CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION
This initial chapter outlines the research problem and rationale for the
study together with its scope and significance. Above all, the aims and objectives
are identified with six research questions which serve as guidelines for the whole
research. Finally, the chapter concludes with an overview of the rest of the paper
to orientate the readers throughout this paper.
1.1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study
In the past ten years, there has been a variety of research studies on using
authentic materials in language teaching and learning by many authors, namely
Martinez (2002), Oura (n.d.), Berardo (2006), Lombardi (2007), McCoy (2009),
Nguyen (2007), and Phan (2011), of which the two latest were conducted on
learners at FELTE, ULIS, VNU. Those works exploited a variety of aspects in
using this type of materials, which has contributed considerately to the situation of
teaching and learning English in some countries as well as in Vietnam.
Besides, there have many studies on presentation, which were carried out
by students in ULIS, VNU. One of them is the thesis “A study on how to give a
good presentation for second-year students of English Department, CFL, VNUH”
by Pham (2003).
However, to the best knowledge of the researcher, there has not been any
author exploiting the use of authentic materials in speaking presentation among
third-year students in FELTE, ULIS, VNU. Furthermore, it is necessary to take an
investigation into the lessons drawn by these students from this group activity.
Having been one of the students who have experienced this activity in the course,
the researcher find it necessary and significant to carry out an inside research on
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the aspect of working with authentic materials for speaking presentations. The real
situation has inspired the researcher to convey the topic “The exploitation of
authentic materials in speaking presentations by third-year students, FELTE,
ULIS, VNU” with the expectation to fill in the gap of the previous studies.
1.2. Aims of the study and research questions
This study, firstly, is going to discuss students’ perceptions of authentic

in Chapter 5 of this study would be used as a helpful source for teachers and
policy makers. To be specific, students’ understanding about authentic materials,
their difficulties in using authentic materials in speaking presentations and their
solutions to those difficulties will be presented in the fourth chapter. In the fifth
chapter, pedagogical implications will be suggested by the researcher with the aim
to make the best use of students’ awareness of authentic materials in their
speaking presentations.
Last but not least, this study hopefully would be a reliable source for other
researchers who are interested in the same field. The data, findings and
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implications will be available and free for them to access. Besides, they could
learn from some limitations of this study.
1.4. Scope of the study
First, materials in general are categorized into many types. In this study,
the focus is on authentic materials employed by students.
Second, authentic materials can be used for various purposes and fields.
However, the paper only investigates the use of authentic materials in speaking
presentations by English learners at FELTE, ULIS, VNU.
Third, the scope is narrowed to a population of 87 third-year students
including 80 students in main-stream group and 7 students in fast-track group, and
a teacher who was in charge of speaking skills in the fast-track group in semester
1, academic year 2011-2012.
1.5. Methodology
1.5.1. Data collection methods
Survey questionnaires and interviews were combined to collect the data
from the target population. To be specific, the same set of questionnaire was
employed to survey third-year main-stream students and fast-track students. After
the data from survey questionnaire was synthesized, two semi interviews with a
main-stream student and a fast-track student were carried out for the sake of
thoroughly investigated data. Simultaneously, a set of questions for interview was

The rest of the paper includes five chapters as follows:
Chapter 2 (Literature review) provides the background of the study,
including definition of key concepts, description of the context in which speaking
presentations are conducted in FELTE, ULIS, VNU.
Chapter 3 (Methodology) describes the participants and instruments of the
study, as well as the procedure employed to carry out the research.
Chapter 4 (Results and discussion) presents, analyzes and discusses the
findings that the researcher found out from the data collected according to seven
research questions.
Chapter 5 (Recommendations) presents the researcher’s suggestions to
resolve remaining problems in using authentic materials in speaking presentations
in FELTE, ULIS, VNU.
Chapter 6 (Conclusion) summarizes the main issues discussed in the paper,
the limitations of the research as well as some suggestions for further studies.
Following this chapter are the References and Appendices.
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In this chapter, the researcher has elaborated on the following points:
(1) Statement and rationale for the study
(2) Aims and objectives of the study
(3) Scope of the study
(4) Methods of the study
(5) An overview of the rest of the paper
Summary
The chapter has provided the rationale for the study by stressing the role
of authentic materials in language learning and teaching as well as disclosing the
research gap. The framework of the paper has also been elaborated on with the
six research questions and clearly defined scope. These elaborations have not
only justified the major contents and structure of the study but will also work as
the guidelines for the rest of the paper.
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2006). The speaking presentations exploited in this research study belong to a
group activity in five speaking classes.
Moreover, CLT is supposed to foster authenticity in general, and the use of
authentic materials in particular, as it provides learners “a preparation for survival
in the real world” (Richards, 2006).
2.2. Authenticity
2.2.1. The concept of authenticity
The concept of authenticity has been discussed for years and “creates
confusion because of a basic ambiguity” (Widdowson 1983, p.30 as cited in
Mishan 2004). Multiple interpretations of the term have emerged in many studies
by scholars and theorists, which results in the immensity of definitions.
According to Grellet (1981, p.8 as cited in Mishan 2004, p.13),
“authenticity means that nothing of the original text is changed and also that its
presentation and layout are retained”. In his book, Mishan (2004, p.13)) also cites
some quotations by some well-known experts in the field of authenticity to support
the idea about the originality and the uniqueness of authentic texts.
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Another approach to the understanding of authenticity is suggested by
Rogers and Medley (1988, as cited in Shimoossi & Ketabi 2007, p.150) is that
“authenticity is the naturalness of form, and appropriateness of cultural and
situational context”. However, Chavez (1998, as cited in Shomoossi & Ketabi
2007, p.150) clarifies that authenticity cannot be defined as “anything really
existing in the outside world” since “any text taken out of its original context and
away from its intended audience automatically becomes inauthentic”. In other
words, authenticity is created in the process of bringing an item from the real life
to the users’ situations.
Those definitions are even not detailed enough to persuade the researchers
who refer authenticity to “the acts of authentication by students and their teacher”
(Van Lier 1996, p128, as cited in Mishan 2004, p.15). Two years later, this
opinion by Van Lier was also mentioned in the theoretical base of Bacha’s work as

The issue of authenticity filling the gap in language between classroom and
real life has been recently raised by Adam et al. (2010) as it helps learners
“understand all written or oral materials containing real, not processed language,
produced by a real speaker or for a real audience and in a real situation”.
According to Lebow and Wager (1994, p.3, as cited in Phan 2011, p.26), a
significant job of education is to transfer the production from the stage “knowing
something” to the latter stage “using it when relevant”. Lebow and Wager (1994,
p.3, as cited in Phan 2011, p.26), suggests a reason for the existence of the gap
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between classroom and real world that is the lack of “the contextual features of
real-life problem-solving situations”.
Furthermore, authenticity plays a role in making language lessons more
appealing to students as they have a chance to approach what is really happening
in real life. Having studied in this field, Akar and Yildirim (2000, as cited in Oguz
& Bahar, 2008, p.331) prove that authenticity is an effective way to increase
students’ motivation and thus increase the productivity of language teaching.
Besides, teaching and learning atmosphere can be enhanced by the appearance of
authenticity since the teachers are equipped with relevant “linguistic and structural
basis” (Taylor et al., 2004, as cited in Oguz & Bahar, 2008, p.331).
2.2.3. The classification of authenticity
There are also several ways to classify authenticity since there exist several
orientations to the term authenticity.
Breen, M. (1985 cited in Al-Musallam, 2006) proposes four types of
authenticity which are in continual interrelationship with one another during any
language lesson, including text authenticity, learner authenticity, task authenticity
and situation authenticity
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Table 1. Classification of authenticity according to Breen (1985).
Authenticity of the text or
text authenticity

language classroom

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Another way to classify authenticity is suggested by Philips and Clifton
(2005, p.5), which is illustrated in Figure 1:
Figure 1. Classification of authenticity according to Phillips and Clifton (2005)
2.3. Materials
2.3.1. Definition of materials
Richards and Schmidt (2002, p.333) propose a definition for the term
materials as “anything which can be used by teachers or learners to facilitate the
learning of a language”. This idea is backed up by Tomlinson (2011). Besides, he
lists many sources of materials for language learning and teaching such as “videos,
DVDs, emails, youtube, dictionaries, grammar books, readers, workbooks,
newspaper, live talks by native speakers, instructions given by a teacher, tasks
written on cards or discussions between learners” (Tomlinson, 2011, p.2). While
studying about materials development, he defines materials as “anything which is
used to increase the learners’ knowledge and/or experience of the language.” In
this study, the researcher focuses on authentic materials.
2.3.2. Materials in communicative language teaching
According to Richards (2006), communicative language teaching (CLT)
offers learners communicative competence which older methods such as
audiolingualism and situational language teaching fail to do (p.9). He points out an
approach to language teaching in the 1970s and 1980s that requires teachers to
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“rethink their teaching, syllabuses and classroom materials” (Richards, 2006, p.9).
In other words, materials play a significant role in building up a methodological
base for communicative language teaching.
Richards and Rodgers (1986, as cited in Nguyen, 2006, p.9) divide CLT
materials into three types: text-based, task-based and realia. This research only
focuses on realia materials as it discusses the topic authenticity. While studying

cited in The HKU Scholars Hub, n.d.). After that, Allen et. al (1988, cited in The
HKU Scholars Hub, n.d.) has proved the significance of authentic texts for high
school students. From these studies, it is necessary to appreciate the important role
of authentic materials for learners at many levels.
Secondly, authentic materials are perceived by Brinton (1991, cited in
Oura, n.d.) as an enhancement in exchanging classroom language and real-world
language. Two other researchers in the field of authenticity, Clarke and Silberstein
(1977), have provided favorable arguments on this type of materials: authentic
materials “provide cultural information about the target language” and “exposure
to real language”, “relate more closely to learners’ needs”, and “support a more
creative approach to teaching” (cited in Richards, 2006).
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Later, Nunan (1997) has emphasized the importance of learning with
authentic materials by suggesting the learners “listen and read authentic material
of as many different kinds as possible” (cited in Oura, n.d.).
Besides, Berardo (2006) has shared his personal experience that authentic
materials are more attracting to his students in comparison with the textbooks. The
materials were perceived by his students as “interesting”, “up to date” and
“stimulating”.
2.4.2.2. Problems in using authentic materials
It is undeniable that authentic materials play a significant role in language
teaching and learning nowadays. However, people has been arguing the
disadvantages of using those materials.
Firstly, Guariento and Morley (2001, cited in The HKU Scholars Hub, n.d.)
has claimed that authentic texts may not suit the learners at low levels since those
learners may find them “lexically and syntactically difficult”. Therefore, the use of
these materials sometimes causes learners’ misunderstanding and annoyance.
Another researcher who also emphasized the lexical sophistication of
authentic materials is McCoy (2009). In his study “Using authentic materials:
Keeping it real”, authentic materials were regarded as being more difficult than

3.1. Participants
3.1.1. Population
Speaking presentation is one of speaking activities assigned for students in
English Department who major in teaching. The students have been producing
both group presentations and individual presentations since the first semester of
the first academic year in their university. After six semesters experienced in the
activity, they are qualified enough to be invited to be participants in this study.
Besides, they are experienced in finding and selecting materials from a wide range
of sources with various genres and writing styles. Furthermore, they are aware of
the need for significant and relevant information which help them understand the
authors’ opinions and purposes implied in the materials as well. Moreover, they
are also qualified in using adequate language to express themselves. Therefore, 80
mainstream students and 7 fast-track students in FELTE, ULIS, VNU are capable
of exploiting authentic materials for their speaking presentations and providing the
research with some implications needed for completing this research.
On the other hand, the speaking skill teacher, who has been in charge of
speaking lessons of this group, experienced in teaching and studying the skill. He
also played an important role in instructing students to carry out this activity as
well as analyzing students’ works and consulting them. From the perspective of
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the researcher, this teacher is qualified enough to become a participant of this
study.
3.1.2. Sampling method
For the sake of reliability, the samples were selected purposively by the
researcher. Speaking presentation studied by the researcher is a group activity.
Questionnaires were provided to obtained some quantitative data from the
students. After that, semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the
hidden perceptions behind the superficial information provided in the
questionnaire stage by the students. Both of these data collection instruments were
designed by the researcher and data collection stages took place after the groups

respondents to questionnaires” (McNamara, 1999, cited in Valenzuela &
Shrivastava, 2002). Those researchers shared the same opinion that interview had
the advantage above the other instruments for collecting data. Specifically, it is
necessary for researchers to use interview to exploit the participants’ concerns in a
face-to-face way, especially for the researcher of this study, who aim to discover
the difficulties perceived by the students in a narrow scope.
In this study, the interviews were semi-structured. The researcher decided
to use this type of interviews due to its strengths in making use of interactions and
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exploiting evidences from the interviewers (Dowsett, 1986, as cited in Nguyen,
2007). Besides, by using semi-structured interview, the researcher had an
advantage to “give explanation and ask for clarification if the answer is not clear,
to prompt the respondent to elucidate further if necessary, and to establish his own
style of conversation” (Corbetta, 2003, as cited in Kajornboon, 2004). The
students were interviewed after they had delivered their speaking presentations in
class. After the data in survey questionnaires had been analyzed, one student in
the fast-track group and one student in the main-stream group were invited to the
interviews with the researcher. Both of the interviews with the students were based
on the same list of questions prepared by the researcher beforehand. In the
procedure of each interview, the researcher made the best use of her own
explanation to the interviewee whenever he or she doubted about the questions’
meanings. A teacher, who was in charge of speaking skills in the fast-track group,
was also invited to an interview readily prepared with a different question list from
the students. Besides, any different opinions from expected information received
from the participants were quickly jotted down to ensure the reliability and the
objectivity of this study.
The open-ended questions were used in the interviews for the sake of
thoroughly exploited data. The interviews with both students were carried out in
an informal way due to the fact that both sides, the interviewer and the
interviewees, are students and they are only one-year gap in age. During the

used for answering research question 3. Meanwhile, all of the answers collected
from the students were employed to answer six research questions of this study.
The data collected from the questionnaires and the interviews was analyzed
separately. After that, they were combined together to answer all of the research
questions.
Summary
The chapter has presented the methodology that the researchers applied to
conduct this study. Data was obtained from participants from class 091.E1,
091.E4, 091.E5 and 091.E9 at FELTE, ULIS, VNU with the use of two
instruments, survey questionnaires and interviews. The data was analyzed
carefully to ensure the validity and reliability of the research.
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CHAPTER 4 - RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the previous chapter, the methodology applied to conduct this study has
been thoroughly presented with descriptions and justifications of the choice of
participants, research instruments as well as the process f data collection and
data analysis. In this chapter, all the data will be analyzed and discussed to
answer each research question respectively. Tables, charts and graphs are made
use of for better presentation and elaboration.
It should be noted that: First, each table or figure presents the data for one
question in the survey questionnaire by both main-stream students and fast-track
students. Second, in every pie chart, the circle inside illustrates the data from fast-
track group and the circle outside illustrates the data from main-stream group.

4.1. Research question 1: What are authentic materials as perceived by the
students?
Before the survey questionnaires were delivered to all the students, they
were asked whether they had heard about the term “authentic materials” before.
While all of the students from the fast-track group said “Yes”, there was only a
minority of the main-stream students said so. When being asked about their