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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
NGUYỄN DANH HÀO A STUDY ON USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN TEACHING
ENGLISH IN THE CONTEXT OF BAC GIANG HIGH SCHOOL FOR
GIFTED STUDENTS

(Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng Tài liệu xác thực trong giảng dạy Tiếng Anh tại
ngữ cảnh Trường THPT Chuyên Bắc Giang - Bắc Giang)
MA. MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi, 2010



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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Summary of selected students
Table 2: Authentic materials and frequency
Table 3: Types of authentic materials used
Table 4: Authentic materials and skills
Table 5: Usefulness of authentic materials from students‟ perspective
Table 6: Problems in using authentic materials

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………….
Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………
List of tables ……………………………………………………………………………
Table of contents ………………………………………………………………………
PART A: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………
1. Rationale for the study …………………………………………………………

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2. 2. Research settings …………………………………………………………………
2. 3. Research methods ………………………………………………………………
2. 3.1. Student Questionnaire ……………………………………………………
2. 3.2. Teacher Interview ………………………………………………………….
2. 3.3. Classroom Observation …………………………………………………….
2. 4. Data collection procedure ………………………………………………………
2. 5. Data analysis procedure …………………………………………………………
CHAPTER 3: RESULTS ……………………………………………………………
3. 1. Data description and analysis …………………………………………………
3. 1.1. Research question 1 ………………………………………………………
3. 1.2. Research question 2 ………………………………………………………
3. 1.3. Research question 3 ………………………………………………………
3. 1.4. Research question 4 ………………………………………………………
3. 2 Implications ……………………………………………………………………….

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IV
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PART A: INTRODUCTION
This part provides the rationale for carrying out the research, the aims that need to be
acquired, the scope, the significance as well as the design of the study.
1. Rationale for the study
In recent years, English has become one of the major and compulsory subjects at
schools all over Vietnam. Together with the expansion of teaching and learning this subject,
students today have been aware of its importance. English is believed to be the basic
requirement for anyone who would like to have a good job. Thus, great efforts have been
made to help students learn English better, among which the effort to search for new sources
of materials supporting the process of English teaching and learning has always been
encouraged.
In my observation, using authentic materials as supplementary materials in teaching
and learning English is a good way to increase learners‟ language proficiency.
There are a number of reasons supporting this idea.
In the first place, it is the real situation of teaching and learning English at Bac Giang
High School for Gifted Students, where the research study was carried out. Bac Giang High
School for Gifted Students is among a few schools in Vietnam having the best quality of
foreign language teaching. The students of the school are carefully chosen from all over Bac
Giang province and most of them are assured to have high level of proficiency in English
compared with those in other schools. For this reason, the school curriculum designed for the
textbooks often finishes at the end of the first term. In the second term, it mainly focuses on
developing the students‟ language skills with the help of other supplementary materials. Thus,

2. Aims of the study
In doing the research, the author attempted to address four main issues. Firstly, the
study investigated how authentic materials are used as supplementary materials for English
learning and teaching. Secondly, it examined teachers and students‟ evaluation on the
effectiveness of authentic materials. Thirdly, the study aimed to identify possible problems
when using authentic materials, followed by suggestions to deal with these problems.
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These objectives were accomplished by answering the following research questions:
(1) How are authentic materials used as supplementary materials for English
learning and teaching?
(2) How effective are authentic materials in English learning and teaching?
(3) What are problems in using authentic materials?
(4) What solutions can be suggested to solve the identified problems?
3. Scope of the study
The study mainly focused on exploiting authentic materials as supplementary
materials for English learning and teaching in the context of Bac Giang High School for
Gifted Students. The subjects in the study were restricted to three English specializing classes
ranging from grade 10 to grade 12 and five teachers who directly taught English to these
classes.
4. Significance of the study
It is noteworthy that the study was a great attempt to examine an important issue in
language teaching methodology. Therefore, once finished, it can bring a number of benefits to
involved parties namely students, teachers, educational administrators and researchers of the
related fields.
Teachers and students at Bac Giang High School for Gifted Students are those who
directly benefit from the information the research provides. Teachers will have an overview of
the situation of their own using authentic materials to increase students‟ language proficiency,
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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. 1. Authenticity and authentic materials
1.1.1. Authenticity in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
For many years, there have been many authors discussing the authenticity in language
teaching such as Taylor (1994), Widdowson (1996), Michael Breen (1985). Among these
authors, McDonough and Shaw (1993) have provided the most generalized idea that
authenticity is much defined with the selection of the materials, the activities and methods
teachers use in the classroom. They describe authenticity as the following:
“…. a term which loosely implies as close an approximation as possible to the world
outside the classroom, in the selection both of language material and of the activities and
methods used for practice in the classroom” (cited in Murdoch, 1999).
Authenticity appears to be naturally associated with CLT. According to Richards and
Rodgers (1986: 69), CLT is promoted as an approach to language teaching which supports the
development of learners‟ abilities to use language fluently and meaningfully. Thus, real
communication is considered not only the goal of language teaching but also the tool helping
teachers to achieve the aim.
These authors also stress one of the features of CLT as "learner-centeredness view of
second language teaching". This means that teachers need to create a learner-centered
classroom and engage learners in authentic and meaningful communications that require
meaning negotiations, with the goal to increase comprehensible language input for learners
and expect them to generate more output. In order to do so, teachers should develop methods,
exploit materials, organize activities, and design tasks based on learners' demonstrated needs
of a particular class.
Especially, CLT emphasizes the use of authentic materials in teaching language
(Widdowson, 1996). Authentic materials give learners the opportunity to respond to genuine
communicative needs in real-life situations. This is to help learners develop strategies for

for purposes other than to teach language”, in contrast to non-authentic texts that are
especially designed for language purposes.

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Wallace (1992: 145) defines authentic materials as “…real-life texts, not written for
pedagogic purposes”; they are therefore designed for native speakers while not for language
students and they contain “real” language.
Little et al (1988: 17) also has the same opinion as these authors when he states that
authentic materials are “created to fulfill some social purposes in the language community in
which it was produced”. Similarly, Jordan (1997) refers to authentic texts as texts that are not
written for language teaching purposes.
Obviously, authentic materials are not produced for pedagogic purposes but they can
be and should be introduced into language classrooms generally to help bridge the gap
between classroom knowledge and “a student‟s capacities to participate in real world
events” (Wilkins 1976: 79)
1.1.2.2. Types of authentic materials
Authentic materials are print, video, and audio materials learners encounter in their
daily lives, such as job applications, menus, voice mail messages, radio programs, and videos,
etc. Authentic materials are not created specifically to be used in the classroom, but they
compliment language classes by enlivening the class, providing excellent learning tools for
learners, creating a more positive attitude toward learning and preparing learners for real
communication successfully and effectively.
Many authentic materials can be made use of in foreign language teaching. These
materials can be classified into five categories depending on their characteristics:
(1) Printed Materials: Newspaper articles, song lyrics, restaurant menus, tourist
information brochures, leaflets, receipts, etc.
(2) Audio Materials: Songs, speeches, talks, conversations, audio-taped short stories and
novels, etc.
(3) Visual Materials: Photographs, paintings, postcards, pictures, stamps, stick-figure
drawings, wordless street signs, wordless picture books, posters, etc.

authentic materials. Whether the text appears authentic or not, depends much on how it is
presented to learners. The authentic presentation, by using pictures, diagrams, photographs,
etc helps put the text into the context. This helps learners understand not only the meaning of

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the text better but also how it would be exploited. A more “attractive” text and interesting
ways of introducing it will appeal to learners, grab learners‟ attention and motivate them to
get engaged in the discovery and learning process.
Other factors worth taking into consideration when selecting authentic materials for
the classroom can include whether the text challenges the students‟ intelligence without
making unreasonable linguistic demands, the language reflects written or spoken usage, the
language in the text is natural or it has been distorted to include examples of particular
teaching points or to draw inferences in a particular context.
Above all, selecting authentic materials are supposed to make learners want to read or
listen for themselves, tell themselves something they do not know as well as to introduce new
and relevant ideas to them. Therefore, being aware of different types of authentic materials,
what these materials can offer and how to incorporate them into classrooms is very important
to every language teacher. When selected and used properly in the language environment,
authentic materials may have many benefits for both teachers and learners.
1.2. The use of authentic materials in the classroom.
1.2.1. Reasons for using authentic materials
Authenticity is felt to be significant because it offers learners a sense of the real world,
a chance to “rehearse‟ in a protected situation, hence the less authentic the materials we use,
the less preparation learners make for that real world (McGrath, 2002). Using authentic
materials in foreign language teaching has many advantages as follows:
First, authentic materials have a positive effect on learners‟ motivation. They engage
learners‟ attention in the language being taught. They have a high interest value because of
their relevance to the real world keeping learners informed about what is happening in the
world they live. Therefore, they have an intrinsic educational value (Martinez, 2002). Nuttall
(1996: 172) also states, “Authentic texts can be motivating because they are proof that the

that using authentic materials is an ideal way to contextualize language learning. When used
in class, authentic materials provide learners with the chance to read, rehearse, practice and
use the language via the materials that they can see, examine, touch and listen to. Learners
can enjoy watching their favorite programs in English, following the lyrics of their favorite
songs, viewing the photographs of famous places in the world, participating in a quiz show,
etc. without going to the country where the language they learn is spoken. Spelleri (2002: 3)

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states that authentic materials can help “bridge the gap from the classroom lessons to real life
by making immediate use of classroom lessons in their lives”. Exposing learners to authentic
language can help them develop their predication skills and improve their strategies for
dealing with uncertainty in understanding or using target language.
Finally, authentic materials are available everywhere. A vast amount of materials can
be accessed on the Internet. Teachers can take these materials to the class, integrate the
technology into the class, or even cooperate with learners to access them on the Internet right
in the classroom. Moreover, newspapers and magazines in English are available in the
newsagent‟s and music CDs, movies, documentaries, in the books and music stores. When
putting different types of authentic materials into lessons, teachers can enliven his or her class
with the materials rich in content.
These are the reasons that can make teachers and learners excited and be willing to use
authentic materials in the classrooms, but while using them, it is inevitable that they face
some problems.
1. 2.2. Possible problems in using authentic materials
Despite the above mentioned advantages, several problems should be taken into
consideration while using authentic materials.
The first problem is the complexity of the language. Authentic materials may be too
linguistically difficult for learners to understand outside the language community, thereby
making them inaccessible to learners, especially to beginners or elementary learners. (Matinez
2002; Peacock, 1997). Authentic materials created purposefully for native speakers may
contain unnecessary or/and inappropriate structures and vocabulary items for teaching and


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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
This chapter is intended to define the methodology of the research including features
of the participants, research settings, research instruments, data collection and data analysis
procedures.
2.1. Participants
2.1.1 Students
Although the research focused on teachers‟ job in using authentic materials in teaching
English, students play a no-less-important role as direct beneficiaries, observers and
evaluators of the process. They were primarily selected to do the questionnaire. The number
of students participating in the research was 90. All of them were from three English
specializing classes ranging from grade 10 to grade 12; therefore, their level of proficiency is
comparatively high. Besides, it seems that in the area of learning foreign language, the
number of female students is much bigger than that of male ones. In the study, the former
accounted for approximately 95% whereas the latter made up only 5%. All of them had been
learning English for at least 5 years. Their average score in the previous term ranged from
good (grade over 8.0), fairly good (grade from 6.5 to 7.9) to average & weak (grade below
6.5), which reflected the difference in English competence of the students. These students
were categorized according to their grades & GPA (grade point average). Detailed
information could be seen in the table below:
Table 1: Summary of selected students
Grade
Number of

90
5
85
17
33
40
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2.1.2. Teachers
Since teachers are core subjects of this research, they were deliberately chosen for the
interview session. Five teachers of English (four female and one male), aged from 29 to 49, at
Bac Giang High School for Gifted Students were invited to share their opinion and experience
on the investigated issue. All the teachers were chosen from English specializing classes
where the researcher carried out the questionnaire survey with their students beforehand. Of
the five teachers interviewed, one of them has an M.A. and four of them have an B.A. in
English teaching methodology; one of them has been teaching for 5 years and the rest have
more than 10-year teaching experience. All of them have been teaching English in urban areas
for many years.
Although five was not a very big number compared to the scope of the study, this
quantity hardly affected the richness and depth of information. The researcher benefited from
this selection in the way that he could listen to students‟ opinion and then further verify it with
their own teachers. In other words, double-checking was one technique which could be
employed to enhance the reliability of the research.
2.2. Research settings
The study was carried out at Bac Giang High School for Gifted Students. As the case
in majority of high schools nationwide, English is not only a compulsory subject but also a
largely chosen foreign language among students here. The new emphasis on English resulted
from the fact that for the past few years, the new social and economic settings in Vietnam

However, some challenges have been revealed when authentic materials are put in use,
which draw much attention of the teachers in charge. In order to use authentic materials
effectively, many things should be taken into consideration including both technical
adaptation and supportive attitudes of teachers, learners and education managers.
Thus, in this context, the research was conducted with the hope that the research could
suggest possible solutions to the problems so that authentic materials can be used the most
successfully in the classroom.
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2.3. Research methods
In this study, questionnaire, interview and classroom observation were fully employed.
The combination of these three instruments was expected to triangulate and thus generate
valid and reliable data.
2.3.1. Student Questionnaire (See Appendix 1)
The first data collection method was questionnaire delivered to students. This tool was
widely used in primary research. Wilson and Mc Lean (1994, as cited in Cohen, Manion and
Morrison, 2000: 245) appreciated questionnaire for its outstanding merits including
“providing structured, numerical data, being able to be administered without the presence of
the researcher, and often straightforward to be analyzed”. The advantages of questionnaire
were also recognized by Mackey and Gass (2005: 94) as “being economical and practical
than individual interviews” as “questionnaires in many cases elicit longitudinal information
from learners in a short period of time.”
In this research context, the questionnaire consisted of two main parts. Part 1 collected
the learners‟ personal information (years of learning English, grade and English score of the
previous term). Part 2 was the main content of the questionnaire that was used to deliberately
find the answers to the research questions such as the teachers‟ employment of authentic
materials, the effectiveness of the work, difficulties, and some suggestions. In order to get
sincere opinions and objective assessment, the questionnaire was carefully designed with a

the researcher the opportunity to gather „live‟ data from „live‟ situations”. This merit is
particularly significant in a research where both questionnaires and interviews are also
included. With the use of “over time and repeated observation, the researcher can gain a
deeper and more multilayered understanding of the participants and their content” (Mackey
and Gass 2005: 176).
In the study, the researcher attended three lessons in three English specializing classes
where he carried out the questionnaire survey with the students beforehand. During the
observation, the researcher played the role of a non- participant observer who performed three
main tasks including observing, recording and completing the checklists to support the
answers to the four research questions of the study.

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In conclusion, the combination of the three most common tools namely questionnaire,
interview and classroom observation brought to the researcher a rich amount of valid and
reliable data, the analysis of which would be presented in the next chapter.
2.4. Data collection procedure
To collect data for the study, the researcher did undergo two steps as follows.
Step 1:
Student questionnaires were issued first. Creating good rapports with the participants
and directly monitoring the process of students‟ doing questionnaires helped the researcher
collect 90 from 90 issued copies. Afterwards, five interviews were conducted face to face
with selected teachers of English. Similar to the structures of the questionnaires, every
interview was initiated by a session of sharing personal information, followed by the core
content. While interviewing, the researcher tried the best to take notes and tape-record the
content under the interviewees‟ permission. At times, unclear points were clarified to ensure
the quantity and quality of the collected data. During the interview, the researcher tried to be
flexible in asking supplementary questions to obtain a deeper layer of information.
Step 2:
Classroom observation was conducted in three lessons, the choice of which was not
determined by the researcher himself but on permission. Before the date of observation, a


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CHAPTER 3: RESULTS
This chapter is going to present and discuss the data obtained from the three employed
instruments namely survey questionnaire, interview and classroom observation, which gives
comprehensive answers to the four research questions. Afterwards, based on the findings, the
researcher works out pedagogical implications that might benefit all the concerned.
3.1. Data description and analysis
3.1.1. Research question 1: How are authentic materials used as supplementary
materials for English learning and teaching?
The researcher investigated three major aspects of the issue, namely the frequency of
using authentic materials, types of authentic materials used and the language skills developed
when teachers use authentic materials to teach English in the classroom. The results can be
seen as follows.
 Student questionnaire results
Question 1: The 1
st
question asked the students how frequently their teachers use
authentic materials to teach English in the classroom.
Table 2: Authentic materials and frequency
Frequency