning. If there is too great a mismatch between the conceptual difficulty of the materials you
choose, and your students’ ability to understand the materials, they will soon become discouraged. It can help considerably if you choose materials which
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Paul Sanderson, Using Newspapers in the Classroom, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 8
contain at least some information your students already understand.
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It means
that, teachers need to choose the suitable materials with the students’ existing knowledge, because it can help students to understand the materials
easily.
c. Are the materials appropiate for my students in terms of language
level?
If an activity calls for a detail and in-depth understanding of the language in the materials you choose, students can soon lose motivation and
interest if the language is simply too difficult for them to understand. We can say briefly here that there are several options for teachers to consider:
give your students adequate help and preparation to work with more challenging materials; choose materials where the language level is suited to
the level of your students; choose tasks which are achievable by your students at their level.
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Students have a different of language level. Therefore, teachers need to agree with the materials that would be taught to
students.
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It means that, teachers need to choose the suitable materials with the students’ existing knowledge, because it can help students to understand
the materials easily.
d. Should I use only materials from today’s newspaper?
