Opinions among language educators converge on the view that the current dearth of reading materials is a fundamental impediment to language and literacy education in both ESL/EFL and the L1 in Sierra Leone. A common complaint is that it is virtually impossible to achieve better reading and writing proficiencies in English and indigenous languages if school learners are not exposed to 'comprehensible input' in these languages. This is particularly the case with English which is learned in an ESL/EFL context, where learners often relapse into illiteracy due to the lack of back-up reading materials.It is in recognition of this problem that the 'New Policy of Education, Sierra Leone, 1995', has called for strategies to be formulated in order to widen the facilitative base for implementing an extensive reading programme.
This paper is an attempt to explore the ways in which the print media and newspapers in particular can contribute to an extensive reading scheme thus raising language learners' proficiency in ESL/EFL and the L1. It will asses the pedagogic and sociolinguistic potential and limitations of a media-conducted extensive reading programme in Sierra Leone.
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