The Use of Authentic Materials for English Language Learning

Alexander Walsh

Contents

Purpose of Study...............................................................................................................................1

Literature Review..............................................................................................................................2

1) History of Authentic Materials...................................................................................................2

2) Defining Authentic Materials.....................................................................................................3

3) The Purpose of Authentic Materials..........................................................................................3

i) Motivation.........................................................................................................................3

ii) Lingua and Cultura Franca................................................................................................4

iii) Listening Skills..................................................................................................................5

Study..................................................................................................................................................6

1) Data Collection..........................................................................................................................6

2) Findings & Discussion................................................................................................................8

Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................11

Bibliography......................................................................................................................................13

Appendix 1 – Student Feedback Form (in English).......................................................................16

Appendix 2 – Teacher Observation Form.....................................................................................17

Purpose of Study

This study compares South Korean high school students’ attitudes and feelings towards the

use of authentic and inauthentic materials in the teaching of listening skills. Literature suggests that

there should be a significant impact on both the motivation for and satisfaction gained from tasks that

utilise authentic instead of inauthentic materials. This suggestion is, however, strongly tied to the use

of communicative methods of language teaching where the goal of instruction is the achievement of

communicative competency (Hymes, 1972). This goal is in sharp contrast to the goals that South

Korean high school students are accustomed to. South Korean students are under huge amounts of

pressure to achieve a perfect (or as close as possible to) score on a single reading and listening exam

(commonly referred to as the University Entrance Exam) designed to test their abilities in grammar

analysis and perceptions of lexical details. Success on this exam is seen as the only path to South

Korea’s top universities. The teaching methods used to prepare South Korean students for this exam

have been a combination of more traditional methods, mainly audio-lingualism and grammar

translation, as these teaching methods have been considered the most suitable in preparing the

students for the nature of the university entrance examination (I discuss this in more depth in, The

reasons for and obstacles in implementing a communicative syllabus in the South Korean public high

school classroom. A study of 4 schools in Seoul and Busan, December 2011).

The South Korean Ministry of Education is now encouraging a transition in the English

language teaching methods and goals towards student achievement of communicative competency.

This transition is being accompanied by the introduction of a supplementary examination system (the

National Entrance Ability Test or ‘NEAT’) that will test students’ communicative ability. Like the current

university entrance examination, the NEAT test will have a significant bearing on the students’ ability

to gain entrance to South Korea’s top universities. Given this change in direction, this study will

explore whether authentic materials can potentially provide a useful resource in helping students

achieve the goal set by the Ministry of Education of having;

[…]The ability to communicate in English, [to] act as an important bridge connecting different countries, and […] be the driving force developing our country by forming trust among various countries and cultures.

(Ministry of Education 2008:41)

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Given the motivation for studying English and the teaching methods South Korean high

school students are accustomed to, this study will, from a student centred perspective, look to

increase our knowledge on whether the theoretical benefits of authentic materials are transferable to a

South Korean high school setting and, therefore, their potential use in achieving the goal set out by

the Ministry of Education (2008). This objective will be met by presenting ten classes of 2nd grade high

school students in Seoul, South Korea, with two lessons, one based on an inauthentic listening

activity and one the following week based on an authentic listening activity. At the end of each lesson

the students will be asked to provide feedback that will indicate their levels of interest in, and

motivation with, the materials used. The student feedback will be supplemented by observation sheets

filled in by a South Korean teacher auditing the class. These will provide further feedback on student

participation and material suitability.

The implications of this research are important not only for material designers in the South

Korean education system, but also for those in similar educational systems that are currently aiming

to transform their educational systems towards a communicative syllabus. Such systems include

China, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and other East Asian countries (Wang, 2002; Carless, 2004;

Anderson, 1993).

Literature Review

1) History of Authentic Materials

The appreciation of the benefits authentic materials can provide language learners in the

‘modern era’ of English language teaching (ELT) were documented as far back as the late nineteenth

century:

The great advantage of natural, idiomatic texts over artificial ‘methods’ or ‘series’ is that they do justice to every feature of the language.

(Sweet 1899:177)

Despite the early recognition of the benefits that authentic materials provide, the increasing popularity

of methods such as ‘grammar translation’ and the ‘audio-lingual’ method lead to their declined use

throughout the twentieth century. Authentic materials re-emergence came due to the concept of

‘communicative competency’ (Hymes, 1972) and communicative language teaching which

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emphasised the need for contextualised communication as the goal of language learning and

teaching. What followed was a complex web of definitions as to what exactly authentic materials

consist of, as well as the benefits they provide language learners and the problems associated with

their classroom use.

2) Defining Authentic Materials

Before engaging in a meaningful discussion on the use of authentic materials in ELT, we must

unpack the definition of exactly what we mean by ‘authentic materials’. Literature on this topic leads to

a number of attempts to define what we mean by authentic materials, ranging from Morrow (1977:13),

who defined “authentic text [as] a stretch of real language, produced by a real speaker or writer for a

real audience and designed to convey a real message of some sort” to items designed for native

speakers of English, not language students (Hwang, 2005) and materials which fulfilled a social or

communicative purpose in the community (Filice and Sturino, 2002). For the basis of this research I

would like to define authentic materials as ‘materials created for non-teaching purposes that expose

students to the real language, cultures, social situations and language styles they are likely to

encounter when engaging in actual language use outside of the classroom’. I have chosen this

definition to incorporate the various aspects of authentic materials that I feel are important in the

following discussion of their learning purpose and that directly relate to their potential use in achieving

the goals set out by the Ministry of Education (2008).

3) The Purpose of Authentic Materials

The benefits of using authentic materials are well documented throughout the significant

literature. Shu-Chin Su (2009), for example, identifies at least eighteen different types of benefits that

authentic materials provide both teachers and students. To present a concise review of the theory

which I feel is most relevant to this research, I will concentrate my discussion on three main strands of

potential benefits authentic materials provide; motivation, exposure to lingua & cultura franca and for

the teaching of listening skills, as these are most relevant to the students this study will focus on.

i) Motivation

Many theorists propose that authentic materials are intrinsically more motivating than

inauthentic materials. Following the documented observation of her students, Hwang (2005:5)

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observes that “after a few years of exposure and activation as such [to authentic materials], my

students feel empowered by seeing ‘the woods’ rather than ‘the trees’”. Reasons given for this intrinsic

motivation include the gratification of being treated as mature adults (Shrum & Glisa, 1994), the fact

they are stimulating and informative (Mindt, 1996), their relevance to learners mind sets (Hwang,

2005) and that they make students feel as though they are learning the ‘real’ language (Guariento &

Morley, 2001).

Despite the abundance of reasons as to why authentic materials are intrinsically motivating, it

seems that there has been little attempt to gain objective feedback from students as to whether they

feel more motivated by the use of authentic materials or not. As Peacock (1997:144) points out, “the

large number of assertions that this is or is not the case [authentic materials being intrinsically

motivating] have not yet been sufficiently tested”. Gilmore (2007:107) goes on to state that empirical

evidence for any of these claims is scarce. Given this lack of evidence from the learners themselves, it

is questionable as to how we can justify the use of authentic materials in a high pressure and high

stakes context such as South Korea, where students learning styles are so ingrained with a non-

communicative grammar-led teaching style. The issues arising from lack of student centred evidence

is one this study will attempt to directly address.

ii) Lingua and Cultura Franca

Recent literature has begun to identify the use of English as a global language and, in doing

so, has questioned what is meant by ‘authentic’ English. It is suggested that, by exposing our students

to authentic materials exhibiting their most likely use of the English language (from one non-native

speaker to another non-native speaker), we are maximising their chances of being both understood

and understanding the other speaker in these communicative situations. It is also argued that

authentic materials can help to avoid culturally loaded language (Prodromou, 1996) and linguistic

imperialism which is often found in textbooks (Phillipson, 1992; Pennycock, 1994). Students’ ability to

understand various forms of English is imperative if they are to meet the goal set out by the Ministry of

Education that English should be “an important bridge connecting [South Korea with] different

countries” (Ministry of Education, 2008:41).

As is the case with claims that authentic materials are intrinsically motivating, there is a

significant lack of research to back up the above claims. Even if the literature is correct in its

Page | 6 of 17

assumption that authentic materials significantly contribute towards maximising students chances of

both being understood and understanding others, there is no apparent direct link between this benefit

and an increase in students’ interest or motivation. In fact, contrary to the above information, it has

even been suggested that as authentic materials are harder to understand they may reduce student

motivation (Prodromou, 1996), a problem that may be amplified if the authentic materials, such as

those used in this study, feature non-native speakers. One piece of research by Timmis (2002) across

fourteen different countries found that, even with students who were learning English with the

knowledge that they would be using the language to communicate with other non-native speakers,

there was a desire and preference for materials containing native speakers. Within the context this

research is concerned with (young South Koreans routinely exposed to American culture and

language through mass media) problems such as those highlighted by Timmis (2002) could limit

student motivation and interest in experiencing other forms of English and therefore their ability to use

the language as a communicational bridge with other countries, as the Ministry of Education (2008)

desires.

iii) Listening Skills

Looking more specifically at the use of authentic materials in developing students’ listening

skills, Porter & Roberts (1981) describe an unrealistic match between the characteristics of the

language that we expose our students to and the language we expect them to produce. They believe

that this is a major cause of a problem all too often experienced by students whereby they can

produce the language in the classroom but they struggle to transfer these skills to communicational

situations outside of the classroom. Porter & Roberts (1981) argue that to help our students cope with

this mismatch, we must expose them to authentic speech they are likely to encounter in real life.

Linguists such as Sacks, Schegloff & Jefferson (1974) specifically identify the ability of authentic

listening materials to train students’ awareness of the methods used in casual conversation to

manage discourse and build relationships. Field (1998) and Carter & McCarthy (2006) further develop

this benefit by highlighting specific aspects of spoken discourse featured in ‘real’ conversation, these

include hesitations, false starts, filled and empty pauses, etc. as well as the recognition of transition

relevance places, employing ‘topic shading’ to maintain coherency, subtly moving conversation

toward the direction one wants it to go and using discourse markers to signal the relevance of their

speech to the conversation. Such differences between authentic and inauthentic speech have been

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supported by numerous empirical studies (see Myers Scottson & Bernson, 1988; Wong, 1984 for

further examples).

Theoretically speaking, authentic materials can provide South Korean students with the

necessary exposure to linguistic features which textbooks lack, thus helping their achievement in the

communicative ability that the South Korean education system has recently begun to seek. However,

in a learning culture that has for so long been focused on a teaching style that does not practice, and

an examination system that does not utilise the above skills, it is questionable as to whether South

Korean students will be motivated enough to take advantage of such benefits (an issue this research

will look to directly address).

Study

1) Data Collection

This study aims to test the experimental hypotheses ‘when authentic materials are used

levels of on task motivation and participation will increase’. The data was collected from 250 students

as part of routine feedback regularly collected from students at a High School in Seoul, South Korea.

Two Korean teachers who, along with a native English speaking teacher, teach the ten classes

involved with this study, filled in observation forms during the classes to supplement the feedback

provided by the students.

The school was selected due to its ease of access and eagerness to participate in the study.

Permission was confirmed in writing with the head of the English department and the two Korean

teachers participating in the study. The high school that participated in this study is a privately funded,

student-selective high school. This means the students participating in the study can be considered of

a higher academic level than average South Korean students. The lesson which the students and

teachers would base their feedback on had to fit in with the syllabus of the conversational English

language programme, which requires that all students take the same lessons. Bearing this in mind, it

was decided the most effective approach would be to create two separate lessons covering the

different topics that were required as part of the syllabus. One lesson was based on an inauthentic

listening task and the other an authentic listening task. Every student would take each lesson over a

Page | 8 of 17

two week period and, as usual, in the last five minutes of each lesson they would fill in feedback

forms, (see appendix 1) the feedback forms were on this occasion modified for the study. To support

the student feedback South Korean teachers were also asked to fill in closed question observation

forms (see appendix 2) measuring student participation levels and material suitability. To ensure

maximum validity, the students were reassured that there answers would be kept anonymous, both on

an individual and class level, that they should focus their answers specifically on the listening task, not

the theme of the lesson and that their answers should in no way reflect their feelings towards their

teacher.

The inauthentic materials consisted of a conversation between two native speakers

discussing a job application that was specifically made and recorded for use in an EFL classroom.

The authentic materials, meanwhile, consisted of the voice over from a video about environmental

concerns, which contained a range of both native and non-native accents.

The questionnaires were adapted from those used by Peacock (1997) who also assessed the

effect authentic materials had on students’ motivation and participation in South Korea. His research,

however, was conducted on beginner level University students. Due to time constraints, it would not

have been possible to conduct a pilot study, so using a template that had already been deemed

successful was the next logical step to take in ensuring maximum validity. The student questionnaire

consisted of seven closed items on a semantic differential scale of adjectives expressing motivation.

The teachers’ questionnaire, meanwhile, assessed levels of learner interest, enthusiasm, activity,

persistence with the learning task, concentration, and enjoyment during class, with each item scored

on a scale of one (low) to five (high).

Student participation and motivation levels when completing the listening tasks should

indicate whether exposure to authentic listening materials is considered to be of either benefit or

interest to them. This will allow further exploration as to whether the use of authentic materials could

be increased in South Korean English classrooms to help students in achieving both cross-cultural

communication skills and listening strategies. Theory suggests that these benefits of authentic

materials will help students deal with the English they are likely to encounter in actual language use

outside the classroom and, therefore, also meet the objectives set out by the Ministry of Education

(2008).

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Both the method used to select participants and the questionnaire used to gather data

present a number of issues regarding validity. Firstly, only one school participated in the presented

research and the said school cannot be considered as representative of South Korea in general due

to both its location in one of the most prestigious areas in Seoul, South Korea, and its selective

entrance policy. It could be that lower level students in rural areas would have very different

responses to the use of authentic materials, especially considering that they are less likely to have

had as much exposure to other cultures, possibly affecting their motivation to understand ‘authentic’

English.

The nature of the survey could also have affected the validity of the results. Although the

survey was presented to the students in both English and Korean, it is possible that the students

could have misunderstood the relation between the adjectives and the materials. To try and alleviate

this potential problem, a South Korean co-teacher was available in the classroom for students to ask

questions to (no student, however, took advantage of this). This issue could have been alleviated by

asking follow up questions to a sample of students in the form of informal interviews, then cross

checking their answers with their survey feedback. However, due to time constraints, this was not

possible. There is also the very real possibility that the students’ feelings toward the teacher could

affect the results. This was not, however, considered a serious concern as it would not affect the

difference between their feelings towards authentic and inauthentic materials due to having had the

same teacher for both lessons. Finally, it is important to realise that one topic could be intrinsically

more motivating regardless of whether or not authentic materials are used.

2) Findings & Discussion

Overall, the results from the learner questionnaires indicate a significant difference in self-

reported learner motivation when using authentic materials. The mean score given when using

authentic materials was 4.79 out of 7 compared to 3.98 when using inauthentic materials. This pattern

was upheld in every motivational indicator.

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Interesting EnjoyableMeaningful Exciting Satisfying Appealing Absorbing Average0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

4.90 4.775.28

4.454.84 4.90 4.72 4.79

4.12 4.00 4.153.73 4.05 3.94 3.89 3.98

Student Motivation

AuthenticInauthentic

Figure 1. Learner questionnaires mean score for all learners

The above results support the theoretical literature that predicts authentic materials will be

more motivational than inauthentic materials. They do, however, run contrary to previous research

conducted in South Korea that concludes “no significant difference in self-reported learner motivation

when learners used authentic materials” (Peacock 1997:150). This difference is explicable in a

number of ways; first of all, this research was conducted on high level South Korean students, the

previous research was conducted on low level students. This difference potentially reignites the

question posed by Widdowson (1998) as to whether authentic materials are more suitable for high

level than low level learners. Time could also present an important explanation; over the past 15

years, South Korea has made significant progress in increasing the amount of intercultural contact

students’ experience. It is almost certain that every South Korean student will have had a native

English speaking teacher at some point in their school career and, meanwhile, South Korea has seen

a massive increase in its exposure to foreign media. If time is a responsible factor for the change in

attitude students hold towards authentic materials it presents a very important opportunity for the

increased use of authentic materials in South Korean English classrooms.

Further, these results indicate that South Korean students are open to, and potentially even

motivated by, the use of authentic materials that contain non-native English. However, to confirm this,

further research would need to be carried out comparing student attitudes towards authentic materials

featuring native speakers and authentic materials featuring non-native speakers. This can, however,

still be considered an important finding as it shows that authentic materials present a viable method to

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prepare students for the lingua and cultura franca they are likely to encounter with English use outside

of the classroom. These results also show that authentic materials both interest and motivate South

Korean high school students to a level where by they can be used to develop students listening skills

to deal with the aspects of authentic speech Field (1998), Sacks, Scheldoff & Jefferson (1974) and

Carter & McCarthy (2006) identify. These results strongly suggest authentic materials could be used

to achieve the targets set out by the Ministry of Education (2008).

The South Korean teachers’ observation forms present a very different pattern to the

students. Their observations, in many ways, directly contradict the feedback provided by the students.

Involve

ment

Concentra

tion

Enjoym

ent

Attention

Effort

Interest

Challen

ging

Appropria

te0.000.501.001.502.002.503.003.504.004.505.00

3.17 3.33 3.17 3.333.00 2.83

3.504.00

3.673.33 3.17

3.50 3.502.83

2.67

3.83

South Korean Teachers' Perception of Student Motivation and Material Appropriateness

AuthenticInauthentic

Figure. 2 South Korean teachers’ perception of student motivation and material appropriateness.

The South Korean teachers’ observation forms indicate that they perceive the students as being less

motivated during authentic listening tasks compared to inauthentic listening tasks. They did, however,

indicate that they felt the authentic materials were more appropriate for the students than the

inauthentic materials. The difference between the students’ self-reported motivation and interest

levels and the South Korean teachers’ perception of their motivation and interest levels is difficult to

explain. One possible reason is that the teachers’ pre-conceptions of what they believe interests the

students may have influenced their judgement. There were only two South Korean teachers involved

with the study, representing a very small sample size, meaning that if even one participant was

strongly influenced by their pre-conceived notions, it could have had a big impact on the results.

Page | 12 of 17

Involve

ment

Concentra

tion

Enjoym

ent

Attention

Effort

Interest

Challen

ging

Appropria

te0

0.51

1.52

2.53

3.54

4.55

2.75 3 2.75 3 2.75 2.53

3.75

4.00 3.67 3.67 3.67 3.333.67

4.674.33

South Korean Teachers' Individual Observations of Authentic Mater-ials

Teacher 1 Authentic

Teacher 2 Authentic

Figure 3. South Korean Teachers’ Observations of Student Interest and Motivation When Using Authentic Materials

Comparing the South Korean teachers’ observation forms shows a stark difference between the

observations of the two teachers; this could potentially explain why the observations of the South

Korean teachers are so different to the feedback provided by the students.

Conclusion

Despite having a curriculum which identifies students’ communicative abilities as its chief

concern, the current pressure to prepare students for an examination system that does not test their

communicative ability has created a gulf between these expectations and what is actually occurring in

English language classrooms in South Korea.

The students’ results show a high level of motivation for, and interest in, authentic materials.

This indicates that authentic materials can be utilised as a useful tool in helping to bridge this gulf and

help students to achieve the target of being able to “act as an important bridge connecting different

countries” (Ministry of Education, 1998). This pattern does not, however, correlate with the South

Korean teachers’ perceptions of student motivation and participation. Although the students indicate a

positive attitude towards authentic materials, the feedback provided by the South Korean teachers

highlights pre-conceptions of student attitudes that may present an obstacle in getting more authentic

materials into South Korean classrooms. If South Korean teachers do not believe students are

motivated or interested in the use of authentic materials they may be reluctant to use them in class.

To overcome this, the Ministry of Education will need to provide the teachers with adequate support in

the form of training and resources to help with the effective implementation of authentic materials.

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Although this research presents a useful insight into the attitudes of South Korean high school

students towards authentic materials, there is an absolute need for further research. This study only

focuses upon levels of student interest and motivation and material appropriateness. It shows the

potential for authentic materials to be used in increasing motivation, improving students

communicative competency and furthering students listening skills, as research indicates they have

the potential to do. This study has not looked to present any evidence as to the extent to which

authentic materials actually do improve these skills, especially in this teaching context. This presents

a necessary avenue for further research to explore the effectiveness of authentic materials in South

Korean English classrooms. It is also important to note that this study is relatively narrow in its

selection of participants. These participants were high level high school students, younger or lower

level students may have given very different feedback. Given this, further research is required that will

allow an effective evaluation as to what stage in learners development authentic materials can be best

utilised in the South Korean education system.

To conclude, this study has provided initial support for the use of authentic materials in South

Korean high school classrooms, however further research is needed to fully explore the effect

authentic materials have on the development of communicative competency in the South Korean

English classroom.

Page | 14 of 17

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Appendix 1 – Student Feedback Form (in English)

Teaching materials: Listening Activity

Do not write your name on this sheet. Fill it out and give it back to your teacher.

The purpose of this questionnaire is to assess the value of the above teaching materials which were used in class today, not to assess the performance of you or your teacher.

This is not a test. There are no right and wrong answers; we want your own ideas and impressions.

Please mark ONE 'X' on each scale to show how you rate the following concepts. Use the scales as follows:

If the word at either end of the scale very strongly describes your ideas and impressions about the concept, you would place your checkmark as shown below:

boring _x_:___:___:___:___:___:___ interesting or

boring ___:___:___:___:___:___:_x_ interesting

If the word at either end of the scale describes somewhat your ideas and impressions about the concept (but notstrongly so), you would place your checkmark as follows:

boring ___:_x_:___:___:___:___:___ interesting or

boring ___:___:___:___:___:_x_:___ interesting

If the word at the end of the scale only slightly describes your ideas and impressions about the concept, you wouldplace your checkmark as follows:

boring ___:___:_x_:___:___:___:___ interesting or

boring ___:___:___:___:_x_:___:___ interesting

Mark ONE 'X' on each line

The listening activity was:

boring __:__:__:__:__:__:__ interesting

enjoyable __:__:__:__:__:__:__ unenjoyable

meaningless __:__:__:__:__:__:__ meaningful

exciting __:__:__:__:__:__:__ dull

unsatisfying __:__:__:__:__:__:__ satisfying

unappealing __:__:__:__:__:__:__ appealing

absorbing __:__:__:__:__:__:__ monotonous

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Appendix 2 – Teacher Observation Form

Date _________How many students in the class? ____________Time of classType of materials (circle one): artificial/authentic

Observation focus Levels of student motivation generated by the teaching materials in use. 3 is an average mark for any one item.

Instructions1 This sheet is for observing the class as a whole, not individual students.

2 Complete this sheet when the activity is drawing to a close.

3 Circle ONE number for each statement below.

4 Add final comments at the bottom of the sheet if you wish.

1 Mark how involved in the learning task the students are.not very involved 1 2 3 4 5 very involved

2 Mark the level of student concentration on the learning task.low 1 2 3 4 5 high

3 The students are enjoying the activity.not really 1 2 3 4 5 very much so

4 The students are paying persistent (extended) attention to the learning task.not really 1 2 3 4 5 very much so

5 Mark the students' activity level (effort/intensity of application).low 1 2 3 4 5 high

6 The students find the teaching materials interesting.not really 1 2 3 4 5 very much so

7 The materials in use are challenging for the students.not really 1 2 3 4 5 very much so

8 The materials in use are appropriate for the students.not really 1 2 3 4 5 very much so

Comments:

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