Current Affairs and English Teaching

This degree project investigates how and why current affairs materials are incorporated in English language learning at two Swedish upper secondary schools. The question of what current affairs learning materials are is also answered. We look at current affairs materials from the viewpoint of two te...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kehlmeier, Maria, Svensson, Pernilla
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: Malmö högskola, Lärarutbildningen (LUT) 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-28452
Description
Summary:This degree project investigates how and why current affairs materials are incorporated in English language learning at two Swedish upper secondary schools. The question of what current affairs learning materials are is also answered. We look at current affairs materials from the viewpoint of two teachers and 7 students. We investigate how and why the teachers use current affairs in the ELT classroom through the use of qualitative interviews. Using the same method, we also investigate the students’ experiences of working with current affairs materials in the ELT classroom. We found that both the teachers and the students are positive towards working with current affairs materials in their ELT classrooms. Nevertheless, one cannot ignore the importance of selecting the appropriate materials. The materials should be authentic, connect to the students’ experiences and also match the teacher’s interests and personality. If fulfilling these criteria, current affairs materials function as a suitable learning material for language learning.Keywords: current affairs materials, English, learning materials, ELT classroom, authentic texts.