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. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2017 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc. Lê Văn Canh HANOI - 2017 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The study could not have been fulfilled without the help, encouragement and support of a number of people. First and foremost, I am thankful to to my supervisor, Dr. Lê Văn Canh for his never – ending support and valuable guidance during this process. Without his continual interest and encouragement, this thesis would not have been completed.
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. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration ……………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………. iii Table of contents ………………………………………………………. iv Lists of abbreviations …………………………………………………… v List of tables …………………………………………………………….
vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Objectives of the research…………………………………………. Organization of the study…………………………………………… 10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Definition: What are authentic materials?.
Advantages of using authentic materials in teaching English 14 2. Developing language skills………………………………………. Exposing learners to real language ………………………………. Developing intercultural communicative competence…………….
Challenges of using authentic materials in teaching English 19 2. Teachers’and students’ perspectives toward authentic 20 materials………………………………………………………………… 2. Previous studies…………………………………………………… 23 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3. Instruments ………………………………………………………… 26 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Semi-structured Interviews ………………………………………. The reliability of students‟ questionnaire ………………………… 28 3. 29 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4. The results of students’ questionnaire ………………………… 30 4.
Students‟ perspectives on the benefits of using authentic 30 material. Students‟ perspectives on the challenges of using authentic 31 materials…………………………………………………………………. Students‟ perspectives on how to use authentic materials 32 4. Discussions ………………………………………………………… 44 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 5.
Implications for classroom use of authentic materials …………. Limitations and suggestions for further study ………………. I v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBRIVIATION EFL : English as Foreign Language HTTC: Ha Nam Teachers‟ Training College vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the rationale, objectives, research questions, scope, and methods of the study. Also, it presents the structure of the study.
Rationale Teaching materials play an important role in teaching learning process. According to Grave (2000), using materials is identified as one of the most important aspects in designing a language course. For this reason, teachers rely on a different range of materials to support their teaching and their students learning. There has been considerable discussion about the use of authentic materials and demand for authentic material is getting stronger.
Authentic materials have proved useful in fulfilling the goal of communication of learning foreign languages and the needs of the students. In addition, these materials facilitate and support the teaching-learning process. Epstein & Ormiston (2007) believe that a teaching material is a tangible factor which a teacher can use to deliver instruction and assist students in learning and acquiring a language. 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. 8 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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. 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‟ 9 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com perspectives toward the use of authentic materials, if any. 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. 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 10 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com research participants, instruments, method of collecting data, and method of analyzing data. Chapter IV - Findings and Discussions - provides the details of the analysis which consists of general description, data analysis and findings, and discussions. Chapter V is Conclusions 11 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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.
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 12 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com certain massage to pass on to the reader. In this sense, students are expected to expose the real language used by native speaker.
Textbooks or course books are the main materials in curriculums and authentic materials do not replace them. However, authentic materials can be used as supplementary materials. In some cases, if the topics or certain texts in textbooks are not relevant and well suited for the specific classroom, teachers may use authentic materials as substitutions. In case students feel fed up with textbooks, teachers make use of authentic materials for a change because these materials a r e interesting and motivating.