ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’EXPLOITATION OF ONLINE JOURNALISTIC ARTICLES FOR DEVELOPING LANGUAGE SKILLS AT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The emergence of the Internet and Web-based information has caused rapid changes to the nature of literacy and made information literacy the center of attention of many pieces of research. However, online English journalistic articles (OEJAs) – the controlled and unbiased information sources – remain a relatively novel field of study. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not students, one of the leading user groups, consider and are capable of exploiting OEJAs as a useful and meaningful learning instrument that could develop and enhance their English skills. A structured questionnaire was designed for use in this research project. Participants in this study consisted of English-majored students ranging from their first year to the third year of university. The results indicate that although the majority of students employ OEJAs for academic purposes, they perceive it as a tool for other incentives rather than a self-developing tool for language skill enhancement. Since OEJAs are not regarded as a beneficial source of self-learning material, the frequency of students’ exploitation is subsequently low. Nevertheless, it is widely believed by the participants that they can derive considerable benefit from OEJAs in terms of their vocabulary range and reading skills. The figures show no significant difference among the three sample groups: the first-year cohort is the group that appreciates OEJAs the most and is most eager to exploit this potential source for English skills development. For second-year and third-year students, their motivation for taking any further actions after reading decrease as their belief in OEJAs’ usefulness diminishes. The results of this study is of practical necessity in helping students adopt a more positive attitude about OEJAs. The awareness of OEJAs’ merits as a valuable source of learning materials should be fostered with the hope that students can practice self-regulated learning and maintain a high level of motivation during the learning process.