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

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE 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 POSTGRADUATE 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 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 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 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 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration ……………………………………………………………… Acknowledgements …………………………………………………… Abstract ………………………………………………………………… Table of contents ……………………………………………………… iv Lists of abbreviations …………………………………………………… v List of tables …………………………………………………………… vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale ………………………………………………………………… 1.2 Objectives of the research………………………………………… 1.3 Research questions………………………………………………… 10 1.4 Organization of the study…………………………………………… CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition: What are authentic materials? 2.2 Advantages of using authentic materials in teaching E 2.2.1 Developing language skills……………………………………… 2.2.2 Exposing learners to real language ……………………………… 16 2.2.3 Motivations ……………………………………………………… 2.2.4 Developing intercultural communicative competence…………… 2.3 Challenges of using authentic materials in teaching En Teachers’and students’ perspectives toward authe 2.4 materials………………………………………………………………… 2.5 Previous studies………………………………………… CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Participants ………………………………………………………… 26 3.2 Instruments ………………………………………………………… 26 iv 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 Students‟ perspectives on the benefits of using authentic material 4.1.1 Students‟ perspectives on the challenges of using authentic materials………………………………………………………………… 30 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 APPENDICES ………………………………………………………… I v 57 advanced ESL listening Abstracts International, 67(4), 1246B course Dissertation (UMI No 3212979) 58 Peacock, M (1997) The effect of authentic materials on the motivation of EFL learners ELT Journa 59 Pitcher, S M., Albright, L K., Seunarinesingh, Peck, S., Hunt, R., & motivation to read 50(5), 378-396 60 Sanderson,S.(1999) Using Newspapers in the Classrooms Cambidge: Cambridge 61 Schmidt, T (1994) Authenticity Unpublished Carbondale 62 Schön, D., Maud, B., Sylvain, M., Mireille, B., Isabelle, P., & Régine, K (2008) Songs as an aid for language acquisition Cognition, 106: 5-83 63 Shepherd, S (2006) Using authentic materials British Council teaching English, BBC World Service, Bush House, 10 Spring 64 Soliman, E M (2013) Libyan teachers: Attitudes and Believes Regarding the Use of EFL Authentic Materials within Reading Lessons at Universities Levels in Libya International Journal of Learning and Development, 3(5), Pages-121 65 Spelleri, M (2002) From lessons to life: Authentic materials bridge the gap ESL Magazine, 2, 35-39 58 66 Su, S C (2007) Attitudes of students and instructors toward textbookbased language skills and authentic materials in selected adult English as a second language programs ProQuest 67 Teeler, D., & Gray, P (2000) How to use the Internet in ELT Harlow, Essex, UK: Pearson Education Limited 68 Thanajaro, M (2000) Using authentic materials to develop listening comprehension in the English as a foreign language classroom Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 69 Tomlinson, B (2012) Materials development for language learning and teaching Language Teaching, 45(2), 143-179 70 Ur, P (1984) Teaching listening comprehension New York Cambridge University Press 71 Wong, V., Kwok, P., & Choi, N (1995) "The use of authentic materials at tertiary level" ELT Journal, 49 (4) 318-322 59 : APPENDICES APPENDIX STUDENTS’ QUESTIONAIRE This questionnaire is designed to help me completely my thesis on “Teachers’ and students’ perspectives on using authentic materials in teaching English: A survey at Ha Nam Teachers’ Training College” Your opinions would be very valuable to the methodology research and improvement in the teaching and learning English You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data (English Version) Authentic materials are texts produced by native speakers for nonteaching purposes These materials reflect the real world language Such materials include TV commercials, films, news items, weather forecasts, radio talks, interviews, articles, train timetables, advertisements, brochures, and application forms Please put a cross (√) in the column that best shows your level of agreement and disagreement No Statements Using authentic material helps students understand how English is used in real life Using authentic materials helps students to be aware the differences between English in the textbook and English in the real life The content of authentic materials is motivating to the students The cultural content in authentic materials is interesting There are so many unknown words in I authentic materials The language in authentic materials is too difficult for students to understand Authentic materials are good only for students whose English is good Authentic materials are effective only if teachers know how to design appropriate tasks Authentic materials are not necessary because there is no time for students to use them Students should be encouraged to 10 bring authentic materials into the classroom to share with other classmates THANK YOU VERY MUCH! II CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT (Bản Tiếng Việt) Đánh dấu (√) vào cột thể mức độ đồng ý không đồng ý bạn nhận định Stt Nhận định học sinh hiểu cách Tiếng Anh sử dụng thực tế đời sống học sinh nhận thức khác Tiếng Anh sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh ngồi đời thực tính chất thúc đẩy tới học sinh Nội dung văn hóa ngữ liệu ngun gốc thú vị ngun gốc Ngơn ngữ ngữ liệu nguyên khó cho học sinh hiểu sinh có trình độ tiếng Anh tốt giáo viên biết làm để thiết kế nhiệm vụ thích hợp khơng có thời gian dành cho học sinh để sử dụng chúng 10 theo ngữ liệu nguyên gốc vào lớp học để chia sẻ với bạn lớp khác Xin chân thành cảm ơn! III APPENDIX QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWING TEACHERS What are the reasons for your using or not using authentic materials? How often you use authentic materials? In your opinion, what kinds of materials are considered as authentic materials? Can you give some examples? If you have used authentic materials in your teaching, what you think are the benefits to the students? Give examples? What are the challenges of using authentic materials in the classroom? Give examples? Can you suggest how to use authentic materials effectively from your experience? IV APPENDIX QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWING STUDENTS What are the reasons for your using or not using authentic materials? In your opinion, what kinds of materials are considered as authentic materials? Can you give some examples? If you have used authentic materials in learning English, what you think are the benefits to your learning? Give examples? What are the challenges of using authentic materials in the classroom? Give examples? Can you suggest how to use authentic materials effectively from your experience? V Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha 714 Using authentic material helps students understand how English is used in real life Using authentic materials helps students to be aware the differences between English in the textbook and English in the real life The content of authentic materials is motivating to the students The cultural content in authentic materials is interesting There are so many unknown words in authentic materials The language in authentic materials is too difficult for students to understand Authentic materials are good only for students whose English is good Authentic materials are good only if teachers know how to design appropriate tasks 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 VI APPENDIX STUDENTS’QUESTIONAIRE RESULT Statements Using authentic material helps students understand how English is used in real life Using authentic materials helps students to be aware the differences between English in the textbook and English in the real life The content of authentic materials is motivating to the students The cultural content in authentic materials is interesting There are so many unknown words in authentic materials The language in authentic materials is too difficult for students to understand Authentic materials are good only for students whose English is good Authentic materials are good only if teachers know how to design appropriate tasks 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 VII ... Similarly, many researchers claim that authentic materials are advantageous for language learners and they has many times been emphasized authentic materials have real-world language and contact... time in using authentic materials It means that teachers have to take a lot of time to find suitable authentic materials and design the tasks - The main reason for the limitation of authentic materials. .. authentic materials, they have common idea that using authentic materials in EFL classrooms can engage the students into real language and real life, improve cultural understanding and motivate