Online newspapers in teaching reading in the English classroom at high school

The paper reports the results of an experimental study on the use of authentic online newspapers in developing students' reading skills in senior classes by the English high school teachers of Murmansk and the Murmansk region, Russia. The study adopted questionnaire as a research method. The experimental study analysed the educational process of developing students' reading skills in senior classes at English lessons and detected the major difficulties for the students in the reading comprehension of media texts. Quantitative and qualitative data came from 135 English teachers of Murmansk and the Murmansk region (Russia). This study also focused on the problems of the use of English press and outlined the selection criteria for the online media and newspaper reading activities to be used in the English classroom. The results of the study clearly demonstrate that the use of online newspapers contributes to the development of students' critical thinking, and cognitive abilities at high school.