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@article{202135,
        author = {Shah Abdul Malik},
        title = {Sports Literature as a Pedagogical Resource in English Language Teaching},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {12},
        pages = {5932-5945},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=202135},
        abstract = {Sports literature becomes an authentic resource for LSRW skills in English language teaching (ELT). It comprises athlete autobiographies, match reports, sports essays, commentary transcripts, journalistic narratives, and fictional accounts of sporting events. It has become a dynamic and learner-centered teaching tool. As ELT shifts more and more toward realistic and context-rich materials, sports literature exposes students to natural language forms, action-oriented vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, and narrative structures commonly seen in everyday discourse. Its ability to foster vocabulary development, reading fluency, listening comprehension, and discourse interpretation through inherently engaging and approachable texts is what gives it linguistic worth. Sports-related content enhances the four skills by offering a range of possibilities for reading match analysis, listening to commentary, participating in sportsmanship conversations, and writing reflective or analytical articles based on sporting events. Language anxiety is lessened and active engagement is encouraged by the emotional connection, competitiveness, and personal relevance that sports themes inspire. Because of this, sports literature has a strong appeal for motivation. Also, sports texts are culturally and socially significant because they enable students to study international athletic events, national identity, gender concerns, media representation, and ethical dilemmas within sporting contexts. This fosters intercultural competency and critical thinking. The rise of digital sports platforms including blogs, podcasts, interviews, and multimedia commentary improves multimodal learning by exposing students to integrated forms of text, audio, and visual information required for 21st-century literacy. Sports literature pedagogically aligns with communicative and task-based techniques through activities such as role-playing interviews, simulating match commentary, discussing controversial choices, and assessing sports journalism. These exercises emphasize teamwork, ingenuity, and meaningful language use. All things considered, sports literature integrates linguistic input, learner motivation, cultural enrichment, and digital literacy, making it a comprehensive and successful teaching tool for contemporary ELT classes.},
        keywords = {Sports literature, ELT, authentic materials, communicative competence, motivation, multimodal learning.},
        month = {May},
        }