Beliefs About the Use of English Newspapers in Learner Autonomy

Abstract

This is the era of media and technology. Reading English newspaper is also a technological issue of language learning and teaching. Many studies have shown that autonomous learners are able to learn the language without being spoon-fed the information and assistance. The current study attempts to explore the students’ and teachers’ beliefs about the use of English newspapers with reference to learner autonomy and it also aims to explore the habits of reading English newspapers. This research is based on mixed method research design in which both qualitative and quantitative data were employed sequentially to reach the objectives of this study. For these purposes, a sample of 80 English major students and 4 of their teachers were selected from the Department of English Education, University Campus, T.U. Kirtipur. Furthermore, the results suggest that students should use and read newspapers as an authentic and useful supplementary materials for improving their English language autonomously. Moreover, this study also asks the teachers to make students informed regarding the usefulness of newspapers for the part of learning English language. This study consists of four major chapters. The first chapter introduces the study with general background of the topic. It also includes background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, delimitations of the study and operational definition of the key terms. The second chapter deals with the general review of related literature, review of theoretical review, review of empirical literature, and conceptual framework. Similarly, third chapter is about the methods and procedures used in the process of the study. This chapter includes research design, population, sample and sampling strategy, data collection tools and techniques, data collection procedures and data analysis and interpretation procedures. The fourth chapter is the presentation of the analysis and interpretation of the data collected through questionnaire and semi-structure interview. The last chapter deals with conclusions recommendations in policy related, practice related, and further research related followed by the reference appendices.