ACADEMIA Letters The Newspaper - An Educational Tool in the ESL/EFL Classroom Lishanthi Wijewardene Introduction The newspaper is known to be an influential tool in the sharing of information and improving the language skills of undergraduates in this vastly developing global village (Wijewardene, 2020). With the help of language people express their ideas, share information and communicate with each other (Akhter, Kausar and Faisal, 2020). Thus the newspaper can be an aide in providing motivational material to improve language skills such as reading, writing and developing vocabulary and improving spelling, and could be easily adapted to suit the individual levels of students. Additionally, newspapers expand the knowledge vistas of readers on a plethora of current events happening around us. The reason to choose the English newspaper as an instrument in the teaching of English is two-fold: the newspaper is a cost-effective, easily accessible, friendly on the wallet textbook that provides the reader with up-to-date knowledge on a vast array of topics, whilst being a language developer which is a simple thesaurus that unconsciously improves the reader’s vocabulary, in many instances (Wijewardene, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a surge in the use of technology to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. But it can be noted that the focus is on digital technology to improve teaching and learning, while at the same time unfortunately putting aside the use of more traditional English language teaching and learning materials, such as newspapers (Akhter, Kausar and Faisal, 2020). For English language learners, developing vocabulary is an imperative of the language learning process. Having a good repertoire of vocabulary knowledge is necessary in order to Academia Letters, April 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Lishanthi Wijewardene, lishanthiw@yahoo.com; lishanthi@sjp.ac.lk Citation: Wijewardene, L. (2021). The Newspaper - An Educational Tool in the ESL/EFL Classroom. Academia Letters, Article 769. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL769. 1 understand any form of text (Akhter, Kausar and Faisal, 2020). And the newspaper serves as an important resource in this endeavor. Almost all newspapers have an online version / e-version, and the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn the attention of the reader towards this online version. Yet, there are those who are unable to access the online version of a newspaper, and in such a scenario, reading the printed hard copy of the newspaper available on the paper stand is recommended. There are many reputed English newspapers which are recommended for the improving of English, and some of them are The New York Times, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Times of India, and The Daily Telegraph, to name a few. Importance of English English has turned out to be an international language and English speaking people are found in every corner of the world (Xu, 2020). All nations of the world are trying to get mastery over English language to keep pace with the modern trends (Akhter, Kausar and Faisal, 2020). In a bid to acquire the knowledge of English language, many approaches and methods are introduced to ease the process of learning English for EFL learners (Mittal, 2014). English language proficiency is vital in order to thrive in the modern global workplace. English heads the list as the foremost world language and the medium of instruction in educational institutions, and, more importantly, is the language of science and technology (Akhter, Kausar and Faisal, 2020). The ability to read is one of the necessities of modern-day life (Akhter, Kausar and Faisal, 2020). Hence it is important that the skill of reading is inculcated as one of the necessities of modern-day life. In pursuance of this, promoting the usage of English newspapers as an effective tool in the EFL classroom is important in the improving of the overall language skills of students (Akhter, Kausar and Faisal, 2020). In the modern world of technology, the learning of English language has become the essential need of the day as English is an international language (Akhter, Qureshi, Hassan, and Tanveer, 2019), and the usage of the newspaper is an essential and effective method of learning and teaching English (Akhter, Kausar and Faisal, 2020). Graduate employability pivots around the ability to communicate in English among other factors, which is an indicator that university undergraduates are aware of the importance of English to secure employment as it is a lingua franca of international business communication (Rido, 2019). Good communication skills are imperative in increasing employability and career promotion (Abdul Kadir, Noor, and Shakizah, 2015; Al-Mutairi, Naser, and Saeid, 2014; Ranasinghe and Ranasinghe, 2012; Ting, Marzuki, Chuah, Misieng, and Jerome, 2017). Academia Letters, April 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Lishanthi Wijewardene, lishanthiw@yahoo.com; lishanthi@sjp.ac.lk Citation: Wijewardene, L. (2021). The Newspaper - An Educational Tool in the ESL/EFL Classroom. Academia Letters, Article 769. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL769. 2 Significance of newspapers in the acquisition of EFL The use of newspapers is encouraged as an educational tool both to complement and supplement traditional classroom texts and resource materials (Akhter, Kausar and Faisal, 2020). Today, mass media has seen unprecedented development, moving from the newspaper, radio, television, to the internet and social media. The society in which we live, tends to swing the pendulum in the direction of technology, and thereby, in the arena of mass media, newspapers have been relegated to the back benches (Wijewardene, 2020). Yet there is a segment of society that waits expectantly for, and deems it fit to start the day with the newspaper and its headlines (Mittal, 2014). The world around us has seen rapid changes lately, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic bringing the people to its feet, and there is a thirst for people to be kept informed whether by social media or through traditional media tools (Wijewardene, 2020). Yet, the newspaper remains the grand old dame of knowledge sharing (Wijewardene, 2020). Newspapers provide up-to-date information on local and global happenings. The texts found in newspapers are simple and are ideal in the use of the teaching of English. The importance of media in general is to inform, and, it is believed that such a role played by the English newspaper, inter-twined with education, will encourage and motivate undergraduates, whilst assisting them to sharpen their language skills (Wijewardene, 2020). In the English language, learning vocabulary items plays an important role in all of the language skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing (Thiagarajah and Razali, 2020). One of the major challenges faced by language learners is increasing their vocabulary knowledge in order to improve their proficiency level (Thiagarajah and Razali, 2020). Many ESL (English as a Second language) / EFL (English as a Foreign language) learners, whose first language is not English, face challenges in learning the English language and dislike reading English materials. This can lead to a low level of vocabulary knowledge, which does not help them in pursuing their education at a higher level especially due to the fact that English is a second or a foreign language to them (Asraf and Ahmad, 2003). Therefore, it is important to include a relevant and meaningful type of material that will attract their attention and which will enable them to practice their English language usage (Asraf and Ahmad, 2003) and newspapers seem to be an attractive teaching tool that link learners to reality (Wijewardene, 2020). The English newspaper will not only motivate the learner but also gradually eliminate the fear that the learner has for the English language (Khorsheed and Rassoul, 2018). Academia Letters, April 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Lishanthi Wijewardene, lishanthiw@yahoo.com; lishanthi@sjp.ac.lk Citation: Wijewardene, L. (2021). The Newspaper - An Educational Tool in the ESL/EFL Classroom. Academia Letters, Article 769. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL769. 3 Conclusion Research indicates that it is highly beneficial to investigate vocabulary in newspapers, mainly because second language students can acquire vocabulary knowledge through reading newspaper articles (Schmitt and Carter, 2000). Newspapers can be used as an additional English language learning material mainly because of its useful components that focuses on variety of language components (Zhu, 2017). The newspaper functions as a textbook that contains the latest information on both local and international matters (Ahmmed, 2016). Therefore, students will be able to gain general knowledge as well as improve their English language usage. The use of the newspaper is important as newspapers are easily available compared to other materials such as magazines or books. Newspapers are available at the nearest grocery shop, and in some areas, the newspaper will be delivered to the residents’ doorstep (Thiagarajah and Razali, 2020). Moreover, newspapers are easily available around the world in both printed and electronic versions. Thus getting the material to the classroom would not be an issue for both the teacher and students. Newspapers can also be used as additional material in the classroom. The more students read, the better they understand the world around them and the culture in it, and they are able to develop their vocabulary. In this backdrop, there is a crying need to encourage students boost and hone their English language skills to secure their future in the ever-evolving global arena, and the newspaper offers immense potential in shaping and improving the language skills of students. It also highlights the need to inculcate the need to improve the English language skills of students by using the readily available and easily accessible newspaper that provides abundant activities, as a learning resource. It is very clear that it is vital to learn vocabulary in context and that is where newspapers appear particularly suitable (Shoari and Aidinlou, 2015). Reading English newspapers aids students to develop vocabulary and learn to read a passage in a fast manner and comprehend the key concepts that are presented in the given text (Ahmmed, 2016). The use of newspapers as an additional resource material in teaching and learning of English has increasing in recent years (Pandey, 2019) and newspapers have the power to develop English language skills (Wolswinkel, 2008). Hence it could be said that newspapers are called the wonderful resource of understanding language (Ali and Devi, 2013) and this article sheds light on the importance of English newspapers in the learning of the English language, as reading newspapers on a daily basis can help students to improve their language skills and general knowledge (Swaminathan, 2017). Academia Letters, April 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Lishanthi Wijewardene, lishanthiw@yahoo.com; lishanthi@sjp.ac.lk Citation: Wijewardene, L. (2021). The Newspaper - An Educational Tool in the ESL/EFL Classroom. Academia Letters, Article 769. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL769. 4 References Abdul Kadir, K., Noor, W. M., and Shakizah, W. (2015). 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