Research article the role of newspapers and magazines to teach english in the

THE ROLE OF MAGAZINES TO TEACH ENGLISH IN THE 
ESL/EFL CLASSROOMS 
The In print media, magazines play a 
dominant role in promoting learning, especially in 
developing the language skills of the learners in the 
ESL/EFL classrooms. The main aim of using the 
magazines in the ESL/EFL classrooms by the teachers 
is to make the learners to understand the usage of 
language, grasp the information, entertain, give more 
information and persuade the learners learning the 
English language in an affable and pleasant learning 
environment. It is a fact that the purpose of using the 
newspapers as well as the magazines is the same in 

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170 
Parupalli Srinivas Rao 
VEDA’S 
JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (JOELL) 
A
n International Peer Reviewed (Refereed) Journal
Impact Factor (SJIF) 4.092
http://www.joell.in
 
Vol.6 Issue 2 
2019 
teaching English, learners are more attracted to 
magazines because they are more colourful and 
attractive so that the learners are highly motivated 
and show more interest and pay more attention 
towards learning the English language. As magazines 
are filled with colourful pictures, it is very easy for 
the teachers to organize photograph activities in the 
classrooms which stimulate the learners to create 
both written and verbal stories on their own. They 
are very convenient for the teachers to use them to 
introduce short stories, fables, means of transport 
and even colours and also various stimulating 
activities in the classrooms. In the present digital 
world, there are numerous magazines that are more 
suitable for all age groups that make the decision 
making so easier. Most of the children and the teen-
aged learners are very much attracted by magazines 
as they are published with full of colours and 
attractive pictures and above all, they are child-
friendly. Since a majority of children and teenagers 
show more interest in reading magazines, the 
teachers should adopt and update their teaching 
materials in order to break the monotony and 
dreariness of the textbook-based lessons. It also gives 
a chance for both children and teenagers to be 
attracted and motivated by magazines those who 
have been turned off by the normal textbooks used 
in the ESL/EFL classrooms. 
The word ‘magazine’ actually means 
‘storehouse’ or ‘warehouse’ and it seems to be more 
appropriate 
since 
magazines 
are 
basically 
warehouses of information. It is a general tendency 
that all the learners read magazines in their own 
language both in print and online. But very few 
learners read magazines of the target language, i.e., 
the language they are learning. A lot of reading 
practice is essential for a language learner. So, the 
beginners 
and 
intermediate 
learners 
should 
concentrate more on learning the language by 
reading more and more magazines in English to 
develop their language skills. Since learners have 
textbooks and other reading materials from their 
classes and textbooks provide only a limited reading 
material where it is usually short and do not engage 
the learners much on the teaching material, the 
learners feel bored and do not pay more attention on 
the normal classroom teaching that is purely based 
on the prescribed textbooks. Therefore, the teachers 
have to understand this problem and design the 
materials according to the will and wish of the 
learners. To engage the learners more on the 
language learning activities, the teachers should 
supplement their textbooks with the materials 
adopted from magazines to really kick their learners’ 
reading into gear. Therefore, the teachers of English 
should encourage the learners to pick up a magazine 
of their own interest and make them read fresh and 
engage the reading materials so that the learners will 
learn new things and gain more knowledge about 
new content. In this way, the teachers can promote 
learning skills among the learners and also develop 
their critical thinking skills. 
There are incredibly useful for language 
learners for practising reading and listening skills as 
they include audio recordings. Even if the magazines 
are updated from time to time and some of them are 
updated daily or weeks and some others every 
fortnight, month or once in two months, the 
common feature among them is that there will be 
new material at regular intervals. This feature 
eventually saves the valuable time of the teachers as 
there are plenty of resources available in magazines. 
Moreover, these materials are easily accessible more 
useful for both beginners and low-intermediate level 
learners of English and they can improve their 
language skills immensely in and out of classrooms. 
As a valuable source of information is provided by 
magazines, they can be adapted easily for classroom 
purposes. Ever since magazines cover a wide range of 
topics, the teachers of English can use material to 
teach various occasions, levels and subjects. 
Furthermore, they serve as supplements to the 
content of the subject taught because the 
information provided by the magazines is based on 
not only facts and data but also stories. Magazines, 
just like newspapers, always present the learners the 
changes in which the language undergoes and the 
learners can perform the tasks based on these 
materials than the materials in the textbooks since 
magazines are published daily, weekly, fortnightly, 
monthly, bi-monthly and quarterly. It enables the 
teachers to prepare innovative and effective teaching 
materials for the learners to learn the language in a 
congenial atmosphere.

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171 
Parupalli Srinivas Rao 
VEDA’S 
JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (JOELL) 
A
n International Peer Reviewed (Refereed) Journal
Impact Factor (SJIF) 4.092