The impact of using online economic newspaper articles on teaching ESP vocabulary to business students: a task-based approach

The present study investigates the impact of online economic newspaper articles on business students to improve their English vocabulary learning skills for specific purposes (ESP) based on task-based language teaching. This research aims to examine the development of ESP vocabulary for Business students after using task-based language methods utilizing online economic newspaper articles. The research design is quasi-experimental. The study sample consists of 65 out of 80 students at the College of Management and Technology at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport in Alexandria. The experimental group consists of 42 students and the control group of 23 students. A pre-questionnaire was used to investigate the needs of business students. The experimental group was assigned to complete eight tasks designed based on a task-based language teaching strategy while the control group received conventional teaching. A pre-test and a post-test were used to measure the effect of the task-based online newspaper articles technique. The post-questionnaire and observation sheet are also used to investigate the challenges and the attitudes of the experimental group towards task-based online economic newspaper articles in learning ESP vocabulary. The results of the study revealed that there was a significant difference in the mean scores between the pre-test and the post-test results in the experimental group. The findings indicated that using language as a method and the online economic newspaper as teaching material was able to increase the ESP vocabulary for business students. Based on the findings, it is recommended that researchers could delve deep into studying the task-based online economic newspaper articles strategy and its relation to students’ learning preferences. It is also recommended that teachers could use them in their classes, and supervisors conduct workshops to show teachers how to use them. Received on: 22 December 2024 Accepted on: 19 January 2025 Published on: 15 February 2025