USING ONLINE NEWSPAPERS TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The action research was conducted to test the ideas that using online newspapers written in English enhances students reading skills and cultivates their positive attitude towards extensive reading (ER). The participants were 42 second-year students at School of Foreign Languages – Thai Nguyen University (SFL-TNU). Reading materials were selected from a local online newspaper in English. Then, 16 readings tasks were designed with the adaption from academic reading tasks. The study was conducted in 10 weeks. A pre-test and a post–test were used before and after the application of the ER program. Besides, a questionnaire was administered to students before and after the project, and an observation checklist was administered to teachers participated in the project. The results showed a significant improvement in students’ reading skills, and students’ positive attitudes towards ER. Besides, in order to create a habit of reading extensively with an online newspaper written in English for students, there seems to be a need of consideration of time and a variety of local online newspapers written in English for students to choose.