(Luận văn thạc sĩ) 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 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


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 ………………………………………………………………

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
2.4.

Teachers’and

students’

perspectives

toward

authentic

materials…………………………………………………………………
2.5. Previous studies……………………………………………………

19
20
23

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants ………………………………………………………… 26
3.2. Instruments ………………………………………………………… 26

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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 .....................................................................................................
4.1.1. 2. 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 ………………………………………………………….

v

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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

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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.
1.1. 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.

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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

10


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

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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

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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.
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

13


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

16


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

20


beliefs are considered to be the most pervasive and affective variable in
language acquisition. According to Crystal (1997), attitude towards language
is the attitude which speakers of different languages have towards each other‟s
languages or to their own language. Krashen (1985) proposes that attitudes
can act as barriers or bridges to learning a new language and are the essential
environmental ingredient for language learning. Many other scholars share
this view in this regard such as Gardner, Lambert, Harmer, Otte, and Soliman.
They believe that language learner‟ attitudes have been reported as an
influential factor for developing language learning. They also advocated that
positive attitudes can enhance the process of language learning, influence the
learners‟ behaviours and beliefs towards the language they learn and will
explore their tendency to acquire that language. Therefore, understanding
foreign language learners‟ attitudes towards the use of authentic materials
seems to be an essential step for a successful application of this practice in
classrooms.
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

22


helpful than others and the present study aims to examine whether learners
feel that authentic material is needed in learning a foreign language
Devitt et al (1988) state that research tends to confirm the widespread
intuition that a favourable attitude and a high level of motivation often leads
to second language learning success. This idea is also true for teachers.
Teachers with high motivation and who would like to implement new ideas in
their classrooms should be aware of their context and try adapt things to suit
their students‟ needs. However, there are many teachers that tend to reject
authentic materials so they claim that learners won‟t be able to understand
them because of difficult vocabulary and structures.
2.5. Previous studies
A study titled “Using authentic materials for students of tourism in
Slovenia: English language acquisition for students of the Faculty of Tourism
of the University of Maribor” was conducted by Jasna Potočnik Topler
Faculty of Tourism of University of Maribor, Brežice, Slovenia. This study
examines the process of teaching English for specific purposes at the Faculty
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

23