Teachers’ and students’ perspectives on using authentic materials in teaching english a survey at ha nam teachers’ training college”

i DECLARATION I declare that the thesis entitled “Teachers‟ and students‟ perspectives on using authentic materials in teaching English: A survey at Ha Nam Teachers‟ Training College” i

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***************

PHÙNG THỊ HUYỀN

TEACHERS’AND STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES

ON USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN TEACHING ENGLISH:

A SURVEY AT HA NAM TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGE QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG NGỮ LIỆU NGUYÊN GỐC TRONG VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH: MỘT KHẢO SÁT TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM HÀ NAM

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

**********************

PHÙNG THỊ HUYỀN

TEACHERS’AND STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES

ON USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN TEACHING ENGLISH:

A SURVEY AT HA NAM TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGE QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG NGỮ LIỆU NGUYÊN GỐC TRONG VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH: MỘT KHẢO SÁT TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM HÀ NAM

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Văn Canh

HANOI - 2017

i

DECLARATION

I declare that the thesis entitled “Teachers‟ and students‟ perspectives

on using authentic materials in teaching English: A survey at Ha Nam

Teachers‟ Training College” is the result of my own research for the Degree

of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any other degree

Hanoi,2017

Phùng Thị Huyền

Second, I would like to take the chance to express my great attitude to our teachers at the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies of Vietnam National University, University of Languages and International Studies for providing with the precious knowledge from their practical and helpful lectures

Besides, I greatly appreciate my colleagues and the participants in my research because of their generosity in giving me time and suggestion

Finally, I wish to thank my families, without whose love and support this study could hardly become a reality

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ABSTRACT

This study provides an overview of the current literature and a survey

of teachers’ and students’ perspectives on using authentic materials This paper mainly aims to (1) explore teachers’ perceptions towards the advantages and challenges of the use of authentic materials, (2) explore students’ perceptions towards the use of authentic materials, and (3) investigate the difference between learners’ and teachers’ perspectives on authentic materials There were 93 students and 11 teachers participating in the study Findings from the descriptive statistics and content analysis were analyzed based on the questionnaire and semi- structured interview The results of the study suggested that the general perspectives of the participants on authentic materials were strongly positive The study concludes with some implications for classroom use and further research

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Declaration ……… i

Acknowledgements ……… ii

Abstract ……… iii

Table of contents ……… iv

Lists of abbreviations ……… v

List of tables ……… vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1 Rationale ……… 8

1.2 Objectives of the research……… 9

1.3 Research questions……… 10

1.4 Organization of the study……… 10

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition: What are authentic materials? 12

2.2 Advantages of using authentic materials in teaching English 14 2.2.1 Developing language skills……… 14

2.2.2 Exposing learners to real language ……… 16

2.2.3 Motivations ……… 17

2.2.4 Developing intercultural communicative competence……… 18

2.3 Challenges of using authentic materials in teaching English 19 2.4 Teachers’and students’ perspectives toward authentic materials……… 20

2.5 Previous studies……… 23

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Participants ……… 26

3.2 Instruments ……… 26

v

3.2.1 Questionaires ……… 26

3.2.2 Semi-structured Interviews ……… 27

3.3 Questionaire Validation 27 3.3.1 Cronbach alpha ……… 27

3.3.2 The reliability of students‟ questionnaire ……… 28

3.4 Data collection ……… 29

3.5 Data Analysis ……… 29

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Results ……… 30

4.1.1 The results of students’ questionnaire ……… 30

4.1.1 1 Students‟ perspectives on the benefits of using authentic material 30

4.1.1 2 Students‟ perspectives on the challenges of using authentic materials……… 31

4.1.1.3 Students‟ perspectives on how to use authentic materials 32 4.2 Interview results 33 4.2.1 Teachers‟ interviews ……… 33

4.2.2 Students’ interviews ……… 41

4.3 Discussions ……… 44

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 5.1 Conclusions ……… 48

5.2 Implications for classroom use of authentic materials ………… 49

5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further study ……… 51

REFERENCES ……… 52

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LISTS OF TABLES

Table 1: Rules of thumb for Cronbach Alpha

Table 2: Cronbach alpha‟s students‟questionaire

Table 3: Students‟ questionnaire‟s Corrected Item-Total Correlation

Table 4: Students‟ perspectives on the benefits of using authentic materials Table 5: Students‟ perspectives on the challenges of using authentic materials Table 6: Students‟ perspectives on how to use authentic materials

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LIST OF ABBRIVIATION

EFL : English as Foreign Language

HTTC: Ha Nam Teachers‟ Training College

It is believed that using authentic materials correspond the mastery of four skills, make students to produce grammatical sentences and enable students to function the language effectively in appropriate context and society Harmer (1991) states that, despite many textbooks‟ use of non-authentic materials to practice specific language points, only authentic materials will genuinely improve listening and reading skills Similarly, Allen et al (1988,

as cited in Baird, 2004) maintain that the strategies students develop in comprehending authentic texts can help them develop writing proficiency in the target language

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In order to help the students communicate effectively, students must

be exposed to real life communication activities In other word, the purpose of activities in class should be the same in real life and there must be relationship between classroom activities and real life Authentic materials are very useful for this purpose Opp-Beckman (2003) also advocates some reasons for using authentic materials in the classroom The author goes on to propose that authentic materials enable learner to hear, read, and produce language as they are used in target culture Authentic materials are also interesting and motivating By using authentic materials, learners can develop survival language skills and learn tolerance for regarding things they do not understand

Some previous researches mainly explore either students‟attitude or teachers‟ attitude about the use of the authentic material in teaching, yet there are still only a few studies in which investigate both viewpoints, the learners‟ and the teachers‟ It is true that when planning the materials for learning a foreign language, the opinions and thoughts of both teachers and students should naturally be taken into account since they know what the best way to teach and learn is The teachers and students are the ones who use the materials on a daily basis and know what works and what does not In my study, I will take into account teachers‟ and students‟perspectives and make differences between them with a view to draw reliable conclusions on the matter of the use of authentic materials in the foreign language classrooms

1.2 Objectives of the research

Objectives of this study are:

 To explore teachers‟ perspectives on the use of authentic materials

 To explore students‟ perspectives on the use of authentic materials

 To identify the differences between teachers‟ and students‟

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perspectives toward the use of authentic materials, if any

1.3 Research questions

Base on the objectives of the study, the study try to look for answers to

the following questions:

1 What do teachers think of the benefits and challenges of authentic materials to students‟ learning?

2 What do students think of the benefits and challenges of authentic materials to their learning?

3 Is there a gap between teachers‟ and students‟ perspectives on authentic materials? And what does the gap imply for classroom use of authentic materials?

1.4 Organization of the study

This paper consists of five chapters Each chapter discusses as follows:

Chapter I - Introduction introduces the rationale of the study, and the objectives of the research and the research questions The chapter ends with the organization of the thesis

Chapter II - The Literature Review- reviews the relevant literature in

an attempt to develop the theoretical framework for the study It contains the definition of authentic materials, the benefits of authentic materials, the challenges of using authentic materials, the teachers and students‟ perspectives on authentic materials and a review of previous studies

Chapter III is Research Methodology It presents the method of the research Also included in this chapter is the information about of the

Chapter V is Conclusions

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, a brief review of the literature related to the use of authentic materials teaching English will be presented The review will include a brief discussion of definition of authentic materials, the advantages and challenges of the use of authentic materials, teachers‟and students‟ perspectives toward authentic materials and some previous studies

2.1 Definition: What are authentic materials?

A number of authors have given different definitions of authentic materials However, they have one feature in common: these are materials not designed for the purpose of learning a foreign language

Nunan (1989, as cited in Adams, 1995) refers to authentic materials as any material that has not been specifically produced for the purpose of language teaching

Little et al (1988) define authentic materials as those that have been produced to fulfill some social purpose in the language community in which they were produced

Bacon and Finnemann (1990) define authentic materials as texts produced by native speakers for non-pedagogical purposes

Gardner and Miller (1999) explain that authentic materials means any texts (printed or digital) or tape which is produced for a purpose other than teaching the target language Similarly, Lee (1995) states that a text is usually regarded as textually authentic if it is not written for teaching purposes, but for a real life communicative purpose, where the writer has a

The key point in all these definitions is that authentic materials are basically not produced for teaching or learning but give an exposure to language used in real life and when these materials are used in the classroom they motivate the learner to participate in a real conversation and thereby facilitate language learning It is evident that the uses of authentic text like newspapers helps the learner develops their communication skills and stimulate their interest in engaging them with the classroom activities through which they develop confidence and enjoy leaning Further, learners are more comfortable when the input is provided from their own culture and customs in order to relate the content/context to their own lives As Tomlinson (2008) argues that the most of the course book materials do not provide meaningful input from the real world As a result, majority of the learners do not have minimum knowledge of English and are not able to communicate in it in their day-to-day communication Incorporating authentic materials in teaching a foreign language offers more than linguistic advantages Scholars argue for the motivating power of authentic materials McNeil (1994) and Kilickaya (2004) indicate that the use of authentic texts is now considered to be one way for increasing students‟ motivation for learning

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since they give the learner the feeling that he or she is learning the real language - the target language as it is used by the community that speaks it

2.2 Advantages of using authentic materials in teaching English

2.2.1 Developing language skills

It is acknowleged that authentic materials can help in the acquisition of the four macroabilities In fact, many studies revealed that the use of authentic materials helps improve language skills for the students at all levels Herron and Seay (1991) also supported the use of authentic materials for teaching language skills In this respect, Harmer (2001) believes that, despite many textbooks‟ use of non-authentic materials to practice specific language points, only authentic materials will „genuinely‟ improve listening and reading skills

Ur (1984) argues that exposure to authentic speech affects second language students to learn best that which has been planned, taking to improve students‟ability in speaking Moody (1984) highlights that training

in the implementation of speaking can be done in a language classroom

by teachers who have a wide range of knowledge in using authentic materials

Authentic materials are proved to be beneficial to teaching listening skills Studies, such as Miller (2005) and Thanajaro (2000), have shown the use of authentic materials which lead to aural language development In addition, Otte (2006) studied the impact of aural authentic texts on listening comprehension abilities of adult ESL students of an American university He found that exposure to authentic materials would lead to better listening comprehension abilities and motivation of the language learners It is clear that the authentic listening

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materials have some features which are useful for students in developing listening comprehension skills These features can be listed such as real communication, hesitations, the use of phrasal verbs, idioms, and colloquial words, false starts, empty pauses, the speed of speech and the use of English everyday With these materials, teachers will be able to help student to get used to real speech and situations, overcome the difficulties of understanding native pronunciation which is found in authentic materials such as news, movies and songs As result of it, students feel comfortable and relaxed to train on listening and their listening ability can improve

General speaking, teaching reading skill through authentic materials brings students opportunities to have a closer contact with authentic texts which enable students to interact with the real language and content rather than the form A radio interview, a newspaper article or report, a novel, a fairy tale, a contract, a song lyric, and a tourist guidebook are examples of authentic texts For each kind of authentic texts, students can develop specific skills for reading contracts, financial reports, or manuals Authentic texts are also motivating and encourage further reading or reading for pleasure because authentic materials give the readers the chance to get real information and know what is going on in the world around them Nuttal (1996) said that authentic texts could be motivating because they were proof that language was used for real-life purposes by real people

Authentic materials play an important role while teaching writing skill Authentic materials provide a variety of good models of many genres in writing for students to follow According to Jacobson et.al (2003), authentic materials also facilitate teachers to introduce types of texts, language styles and new vocabularies to their students

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2.2.2 Exposing learners to real language

An argument that has typically been used to back authentic materials is that they help exposing learners to real language Authentic materials provide language learners with models of target-like language use and help learners to interact the real language Language learners feel that they are learning a language in real life situation outside the classroom This can promote their ability for using the language in real life situations as they will become acquainted with the active use of the target language (Hyland, 2003) In addition, Melvin and Stout (1987) state that learners who work with authentic materials have an interest in the language that is based on what they know it can do for them in the future This can lower the degree of anxiety when learners face new situations in the target language (Moya, 2000) Nunan (1999) explained this could be realized by bringing the content and subject matter to their life and enable them making the important connections between the classroom world and the outside world

Authentic materials are considered by Peacock (1997) as a bridge between the classroom and the real world Moreover, authentic books, articles and newspapers contain a wide variety of text types, language styles not easily found in conventional teaching materials This can encourage reading for pleasure especially if students are involved in selecting the topics or kinds of authentic materials to be used in class

According to Brinton (1991), authentic materials can strengthen the direct relationship between the language classroom and the outside world for students Gebhard (1996) considered authentic materials as a way to contextualize language learning When lessons are focused on comprehending, language learners tend to concentrate more on content and

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meaning rather than the language itself This offers the language learners a valuable source of authentic language input, so that they are not exposed only to the language presented by the text and the teacher

2.2.3 Motivations

The type of materials used can also have an obvious effect on enhancing learners‟ motivation, arousing their interest and may increase their active participation in learning activities

Many researchers agree with the idea that authentic materials have a positive effect on learner motivation and improve the learning results The motivation from using authentic materials is attributed to the fact that it can be selected to meet learners‟ specific needs unlike textbooks (Gilmore, 2007) McDonough (1981) has claimed that most of the language teachers would agree that one of the most important factors influencing students‟ success or failure in learning is motivation Because there is a correlation between attitude/motivation and foreign language learning success, another duty of the teachers is increasing students‟ motivation and make learning more enjoyable In addition, the use of authentic materials in the classroom can motivate the students because there are three layers of learning that are: language learning (the structure and vocabulary), cultural insight, and practical application

Tomlinson (2012) advocates that authentic materials can motivate learners and help them develop a range of communicative competencies and enhance positive attitudes towards the learning of a language

Do (2011) found that using authentic materials is one way to effectively increase university student's motivation in foreign language courses

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Nuttall (1996) points out that, “authentic texts can be motivating because they are proof that the language is used for real-life purposes by real people.”

It may be concluded that students make use of authentic materials not only by learning how to use the language in the real world but also by mastering the linguistic knowledge and cultural knowledge of the target language Therefore, authentic materials with real-world language and contact with culture of the target language can, at its best, make learning enjoyable and motivating

2.2.4 Developing intercultural communicative competence

Another advantage of incorporating authentic materials in the language curriculum is the way they provide a meaningful context for raising awareness of cultural issues Using authentic materials in teaching culture is a great motivational factor and it helps learners to recognize that there is a community of users who live their lives in this other language

Cruz (2010) quotes from Kramsch (1998) that it is important to be aware that culture in language learning is not an expendable fifth skill; it is present within writing, reading, listening and speaking Authentic materials provide authentic cultural information and help facilitate cultural adaptation, language comprehension, and language use (Sanderson, 1999; Grundy, 1993; Duquette, et al, 1987)

In other words, an argument in favour of the use of authentic materials is that authentic materials are believed to be the best types of materials for developing intercultural communicative competences of foreign language learners

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2.3 Challenges of using authentic materials in teaching English

Along with the advantages, the uses of authentic materials also bring some disadvantages

First, authentic input has long been perceived as too difficult for students to understand Martinez (2002) mentions that authentic materials may

be too culturally biased and difficult to understand outside the language community Learners may experience extreme frustration when confronted by

an authentic text, especially lower level students, as found by McNeil (1994) Schmidt (1994) argues that authentic discourse may panic learners who find themselves faced with the speed of delivery coupled with a mixture of known and unknown vocabulary and structures; instead, he prefers using simplified texts that have communicative value rather than using authentic input

The next challenge is that authentic materials often contained difficult language, unneeded vocabulary, grammar, and too many structures, so the lower level students might have a hard time decoding the texts Students might be less motivated (Martinez, 2002; Peacock, 1997; Byrd, 1997) Many lower-level students felt anxious and frustrated when they faced unfamiliar materials The grammar and vocabularies in authentic materials may be too difficult for foreign language learners because authentic materials are used for communicating and informing in the society, thus they might use some abbreviation, slang or informal words Besides, the content of the text sometimes is not appropriate for the students

However, concerning the challenges of using authentic materials, Guariento and Morley (2001) assert that such difficulties can be overcome by designing tasks that require only partial comprehension In order to avoid the

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disadvantages, the teacher should be selective in choosing the materials before delivering them to the students Teachers should consider the suitability and the readability of the text Additionally, in teaching and learning process, the teacher guided the students in understanding the text and also in finding the difficult words To help the students cope with the materials, the difficulties that the students found in the text were discussed together with the whole member of the class

The difficulties associated with authentic materials did not have a significant impact on participants‟ use of such materials It was also suggested that a successful authentic materials lesson requires broader knowledge of the target language, which calls for training to raise teachers‟ language awareness, particularly with regard to the use of authentic materials for ELT Teachers can often anticipate problems and deal with these when they plan authentic materials For example, difficult cultural information can be dealt with when leading in to an authentic text and longer texts can be edited to accommodate lesson time

To sum up, although there is still the existence of some disadvantages, the advantages of authentic materials are more than disadvantages Using authentic materials in language classes will bring lively educational atmospheres and would return better practical learning results

2.4 Teachers’and students’ perspectives toward authentic materials

There has been a series of studies investigating the relationship between student attitude and motivation and foreign language achievement Gardner and Lambert believed that mastering a second language is not only influenced

by the mental competence or language skills but also on learners‟ attitudes and beliefs towards the target language Horwitz thinks that learner attitudes and

There is significant difference in opinions regarding the use of authentic materials in the classroom Views range from strong caution to encouragement This paper intends to provide a deeper understanding of foreign language teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes toward using authentic materials

From a teacher‟s perspective, using authentic texts in the classroom is time consuming, because it is not always easy to find appropriate authentic texts and risky, because it is not always possible to predict how students will react to the texts Even more challenging than locating and modifying texts was the process of finding ways in which the students could themselves responding an authentic manner to what they had read

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Furthermore, almost all students give positive responses through the use of the authentic materials Dealing with motivation, the students do not feel learning English as a frightened and boring subject since the learning atmosphere in classroom is more joyful (Young, 2003 as cited in Su, 2008: Tarnopolsky and Degriatiova, 2003) Therefore , their motivations increase and the interaction among the students and the teachers are also built and developed well (Kelly et.al, 2002) In regard to the functions of authentic materials as teaching aids, authentic visual materials such as video, pictures, and realia benefit to students learning (Byrne, 1995; Brown, 2001) Those media can attract and motivate the students and catch their attention

In the survey carried by Chavez, the findings reveal that learners enjoy dealing with authentic materials since they enable them to interact with the real language and its use Also they do not consider authentic situations or materials innately difficult However, learners state that they need pedagogical support from especially in listening situations and when reading literary texts such as the provision of a full range of cues

One of the most important and essential tools in foreign language teaching and learning are the materials used during the lessons The materials can have a significant effect on the language learners‟ motivation, learning process and desire to learn more For this reason, the materials should be created from the learners‟ point of view since they are the ones who benefit the most from the materials However, it must be pointed out that it is impossible to create materials that are considered to be the best possible by every language learner since the students are all different Due to this fact, a variety of different material needs to be used in foreign language teaching However, some materials are considered to be more

of Tourism of the University of Maribor, Slovenia using coursebooks and authentic supplementary materials The survey has shown that the students of the Faculty of Tourism prefer supplementary authentic materials to coursebooks because they find them sufficiently interesting or challenging Specially designed class- room materials that are put into the Moodle by the teacher also offer opportunities for various activities in lesson planning for teaching, listening, speaking, reading and writing Another important aspect of supplementary materials is that they facilitate the teacher‟s creativity However, there are advantages and disadvantages to using only coursebooks

or only specially prepared classroom materials, and both - coursebooks and

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supplementary materials - should be used only after careful consideration Although authentic materials may contain complex grammatical structures and difficult vocabulary, they bring real-life situations into classrooms, and students therefore find them very motivating, the survey has shown

Masoud Zoghi, Fatemeh Moradiyan Zardak, Seyyed Ali Kazemi, Department of ELT, Ahar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran did research on the topic “ The effect of authentic materials on vocabulary development” This study was published on International journal of language and applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW), volume 5(4), April 2014; 155 -160 This study intended to investigate the effects of authentic materials on vocabulary acquisition in International English Language Testing System (IELTS) students of Kimiya-e-Danesh institute, Yasuj, Iran

It focused on how authentic materials facilitate vocabulary development The results showed that most of the students prefer using authentic materials for vocabulary acquisition By using authentic material students deal with outside and real world, they became interested when deal with real language

Mudra, Heri (2014) conducted a study called “The Utilization of Authentic Materials in Indonesian EFL Contexts: An Exploratory Study on Learners‟ Perceptions.” It was published on International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies The two main objectives of the study are: (1) to investigate the kinds of preferred authentic materials used

by English foreign language learners at Islamic State College of Kerinci (STAIN Kerinci), Indonesia; (2) to explore the learners` perceptions on the utilization of preferred authentic materials Through the results of the study, the researcher went to the conlusions as follows: the learners utilize various

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kinds of authentic materials including internet-mediated authentic materials, printed authentic materials, audiovisual (video) authentic materials, and audio authentic materials; The advantages of authentic materials included: improving and developing skills or abilities on listening, reading, speaking, writing, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation; the disadvantages of authentic materials included: unlimited in length and lack

of academic instructions It is suggested that that teachers should provide various kinds of authentic materials The authentic materials should be selected according to learners‟ English abilities or levels and learners‟needs and interests

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Participants

The participants in the study were 93 third year non-majored students and 11 full time English teachers in the Department of Informatics and Foreign Language, at HTTC All of participant teachers had completed their graduate study for the Master degree in English Language Teaching Methodology Their English teaching experience ranged from five to twenty years

to indicate their degree of agreement with the statement With a view to help the participants to answer questions at ease, the questionnaire is written in both English and Vietnamese and the participants are offered opportunities to select either form that suits them

The questionnaire consists 10 items, 9 positive items and only 1 negative item The first four items try to explore the students‟ perspectives on the benefits of the use of authentic materials in their learning The next two items aim to examine the students‟ perspectives on the challenges of authentic materials The last four items deals with their perspectives on how to use authentic materials (See the full questionnaire in Appendix 1)

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3.2.2 Semi-structured Interviews

Semi-structured interviewing is used in this study as another key research instrument The main reason for conducting interviews is to provide a deeper understanding of teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions towards the use of authentic materials in EFL classrooms The semi-structured interview consists

5 open-ended questions for both groups The interviewed teachers were further probed for clarification when necessary The interviews were conducted in English, and the teachers were interviewed individually Each lasted 15 minutes

With a view to elicit the information concerning the participants‟ perceptions towards the use of authentic materials in the classrooms, the questions are structured as follows The first question is about the reasons for using and not using authentic materials in their teaching and learning English The second question aims to explore whether the participants know what authentic materials are and they are asked to give examples of types of authentic materials The third question deals with the teachers‟ perspectives on the benefits of authentic materials to their students and the students‟ perspectives in this matter to their own learning as well The next question is about the challenges to be overcome by the teachers when they implement authentic materials in the classes and by the students when they work with authentic materials Finally, the last question aims at the suggestions made by both groups (See the Interview Guide in Appendix 2&3)

3.3 Questionaire Validation

3.3.1 Cronbach alpha

To ensure the reliability of the instrument for the present study, the data from the four point Likert scale questionnaires which were administered were analyzed through SPSS for obtaining the Cronbach Alpha

Table 1: Rules of thumb for Cronbach Alpha

3.3.2 The reliability of students’ questionnaire

Item-Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

1 Using authentic material helps students

2 Using authentic materials helps students

to be aware the differences between English

in the textbook and English in the real life

3 The content of authentic materials is

4 The cultural content in authentic materials

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5 There are so many unknown words in

6 The language in authentic materials is too

7 Authentic materials are good only for

8 Authentic materials are good only if

teachers know how to design appropriate

tasks

9 Authentic materials are not necessary

because there is no time for students to use

them

10 Students should be encouraged to bring

authentic materials into the classroom to

share with other classmates

Table 3: Students’ questionnaire’s Corrected Item-Total Correlation

The obtained alpha score is 0.714, which indicates that the scale has high internal consistency (reliability) > 0.6 and Corrected Item-Total Correlation > 0.3 indicates that all questions can be used in the study

3.4 Data collection

Data collection was carried out using the questionnaires and structured interviews The questionnaires were distributed to 93 students at HTTC Then, nine students randomly selected from those who were volunteered to participate in follow-up interviews and all eleven teachers were interviewed The interview was conducted and tape-recorded in order to transcribe for analysis

semi-3.5 Data Analysis

Quantitative and qualitative data analysis proceeded in two phases In the first phase, the data obtained from the learners‟ use of authentic materials questionnaires was analyzed using descriptive statistics with the SPSS program for calculating the total group mean scores and standard deviation Later, the semi-structured interview was analyzed using thematic analysis

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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This section is divided into two subsections: the first presents the quantitative data derived from the questionnaires while the second presents the qualitative data derived from the interviews Finally, it will provide a discussion of the findings

4 Findings

4.1.1 The findings of students’ questionaire

4.1.1 1 Students’ perspectives on the benefits of using authentic

materials

Table extracts students‟ perspectives regarding the benefits of using authentic materials Here, for the student survey the mean score ranges from 2.34 to 3.25 so it can be said most teachers agreed with the effects of authentic materials

Statements

1 Strong Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Agree

4 Strong Agree

Mean Sd Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq %

1 Using authentic material

helps students understand

how English is used in real

life

1 1.1 6 6.5 55 59.1 31 33.3 3.25 620

2 Using authentic

materials helps students to

be aware the differences

between English in the

textbook and English in the

Similarly, in item 2, most of the students told that using authentic materials helps students to be aware the differences between English in the textbook and English in the real life (87.1%, mean = 3.19)

For item 3, more than two thirds of the students (78.3%), with a high mean of 3.07, agreed that the content of authentic materials are motivating; only 21.7% of the students choose “Disagree” and none of them “Strong Disagree”

In item 4, 82.8% of the students said that the cultural content in authentic materials is interesting while the percentage of 17.2% for the students felt that it is not interesting

4.1.1 2 Students’ perspectives on the challenges of using authentic

materials

Statements

1 Strong Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Agree

4 Strong Agree

Mean Sd Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq %

5 There are so many

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As can be seen, the responses to item 5 spread all over the four choices with different percentages The largest number of the students (53.8%) chooses “Disagree”, 9.7% - “Strong Disagree” while 29.0% of the students is

“Agree” and 7.5% is “Strong Agree”

In terms of item 6, nearly all the participants (88.2% including 32.3%- Strong Agree, 55.9% - Agree) found it difficult to understand the language in authentic materials, whereas 9.7% did not think it was too difficult to understand the language in authentic materials 2.2% chose a “ Strong Disagree” answer

4.1.1.3 Students’ perspectives on how to use authentic materials

Statements

1 Strong Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Agree

4 Strong Agree

Mean Sd Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq %

7 Authentic materials

are good only for students

whose English is good

12 12.9 36 38.7 25 26.9 20 21.5 2.57 971

8 Authentic materials

are good only if teachers

know how to design

appropriate tasks

3 3.2 18 19.4 43 46.2 29 31.2 3.05 799

9 Authentic materials

are not necessary because

there is no time for

students to use them

56 60.2 36 38.7 1 1.1 0 0.0 1.41 516

10 Students should be

encouraged to bring

authentic materials into

the classroom to share

with other classmates

2 2.2 16 17.2 53 57.0 22 23.7 3.02 707

Table 6: Students’ perspectives on how to use authentic materials

For item 7, just less than half of the students (48.4%) agreed and strongly agreed that authentic materials are good only for students whose English is good, with the low mean of 2.57) Meanwhile, 51.6% of the students had different points of view