UNIVERSIDAD NACIONALSede Región Chorotega

Campus Liberia

Bachelor’s Degree in Teaching English

Seminario de Innovación, Investigación de Campo en Inglés y Producción Educativa

Group 64

Research Paper

The Use of Authentic Materials in the Process of English

Learning in the Four Skills with Ninth Level Teachers

and Students at Miguel Araya Venegas High School

Students:

Marisol Milanés Matamoros

Randall Alvarado Navarro

Professors:

M.Ed. Saray Elena Loáiciga Brenes

M.Ed. Johanna Rodriguez Hernández

II Semester, 2008

General Index

Content Page

Chapter I

1. Introduction..............................................................................................................1

1.1 Antecedents...........................................................................................................3

1.2 Justification............................................................................................................4

1.3 Theme:...................................................................................................................7

1.4 Problem:................................................................................................................7

1.5 Objectives..............................................................................................................7

1.5.1 General Objective............................................................................................7

1.5.2 Specific Objectives:.........................................................................................7

Chapter II

2. Theoretical Framework............................................................................................9

2.1. Natural Approach..............................................................................................9

2.1.1. Learner Roles...........................................................................................10

2.1.2. Teacher Roles..........................................................................................11

2.1.3. The Role of Institutional Materials............................................................11

2.2. Second Language Acquisition Theory.............................................................12

2.2.1. The Acquisition–Learning Hypothesis:.....................................................12

2.2.2. The Monitor Hypothesis:...........................................................................12

2.2.3. The Natural Order Hypothesis:.................................................................13

2.2.4. The Input Hypothesis:...............................................................................13

2.2.5. The Affective Filter Hypothesis:................................................................13

2.3. Constructivism Learning Theory......................................................................13

2.3.1. Constructivist theory.................................................................................14

2.3.2. The nature of the learner..........................................................................14

2.3.3. The role of the instructor...........................................................................16

2.3.4. The nature of the learning process...........................................................16

2.4. What is intelligence?.......................................................................................18

2.5. Authentic Materials..........................................................................................20

2.5.1. The Use of the Authentic Materials...........................................................21

2.5.3. Task..........................................................................................................25

2.5.4. Advantages of Using Authentic Materials.................................................27

2.5.5. Why should I use Authentic Materials in my Classroom?.........................28

2.5.6. How do I Get Authentic Materials?...........................................................29

ii

2.5.7. How do I Use Authentic Materials?...........................................................30

2.5.8. Using Authentic Materials: At Which Level?.............................................30

2.6. Teacher’s Role................................................................................................34

2.7. Student’s Role.................................................................................................36

Chapter III

3. Institutional Framework and Methodology.............................................................39

3.1 Institutional Framework....................................................................................39

3.2 Methodology.....................................................................................................40

3.2.1. Paradigm..................................................................................................40

3.2.2. Type of Study: Qualitative Approach:.......................................................40

3.2.3. Population and Sample.............................................................................41

3.2.4. Instrumentation and Data Collection.........................................................41

Chapter IV

4. Presentation Analysis and Discussion................................................................44

4.1. Relevant aspects of the institution and the English classroom.....................44

4.1.1. Condition of the institution......................................................................44

4.1.2. Use of Authentic Materials and Didactic Materials.................................44

4.2. Educative Relevance of the Authentic Materials...........................................45

4.2.1. Authentic Materials Definition.................................................................45

4.2.2. Materials done inside the English classroom during the year................46

4.2.3. Importance of the activities....................................................................47

4.3. Activities using Authentic Materials..............................................................48

4.3.1. Playing “Guess what it is”.......................................................................48

4.3.2. Playing “Big Bingo”.................................................................................49

4.3.3. Playing “Find the Treasure.....................................................................50

Chapter V

5. Conclusion, Limitations and Recommendations.................................................53

5.1. Conclusion......................................................................................................53

5.2. Limitations.......................................................................................................54

5.3. Recommendations..........................................................................................55

Bibliography...............................................................................................................57

Annexes.....................................................................................................................58

Charts Index

iii

Content Page

Chart #1. Multiple Intelligences Activities

Chart #2. Survey’s most common

answers

Chart #3. Frequent activities

Chart #4. Guessing

Chart #5. Bingo

Chart #6. Find the treasure

19

45

46

48

49

50

Pictures Index

Content Page

iv

Pictures of the institutionFigure N.1: Old ShieldFigure N.2: High School entranceFigure N.3: Civic activities (Gym)Figure N.4: Mathematics classroomsFigure N.5: Condition of a classroomFigure N.6: Gym condition Figure N.7: Cafeteria Figure N.8: Main hallwayPictures of the English classrooms and groupsFigure N.1: English classroomFigure N.2: English classroomFigure N.3: 9-3 playing GuessingFigure N.4: 9-3 playing GuessingFigure N.5: 9-3 playing BingoFigure N.6: 9-3 playing BingoFigure N.7: 9-5 playing GuessingFigure N.8: 9-5 playing GuessingFigure N.9: 9-5 playing BingoFigure N.10: 9-5 playing BingoPictures of the Authentic MaterialsFigure N.1Figure N.2Figure N.3Figure N.4Figure N.5Figure N.6Figure N.7Figure N.8Figure N.9Figure N.10

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v

1. Introduction

Chapter I

Costa Rica is facing a severe change in our young students, those who are at

high school. They are totally different than the ones from five or ten years ago. Those

changes are caused by many factors like fashion, globalization, new way of thinking

and so on. For that reason, many teachers do not satisfy their needs, probably

because some of them are not aware of the changes they are facing. So, they still

doing techniques of old school, but, the point here is that these new generations of

students, get bored with those old techniques. They do not interest about any

subject, especially English.

Unfortunately, when we refer about globalization, this subject called English

gets importance. Many transnational companies are hiring people able to work for

them, of course, these people must be bilingual. But, that is the big issue; some

public High Schools are not giving got English inside their classrooms. They do not

have teachers capable of prepare people in a second language.

For that reason, the Educational Ministry (M.E.P.) is trying to change this

situation. It is hiring well prepared teachers, in order to they can prepare those

students and they can face the world by themselves. Also, the M.E.P. is trying to

change some techniques some teachers are using inside their classrooms. This

ministry wants teachers make a comfortable and fun classes, in order to catch

students’ attention and they can have a better learning process of the language.

It is known that this problem is kind of hard to fix it but little by little, it can be

done. Some ideas are already planned and put in practice. Some universities are

helping this governmental institution in the preparation and capacitating some

teachers, also, some of the public universities have project that help students and

teachers at the same time.

A good example of what it was said previously, the Universidad Nacional,

Campus Liberia, has a project called Esperanza Jóven, in which helps students from

far away High Schools.

Also, the group of English is taken projects in which help in the quality of the

language learning. This project is an innovation that wants to help ninth level

students in their learning process. The idea of this innovation is to mix the authentic

materials with the topics they have to study, in order to know if these kinds of

materials are useful in the process and if they help students to learn a second

language. Those materials are going to be combined with different techniques in

order to get a comfortable and easy learning.

2

1.1 Antecedents

In the process of searching of resources related to this investigation, it could be

seen that there are some studies and projects that were done.

Some authors of the studies have referred to the topic of Authentic Materials as

part of the constructivist approach that wants to avoid some techniques from old

school and adapt and put in practice new and innovator activities that facilitate the

learning process students have with the language. For example, Sasha Antony

Berardo explains how teachers can use the Authentic Materials inside the English

class.

On the other hand, it can be found that there are some important information

about this topic, for example, Philips and Shettlesworth 1978; Clarke 1989; Peacock

1997, cited in Richards, all these authors mention that the use of Authentic Materials

is so important because they provide exposure to real language and relate more

closely to learners ' needs.

Finally, there is an investigation that was done by a professor of the Universidad

Nacional-Sede Regional Chorotega, Campus Liberia, in which she explained the

different uses that a teacher can give to these kinds of materials inside the English

class in order to improve students’ knowledge and increase the motivation for this

subject. Fortunately, many useful materials could be found and in this way, they can

help teachers and students inside the classrooms. Those elements were not created

with the educational purpose, but if they are used with that objective, they will be a

good facilitator of getting knowledge and easiness of the learning.

3

1.2 Justification

Actually, our scholar system is facing some problems that affect everybody who

is included in it. The lack of professional is one of these problems. Our schools are in

the search of teachers that really teach and treat the students correctly. English is

one of the most affected subjects right away, because the M.E.P (Ministerio de

Educación Pública) hires people with some English knowledge, without caring about

the pedagogical part. For this reason, they do not know how to teach in a class and

how to handle a group.

It is important that each teacher can use several techniques in order to teach, in

that way, students will not feel bored, unmotivated, wasting the time going to classes

that do not bring knowledge, and so on. In addition, the responsibility of the teachers

is to look for interesting activities that can persuade, and change the attitude of the

students, so, they will feel totally motivated and interested to learn something new

that could help in the future, because this world is changing in a fast way day by day.

Right now, we can see that any important job is looking for bilingual people. So, if

somebody wants to get hired in an important work, the first requirement the company

asks is a second language, in this case English.

For that essential and significant reason, the importance to apply some

techniques and activities using authentic materials inside the English classes at High

Schools, in order, the students could learn in a better and faster way, instead of only

read books, copies or doing the same daily and habitual activities.

4

In the particular case, this idea of the implementation of the new activities using

Authentic Materials is going to help the students of eight and ninth level of the Miguel

Araya Venegas High School. This project not only helps the students but the

teachers too because the main purpose of it is the interaction of students and

teachers with the different authentic materials and the use they can give to them in

order to get in a better way the language and learn faster and could improve it too.

Therefore, the realization of this project resolves the big problem of

understanding and knowledge that some students have with English. It gives the

possibility to change the perspective and ideas of what English is. So, students will

not see English as other boring subject at High School and they only have to pass it

in order to pass the year. The idea is that students get interested in the language and

could have more opportunities of job in the future and take off the fears.

In addition, this investigation and innovation tries to avoid some aspects that

obstruct the learning process of the students. In this research, the main theory that is

included and worked is the Multiple Intelligences theory of Howard Gardner. So, it

tries to demonstrate the different ways a student can learn a language by the use of

the authentic materials that become an excellent tool to improve the knowledge.

For that reason, some instruments are applied in order to get important

information about the interaction students have with the different kind of activities

with the authentic materials. Thus, explanations of what Authentic Materials is

necessary in order to students do not feel a little bit lost. Then, the interaction of the

students and teacher with these kinds of materials with the purpose to look the

5

reaction they have when they get in contact with the different materials and activities

in the different topics they are studying.

Furthermore, the realization of this investigation and project is possible because

the materials that teachers and students use are going to be found in the web and

other contacts like professors, teachers and classmates that work in different t places

like Africa Mia Zoo, the Liberia’s airport and rent a car companies. With the time, it is

possible because it is already scheduled with the days and the weeks the

investigators go the institution.

It was already said that the investigation takes place in the High School of

Cañas town, specifically with three groups of eight and ninth level, in the area of

English; in which the first is in conversational English and the last two are in

academic English. So, this aspect gives the stretched relation between the research

and the career because we as future English teachers, our purpose is to change the

way this subject is taught in some institutions, by using other techniques and different

materials.

6

1.3 Theme: The Use of Authentic Materials in the process of English Learning in

the Four Skills with Eighth and Ninth Level Teachers and Students at Miguel

Araya Venegas High School

1.4 Problem: How do High School English teachers and students apply and

approach Authentic Materials inside the classroom?

1.5 Objectives

1.5.1 General Objective: To discover if High School English teachers really use

Authentic Materials inside the classroom to approach the resources in the teaching

process.

1.5.2 Specific Objectives:

1. To explain the different kind of Authentic Materials that can be used in High

School.

2. To look for the correct Authentic Materials that can be used inside the

classroom in order to the teaching process will be easier.

3. To analyze if Authentic Materials are really approached for teachers into

classes.

4. To find out how students feel when teachers use Authentic Materials.

7

8

Chapter II

2. Theoretical Framework

In this part of the investigation, it is going to be explained some theories and

some important concepts that have to be taken into account in the use of the

authentic materials, in order to look for the relationship that the theories have with the

techniques and activities that are going to be done, too.

Before we start talking about what Authentic Materials are, it is very important to

mention and know some concepts that have a stretched relationship with the

application of those kinds of materials inside the class and the learning process our

students face at high school.

2.1. Natural Approach

According to Krashen and Terrell, the Natural Approach is believed to conform

to the naturalistic principles found in successful second language acquisition. In this

kind of approach, there is an emphasis on exposure, or input, rather than practice,

optimizing emotional preparedness for learning; a prolonged period of attention to

what the language learners hear before they try to produce language.

The natural Approach is similar to other communicative approaches. They reject

earlier methods of language teaching, such as the Audio lingual Method. In addition,

this approach is designed to develop basic communication skills – both oral and

written. Also, the communication goals may be expressed in terms of situations,

functions and topics.

9

The goals of Natural Approach class are based on an assessment of

student needs. We determine the situations in which they will use the

target language and the sorts of topics they will have to communicate

information about. In setting goals, we do not expect the students at

the end of a particular course to have acquired a certain group of

structures or forms. Instead, we expect them to deal with a particular

set of topics in a given situation. We do not organize the activities of

the class about grammatical syllabus. (Krashen and Terrell, portfolio,

Introduction to a Second Language course)

2.1.1. Learner Roles

They are seen to change according to their stage of linguistic development.

The pre – production stage

Early – production stage

Speech – emergent phase

The Pre – Production Stage: Students participate in the language activity

without having to respond in the target language.

Early – Production Stage: Students respond to either-or question, use single

words and short phrases, fill in charts, and use fixed conversational patterns.

Speech – Emergent Phase: Students involve themselves in role play and

games, contribute personal information and opinions, and participate in group

problem solving.

10

Learners have four kinds of responsibilities in the Natural Approach classroom:

1. Provide information about their specific goals.

2. Take an active role in ensuring comprehensible input.

3. Decide when to start producing speech and when to upgrade it.

4. Where learning exercises are to be part of the program.

2.1.2. Teacher Roles

First, the teacher is the primary source of comprehensible input in the target

language, so, it is the primary generator of that input. Second, the teacher creates a

classroom atmosphere that is interesting, friendly, and in which there is a low

affective filter for learning. Finally, the teacher must choose and orchestrate a rich

mix of classroom activities, involving a variety of group sizes, content, and contexts.

2.1.3. The Role of Institutional Materials

The primary goal of material in the Natural Approach is to make classroom

activities as meaningful as possible by supplying the extra linguistic context that

helps the acquirer to understand and thereby to acquire by relating classroom

activities to the real world.

Moreover, there is a learning theory in which the authentic materials focus on.

This method is called Constructivism theory, because the idea of the implementation

of this kind of material is the mind’s opening. These materials want to create new

learning styles with the purpose the students get easily the language and could

communicate better.

11

2.2. Second Language Acquisition Theory

This theory was invented by an expert of linguistics and specialized in theories

of language acquisition and development called Stephen Krashen. “Language

acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does

not require tedious drill”, Stephen Krasher.

“Acquisition requires meaningful interactions in the target language-natural

communication-in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances

but with the messages they are conveying and understanding” Stephen Krasher.

This theory consists of five main hypotheses:

2.2.1. The Acquisition–Learning Hypothesis:

In this hypothesis, there are two independent systems: the acquired system and

the learned system. The first one is the product of a subconscious process very

similar to the process children undergo when they are acquiring the first language.

The second is the product of formal and it comprises a conscious process which

results in conscious knowledge about the language.

2.2.2. The Monitor Hypothesis:

It encapsulates the relationship between acquisition and learning and defines

the role of grammar.

12

2.2.3. The Natural Order Hypothesis:

It suggests that the acquisition of grammatical structures follows a “natural

order” which is predictable.

2.2.4. The Input Hypothesis:

It attempts to explain how the learner acquires a second language. This

hypothesis only concerned with “acquisition”, not “learning”.

2.2.5. The Affective Filter Hypothesis:

In this hypothesis, a number of “affective variables” play a role in second

language acquisition. These variables include: motivation, self-confidence and

anxiety.

2.3. Constructivism Learning TheoryAccording to what is said in the web site of Wikipedia, Constructivism may be

considered an epistemology (a philosophical framework or theory of learning) which

argues humans construct meaning from current knowledge structures. These

arguments about the nature of human learning guide constructivist learning theories

and teaching methods of education. Constructivism values developmentally-

appropriate facilitator-supported learning that is initiated and directed by the learner.

This is the path through which educators (facilitators) wish to approach students in

constructing meaning of new concepts.

13

Some historical figures that influenced constructivism:

Giambattista Vico

Immanuel Kant

John Dewey

Jean Piaget

Lev Vygotsky

Jerome Bruner

Herbert Simon

Paul Watzlawick

Ernst von

Glasersfeld

Edgar Morin

2.3.1. Constructivist theory

Formalization of the theory of constructivism is generally attributed to Jean

Piaget, who articulated mechanisms by which knowledge is internalized by learners.

He suggested that through processes of accommodation and assimilation, individuals

construct new knowledge from their experiences.

2.3.2. The nature of the learner

There are some important points that are relevant to be mentioned and

explained.

The learner as a unique individual: Social constructivism views each

learner as a unique individual with unique needs and backgrounds. The

learner is also seen as complex and multidimensional.

The importance of the background and culture of the learner: Social

constructivism encourages the learner to arrive at his or her own version of the

truth, influenced by his or her background, culture or embedded worldview.

Historical developments and symbol systems, such as language, logic, and

mathematical systems, are inherited by the learner as a member of a particular

14

culture and these are learned throughout the learner's life. This also stresses

the importance of the nature of the learner's social interaction with

knowledgeable members of the society. Without the social interaction with

other more knowledgeable people, it is impossible to acquire social meaning of

important symbol systems and learn how to utilize them.

The responsibility for learning: Social constructivism emphasizes the

importance of the learner being actively involved in the learning process,

unlike previous educational viewpoints where the responsibility rested with the

instructor to teach and where the learner played a passive, receptive role. Von

Glasersfeld (1989) emphasizes that learners construct their own

understanding and that they do not simply mirror and reflect what they read.

Learners look for meaning and will try to find regularity and order in the events

of the world even in the absence of full or complete information.

The motivation for learning: Another crucial assumption regarding the nature

of the learner concerns the level and source of motivation for learning. According to

Von Glasersfeld (1989) sustaining motivation to learn is strongly dependent on the

learner’s confidence in his or her potential for learning. These feelings of competence

and belief in potential to solve new problems are derived from first-hand experience

of mastery of problems in the past and are much more powerful than any external

acknowledgement and motivation.

15

2.3.3. The role of the instructor

In this kind of learning theory, the teacher is treated and called an instructor,

because the teacher helps the students in the acquisition of the target language.

Instructors as facilitators: According to the social constructivist approach,

instructors have to adapt to the role of facilitators and not teachers

(Bauersfeld, 1995). Where a teacher gives a didactic lecture which covers the

subject matter, a facilitator helps the learner to get to his or her own

understanding of the content. In the former scenario the learner plays a

passive role and in the latter scenario the learner plays an active role in the

learning process. The emphasis thus turns away from the instructor and the

content, and towards the learner (Gamoran, Secada, & Marrett, 1998).

This dramatic change of role implies that a facilitator needs to display a

totally different set of skills than a teacher (Brownstein 2001). A teacher tells, a

facilitator asks; a teacher lectures from the front, a facilitator supports from the

back; a teacher gives answers according to a set curriculum, a facilitator

provides guidelines and creates the environment for the learner to arrive at his

or her own conclusions; a teacher mostly gives a monologue, a facilitator is in

continuous dialogue with the learners (Rhodes and Bellamy, 1999).

2.3.4. The nature of the learning process

Furthermore, it is crucial to know and understand what the nature of this

learning process is in order to improve and change the way of teaching some

teachers have inside their classes.

16

Learning is an active, social process: Social constructivist scholars see

learning as an active process where learners should learn to discover principles,

concepts and facts for themselves, hence the importance of encouraging guesswork

and intuitive thinking in learners. Other constructivist scholars agree with this and

emphasize that individuals make meanings through the interactions with each other

and with the environment they live in. Knowledge is thus a product of humans and is

socially and culturally constructed (Ernest 1991; Prawat and Floden 1994).

Dynamic interaction between task, instructor and learner: A further

characteristic of the role of the facilitator in the social constructivist viewpoint is that

the instructor and the learners are equally involved in learning from each other as

well. This means that the learning experience is both subjective and objective and

requires that the instructor’s culture, values and background become an essential

part of the interplay between learners and tasks in the shaping of meaning. “Learners

compare their version of the truth with that of the instructor and fellow learners in

order to get to a new, socially tested version of truth (Kukla 2000).” The task or

problem is thus the interface between the instructor and the learner. This creates a

dynamic interaction between task, instructor and learner. This entails that learners

and instructors should develop an awareness of each other's viewpoints and then

look to own beliefs, standards and values, thus being both subjective and objective at

the same time.

The social constructivist model emphasizes the importance of the relationship

between the student and the instructor in the learning process. Some learning

approaches that could harbor this interactive learning include reciprocal teaching,

17

peer collaboration, cognitive apprenticeship, problem-based instruction, web quests,

anchored instruction and other approaches that involve learning with others.

According to Barbara Jaworski, the constructivist view involves two principles:

1. Knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, not passively received from

the environment.

2. Coming to know is a process of adaptation based on and constantly modified

by a learner's experience of the world.

2.4. What is intelligence?

According to the doctor Howard Gardner, “intelligence refers to the human

ability to solve problems or to make something that is valued in one or more cultures.

“Evidence suggests that there are eight or more intelligences; however, any person

has the same strength in each intelligence area. Therefore, a person can develop at

least two or three intelligences but it is so difficult that one person could have all the

intelligences. Multiple Intelligences focus on language classroom as a setting for

series of educational support systems aimed at making the language learner a better

designer of his/her on learner experiences.

In the following chart, it is written some activities suggested in the use of

Authentic Materials in the different Multiple Intelligences.

18

Chart # 1. Multiple Intelligences Activities

Linguistic Intelligence

Logical Mathematical Intelligence

Spatial Intelligence

Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence

Lectures, group

discussions, books,

word games, creating

class newspapers,

speeches, telling

stories.

Scientific

demonstrations, logic

problems, puzzles,

science thinking,

creating acronyms,

calculations.

Charts, maps, videos,

movies, art, imaginative

stories, following

treasures hunts,

following visual

directions, graphic

organizers.

Role-plays, mime,

twisters, body spelling,

craft, cooking

Musical Intelligence

Interpersonal Intelligence

Intrapersonal Intelligence

Playing recorder

music, playing live

music, music

appreciation, and

hockey-pokey.

Peer tutoring, card

games, conflict

resolution, group

brainstorming.

Journal keeping,

homework option,

reflecting learning

activities, individualized

projects.

Although, there is no single Multiple Intelligence source, it is very important that

a teacher take individual differences among students very seriously. The base in is a

deep interest in teenagers and how their minds are different from one and another.

For that reason, Multiple Intelligences theory is not narrow. Rather, it is a complex

mental model that construct curriculum and improve themselves as educators. So, it

is a process in which every student has to cross in order to learn new things, but this

process is not done by itself. Teachers are the responsible and the ones who have to

teach in a correct way, taking into a count the level, capacity, and enthusiasm. For

that reason, there are two important roles inside the class; the teacher’s and

students’.

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2.5. Authentic Materials

Authentic Materials are language materials that were originally intended for

native speakers, not second-language learners. According to Nunan and Miller

(1995), Authentic Materials are those instruments or materials, which were not

created or edited expressly for language learners. This means that most everyday

objects in the target language qualify as authentic materials. According to Heidi

Wright, “authentic materials are readily available, inexpensive, appropriate for all skill

levels and not difficult to implement.” (1991)

In addition, it is important to mention the difference that exists between

Authentic Materials and Graded materials. For instance, the Graded Materials are the

ones that usually circle around a particular structure that is presented to the student.

For example, if the tense being presented is, say, "The Past Tense", every single

speaker in the dialogs or even the texts given to the students are in that tense. In

other words, the situation that is put in context, it is not real. Like Julio Foppoli

mentions in his article published in Internet, “a Graded material is not uncommon in

real life, but when it comes to graded materials, you will never find these types of

situations that resemble real-life conversations.”

On the other hand, the Authentic Materials are real in the sense that they are

not created for students as the target audience but for native speakers. The obvious

advantage, of course, is that by using authentic materials you present students with

actual everyday language, just as it appears in real life. However, according to

Foppoli, “the main disadvantage of these materials is that sometimes they are not

20

teacher-friendly, and you may need to spend several hours reading or watching

videos until you finally find what you need in order to use in your class.”

2.5.1. The Use of the Authentic Materials

Using authentic materials is one of the bases of a creative and motivating part

of the teaching process that is going to be applied according to the corresponded

level. There are several reasons for this, primarily a kind of fear that students will

panic when faced with language that is largely unfamiliar, and a feeling that to

prevent this the language should be edited to the students' level.

There are several ways of using Authentic Materials; some of them are going to

be mentioned in the following:

Sources: When people first think of authentic materials they usually assume

that it is talking about newspaper and magazine articles. However, the term can also

include such things as songs, web sites, radio & TV shows, films, brochures, posters,

indeed anything written in the target language and used unedited in the classroom.

For example, if teachers use magazines, they can use them for several

activities like:

Pictures can be used for description, comparison, or for writing mysteries or

movie plots.

Students bring in recipes and have them write transitional phrases and modals

to the preparation section of the recipe. (First, you must cut up the

vegetables. etc.) Then students present recipes from their own countries to

21

the class as process speeches. Articles on home or car repair are also good

for process speeches.

Students analyze ads for audience, slogan, product being sold, logo and sales

technique. Then have them create their own print ads and explain them to the

class.

Furthermore, if teacher uses newspapers, they can use them to:

Work with modals.

Use the first paragraphs of a story to complete who, what, where, when (and

sometimes why) grids. Then give them a headline and have them write their

own stories.

Use graphs and charts for scanning or for SPEAK Test preparation.

Students phone each other and ask questions based on an ad they have

chosen. They can also do this with the help wanted section.

Have them chose jobs, brainstorm interview questions, and interview each

other.

Moreover, if teachers want to use catalogs, they must consider some

recommendation of activities like:

Students cut small pictures out of catalogs to make their own vocabulary

picture poster or dictionary.

Bring in several copies of the same catalog and have students talk in pairs

about preferences and colors.

Find pictures of decorated rooms and have students use prepositions of place

or the there + BE construction. They can also make lists of all the activities they

22

usually do in that room. (I usually cook in the kitchen.)

Students use the order forms to learn how to fill out forms correctly and then

call each other to place orders.

The materials used, will of course, depend on the 'usual' factors:

topic

target language area

skills

students needs and interests

Additionally, in today's globalized world, examples abound, but the most

commonly used perhaps are: newspapers, TV programs, menus, magazines, the

internet, movies, songs, brochures, comics, literature (novels, poems and short

stories), and so forth.

In the following list, it is looked some authentic materials in a bit more detail and

then move on to a variety of sample tasks.

Literature: The reason for using literature in the class has been stated by

Pound: "Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost

possible degree" (Ezra Pound, How to Read, Part II.). Of course, the focus should

be on teaching language, not literature.  In other words, the idea should be using

literary texts as one kind among other texts. With that in mind, the tasks should aim

at meaning and not form, especially literary form or stylistics.

Computer Software: Software that has been specially designed for English

instruction has received some criticism particularly from teachers who back up a

23

humanistic approach to language teaching. They state they see no reason why

exercises that can be done with a textbook should be carried out with a computer. 

This idea stems from software such as Gapkit, Grammar mastery II, Tell me More

and others that are really computer-guided drills. This position is quite

understandable. However, together with Tense Buster, and others that drills are not

all computers have to offer to EFL teaching.

General software can be used in class, be it in a genuine or in an authentic way.

An example is Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? by Broderbond, which gives

students opportunities to interact not only with the computer but with other students

as well. There are other examples of adventure games where learners need to

discover clues and unravel mysteries. These games usually involve a good amount

of reading and with the use of multimedia they involve a good range of sounds,

speakers of different ages and accents, and excellent images. Students can play in

pairs or threes and discuss what to do next, so that the interaction that takes place is

also a part of the learning process. Another advantage these games have is that they

promote computer literacy, a badly needed skill in the modern world.

The Internet: With the advent of the World Wide Web, teachers have at their

disposal large amounts of texts, visual stimuli, newspapers, and magazines, live

radio and TV., video clips and much more. There are endless lists of useful materials

for the language classroom. It focuses mainly on newspapers and radio stations. As

with other media, there is no point in asking students to just go to the web and read

some text or other.  There needs to be a task, preferably one in which meaning is

central and has some connection to the real world. Treasure hunts and other

24

information searching activities are probably the most useful. More and more sites

have interactive sections.

2.5.3. Task 

The task, or what students are supposed to do with the given material, is what

often makes all the difference. There is material that can be used for beginners,

intermediate or advanced students, provided the task that comes with it is suitable. 

According to what Clarke says, the task should relate to the student's own life as

much as possible (1989).

Sample Tasks

Want Ads: A series of 4-5 want ads can be used with the students in the

following way: beginners are asked to say which of the jobs they could qualify

for, intermediate students can write an application letter and advanced students

may discuss who in the class could qualify for the job and why, re-write the ads

or role-play job interviews.

Treasure Hunt: Students get a news or magazine article and a sheet of paper

with a series of questions so that they look for certain items: dates, events,

people involved, etc.

Menus: It has been found menus to have great potential as authentic material.

Students freely get involved in a role-play where one is a waiter/tress and 2-3

students are the customers, provided they have been supplied with the

necessary functions and structures to carry out such task, i.e. sentences such

as:

        "What would you like?", "I'll have...", "Anything else?” and so on

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Ads in Magazines: Guessing the product.  In this task, the teacher cuts out

advertisements from magazines, hides the products being advertised and

shows them to learners one by one to see if they can guess what product is

being advertised. To practice specific vocabulary, the teacher gives learners

three or four options per ad.

A second example involving magazine advertisements is the following: 

Students are set in groups of 3-4 and get some 4 adverts. They have to imagine

they are working for an advertising agency and compare the ads taking into

account the texts and the photographs. Students decide which the best is and

which the worst is. Then they re-design the worst ad, including the text. Ads with

short texts are used with basic students, whereas those containing more

complex texts are for intermediate or advanced students.

The Agony Column: Four or five letters to the agony column are cut in half and

pasted onto cards. Students work in pairs or groups of three and match the

beginnings with the corresponding endings of the letters, and they match the

corresponding answer to each letter.

Travel Brochures: An example of how to use travel brochures is the following:

Students sit in groups of 4-5. They are given travel brochures of interesting

places. They are to design a "phoney" brochure of an invented place. In it, they

include a mixture of characteristics of that place. E.g. spaghetti is the typical

food; you can visit a theme park, drink vodka, etc.

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2.5.4. Advantages of Using Authentic Materials

So, we can mention some important points why the use of authentic materials is

useful for the learning process of students at high school. Some of those points are:

They have a positive effect on learner motivation.

They provide authentic cultural information.

They provide exposure to real language.

They relate more closely to learners ' needs.

They support a more creative approach for teaching.

We can claim that learners are being exposed to real language and they feel

that they are learning the 'real' language.

Students are exposed to real discourse, as in videos of interviews with

famous people where intermediate students listen for gist.

Authentic materials keep students informed about what is happening in the

world, so they have an intrinsic educational value. As teachers, we are

educators working within the school system, so education and general

development are part of our responsibilities (Sanderson, 1999).

Textbooks often do not include incidental or improper English.

They can produce a sense of achievement, e.g., a brochure on England

given to students to plan a 4-day visit.

The same piece of material can be used under different circumstances if the

task is different.

Language change is reflected in the materials so that students and teachers

can keep abreast of such changes.

Reading texts are ideal to teach/practice mini-skills such as scanning, e.g.

students are given a news article and asked to look for specific information

27

(amounts, percentages, etc.). The teacher can have students practice some of

the micro-skills mentioned by Richards (1983), e.g. basic students listen to

news reports and they are asked to identify the names of countries, famous

people, etc. (ability to detect key words).

Books, articles, newspapers, and so on contain a wide variety of text types,

language styles not easily found in conventional teaching materials.

They can encourage reading for pleasure because they are likely to contain

topics of interest to learners, especially if students are given the chance to have

a say about the topics or kinds of authentic materials to be used in class.

2.5.5. Why should I use Authentic Materials in my Classroom?

Teachers of less commonly taught languages have the advantage of generally

having more motivated students who have looked beyond the field of commonly

taught languages. These motivated students may enjoy the interesting facets of

grammar and vocabulary, but probably eagerly anticipate being able to communicate

and interact in this new language. Teaching grammar and vocabulary in isolation

may produce good readers and listeners, but without guided exposure to authentic

language samples, students may be less able to reach their goal of using the

language.

On the level of day to day teaching, authentic materials can make individual

lessons more interesting or salient. Teaching commands is a common part of

language instruction and can be done straight from a grammar text. However, a more

motivating, rich source of commands is also found in advertisements and instruction

manuals. Using these authentic materials to teach the same point may help students

remember the grammatical construction better and give them a sense of how the

28

construct can be used in various contexts. Similarly, language classes often begin

with greetings, but it may be difficult for students to grasp or remember how to greet

who as the social norms dictate. A video clip may be a helpful means of presenting

these concepts and forms.

On a broader level, consistent use of authentic materials in the classroom keeps

students grounded in the reality of the language, helping them to recognize that there

is a community of users who live out their lives in this other language.

Exposing students to authentic materials can also help them better understand

the target culture and envision how they might participate in this community. For

example, instead of introducing food vocabulary in the target language by providing

equivalent translations in the students’ native language, the teacher can instead

introduce students to food vocabulary via an authentic menu, asking students to

deduce the meanings of unfamiliar food items from context. Once meaning has been

established, the vocabulary words can become part of a communicative exercise

where students describe what is in a dish or role play a restaurant scene, requesting

certain items. In this way not only do students acquire new vocabulary but they also

are exposed to typical ethnic foods found on menus.

2.5.6. How do I Get Authentic Materials?

There are various resources available online (some on this website even). But

many authentic materials can be small items that can either be mailed by friends

from the language area or picked up by you the teacher as you travel. With a little

forethought, this does not have to be a major expense or hassle.

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2.5.7. How do I Use Authentic Materials?

Often times the printed book seems like an easier teaching tool than adding in

authentic materials. This may not be the case. With a little practice and creativity (or

idea borrowing), incorporating authentic materials into your lesson, will not take you

more time than lesson planning would in general.

2.5.8. Using Authentic Materials: At Which Level?

It is said and suggested that at post-intermediate level, the use of authentic

materials is available for use in classroom. This might be attributed to the fact that at

this level, most students master a wide range of vocabulary in the target language

and all of the structures. They also note that at lower levels, the use of authentic

materials may cause students to feel de-motivated and frustrated since they lack

many lexical items and structures used in the target language. The use of authentic

materials is a burden for the instructors teaching beginning students, as they have to

spend a lot of time to prepare for authentic materials regarding the ability level of the

students.

Do all these mean we are not able to use authentic materials in lower-level

classes apart from post-intermediate and advanced levels? According to the findings

of the survey carried out by Chavez (1998), 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 naturally difficult. However,

learners state that they need pedagogical support especially in listening situations

and when reading literary texts such as the provision of a full range of cues (auditory

and visual including written language).

30

Some of the sources found by the teacher are somewhat hard to understand

and use for the students because they are not familiarize with them, so, at the time

the teacher applies the different authentic materials, students are going to feel

frustrated and kind of lost.

In addition, in order to the authentic materials can be put in practice correctly

and the learning process becomes significant, it is important to take also into account

the language skills. Language educators have long used the concepts of four basic

language skills:

a. Listening

b. Speaking

c. Reading

d. Writing

The four basic skills are related to each other by two parameters:

the mode of communication: oral or written

the direction of communication: receiving or producing the message

It may be represented the relationships among the skills in the following chart:

Oral Written

Receptive Listening Reading

Productive

Speaking Writing

The following modules will briefly describe some characteristics of each basic

skill.

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a. Listening comprehension skill: it is the receptive skill in the oral mode. When

we speak of listening what we really mean is listening and understanding what

we hear. Richards (1983, cited in Omaggio, 1986, p. 126) proposes that the

following are the micro-skills involved in understanding what someone says to

us. The listener has to:

Retain portions of language in short-term memory

Discriminate among the distinctive sounds in the new language

Recognize stress and rhythm patterns, tone patterns, intonation contours.

Recognize typical word-order patterns

Recognize vocabulary

Detect key words, such as those identifying topics and ideas

Guess meaning from context

Recognize grammatical word classes

b. Speaking skill: Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode. It, like the other

skills, is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just

pronouncing words. The speaker has to:

Pronounce the distinctive sounds of a language clearly enough so that people can

distinguish them. This includes making tonal distinctions.

Use stress and rhythmic patterns, and intonation patterns of the language clearly

enough so that people can understand what is said.

Use the correct forms of words. This may mean, for example, changes in the

tense, case, or gender.

Put words together in correct word order.

Use vocabulary appropriately.

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Use the register or language variety that is appropriate to the situation and the

relationship to the conversation partner.

Make clear to the listener the main sentence constituents, such as subject, verb,

object, by whatever means the language uses.

c. Reading skill: Reading is the receptive skill in the written mode. It can develop

independently of listening and speaking skills, but often develops along with them,

especially in societies with a highly-developed literary tradition. Reading can help

build vocabulary that helps listening comprehension at the later stages, particularly.

The reader has to:

Recognize vocabulary.

Pick out key words, such as those identifying topics and main ideas.

Figure out the meaning of the words, including unfamiliar vocabulary, from the

(written) context.

Recognize grammatical word classes: noun, adjective, etc.

Detect sentence constituents, such as subject, verb, object, prepositions, etc.

Recognize basic syntactic patterns.

Reconstruct and infer situations, goals and participants.

Get the main point or the most important information.

Distinguish the main idea from supporting details.

d. Writing skill: Writing is the productive skill in the written mode. It, too, is more

complicated than it seems at first, and often seems to be the hardest of the skills,

even for native speakers of a language, since it involves not just a graphic

33

representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a

structured way. The writer needs to:

Use the orthography correctly, including the script, and spelling and punctuation

conventions.

Use the correct forms of words. This may mean using forms that express the right

tense, or case or gender.

Put words together in correct word order.

Use vocabulary correctly.

Use the style appropriate to the genre and audience.

Make the main sentence constituents, such as subject, verb, and object, clear to

the reader.

Make the main ideas distinct from supporting ideas or information.

Make the text coherent, so that other people can follow the development of the

ideas.

On the other hand, the teacher must pay attention to other factor, the Multiple

Intelligences which varies from student to student. Every pupil has different ways to

learn the things, English is not the exception. Actually, when teachers teach this

language, they must be aware of the Multiple Intelligences their students have in

order to the learning process will get better and easier to them.

2.6. Teacher’s Role

Teachers ought to act as a filter, releasing the language in controllable

quantities, raising or lowering the filter as needed, and ensuring the comprehensibility

34

of the material through selection of the learning objective, the task to be

accomplished, and the way the material is approached.

But the teacher using authentic materials has other responsibilities, too.

“Teachers must also learn how to identify authentic items, or determine their

‘applicability’ and ‘adaptability’ for classroom use” (Dumitrescu, 2000).

Very significantly, the teacher is a culture guide. In fact, language may often

take a back seat to culture with authentic materials, resulting in a hybrid "ESL

(English as a Second Language) in the content area of culture," (María Sperelli).

But, as Krashen points out; "comprehensible subject-matter teaching is language

teaching" (1985).

The honest reality of some authentic items can guide to personal discoveries or

discussion of touchy topics. In order to have a success, teachers have to follow

some items to apply their authentic materials correctly. Those components are:

Learner-Centered" is the Mantra: From the selection of materials, to the

choice of objectives, to the tasks of learning itself, the needs and interests as well as

the range of affective issues pertaining to the learners must be in the forefront.

Identify an Objective: Any objective needs to be feasible within the level of

language complexity just slightly beyond the learners' current ability. The teacher

also has to consider the ability to make the material comprehensible to achieve the

objective.

35

Concept and Context: When using authentic materials, teachers have to

determine if they are working on a concept that is new to many learners.

Make It Comprehensible: Everything boils down to comprehensibility. If the

input is not comprehended, in spite of how applicable and adaptable it is, it "appears

to serve no greater purpose to the learner than does language that is never heard"

(Gass & Selinker, 1994). The teacher is the interpreter between the authentic

material and the learner, and will likely use a repertoire of paraphrase, synonyms,

quick sketches, miming and pictures to get the message across--for it is the

message, not the structure, that is the focus of authentic materials.

2.7. Student’s Role

Students take an important role in the learning process. For example, if the

teacher brings excellent authentic materials and the level of the students is the

qualified, but if they do not show any kind of interest, the process is not going to

success and everything is going to be in vain. For that reason, it is very important

that students have to comprehend and collaborate with the teachers.

Also, it is important to mention that every authentic material used on the

students has to be interested, have a purpose and catch the attention of them. There

are some examples of interested subjects and materials teachers can use inside the

class, they depend of several factors:

36

Applicability

The material gives the learner new information to help herself or her

family

The material enables the learner to take advantage of an existing

community service or amenity that had not been previously utilized or fully

utilized.

Material reflects a reality that is economically feasible for the learner.

The material respects the immigration status of the learner, whether

documented or undocumented.

Adaptability

The authentic material contains non-complex vocabulary: A large

amount of the printed matter marketed to the general public is written at a

fifth grade level while the language of items produced by public safety and

social welfare offices is sometimes even simpler.

The authentic item features pictures, diagrams, tables, etc.

The material uses bullets, titling, subtitles or other clear separation of

text.

The material allows some learner interaction: a form to fill out, a

recording to listen to, a checklist, questions to think about, etc.

According to Little (1991), “students need to be encouraged to set their

own learning goals and to take responsibility for their own learning.” The use of

various input materials is one of the ways in which foreign language teachers

can stimulate their students and help them develop confidence in their own

ideas and in their ability to work independently. The intended outcome of such a

mode of learning is that students should acquire good learning strategies and

so become more autonomous and self-directed.

Chapter III

3. Institutional Framework and Methodology

3.1 Institutional Framework

In 1959, the sir Miguel Araya Venegas started looking for help in order to

open a high school in Cañas because the students had to go to Tilaran. He and

some teachers started doing classes to seventh and eighth level and with the

time, the educational authorities accepted that the level of the students was

good and the high school were growing up fast.

In 1965, it was officially established the Cañas High School. In this year,

24 students were graduated with excellent grades. People who lived in Cañas

asked for calling the High School with the name of the teacher Miguel Araya

Venegas and in 1984 the high school got his name.

In this moment, its population is around 2000 students and it has around

80 people (teachers, administrative personnel, janitors). Talking about the

English department, it could say that there are eight teachers, four are teaching

the academic part and the other ones are teaching the conversational that it is a

pilot plan in order to improve the English part in the students and in this way,

students can communicate and understand this language.

3.2 Methodology

3.2.1. Paradigm

This investigation belongs to the holistic and ethnographic paradigms. It is

holistic because it is based in the personal feelings and human perspective and

it wants to see and analyze a general perspective of the English classes at high

school taking as example the High School in Cañas, in order to break down the

complexity of the real world that during the years English has been had.

In other words, this investigation and innovation try to change the students’

and teacher’s mentality in order to show them that English could be an

interesting subject. Also, they could realize that there are other methods where

they can learn in a funny way.

On other hand, it is ethnographic because inside the class there is a

culture but each person has developed his / her culture in a different way and all

of them are particular. For that reason, the innovation has to find out different

ways to make the activities in order to involve all the students.

3.2.2. Type of Study: Qualitative Approach:

The research of the Use of Authentic Materials in English Classes at High

School takes into account the Qualitative Approach. According to Barrantes R.

(1998) “Qualitative approach is the phonologic and inductive conception

orientated to the process. It puts emphasis in deep and its analysis is not

mathematics”. It is because it tries to observe and investigate the characteristics

and behavior of the students who will be inside the research; and in this project,

it does not care about the number of students in a statistics way. It tries to

understand the way that students react when they are using Authentic Material

in the English Classes.

3.2.3. Population and Sample

The population of this study is one eighth level group and two ninth level

groups from the Miguel Araya Venegas High School in Cañas. The sample is

not at random because one of the teachers, who are going to collaborate, tell

which are the two ninth level groups that like to participate in class; and the

teacher of the eighth level group says that her group does not have enough

motivation and participation inside the classes; for that reason, this group is like

a challenge.

This project will work with all the students of the 8-6, 9-3, 9-5 and two

teachers. The eighth level group works in conversational English classes and

the ninth levels groups are in academic English classes.

3.2.4. Instrumentation and Data Collection

The instrumentation used to collect the data was varied. First of all, a non-

participative observation was used in order to know the condition of the

institution and classroom. Also, to know the way the teacher worked the topics

and the reaction of the students with the different activities during the class. It

had four main aspects like the institution, the English classroom, relevant

aspect inside the classroom, and teacher-students, students-students

relationship (see annex # 1 ). This instrument was applied in September 30 th,

2008, the observation started at 7:30 looking at, first of all, the High School

condition, then the section 9-3 and finally the section 9-5; inside the classroom,

the instrument wanted to know the development of the classes, how the teacher

gave the class and the students’ reaction when they affront a second language.

In addition, it was also used a questionnaire for students and for the

teacher; the student’s one had five closed questions and three opened

questions, and the teacher’s one had four closed questions and two opened

questions. These questionnaires were applied in October 21st, 2008; inside the

classroom. This kind of instrument help in the collection of information, and in

this way, the researchers could analyze the different activities students have

done during the English classes and how much they know about the term of

Authentic Materials.

Also, there was an interview in group where students expressed their

feelings about English classes and what kind of activities they would like to do

during the innovation project, it was in order to know what they think and in that

way they would like to collaborate in the assignment. In the interview, the

students were divided into two groups with the purpose the students felt

comfortable and they expressed their feelings about the language and the

activities the teacher has been done during the year.

Chapter IV

4. Presentation Analysis and Discussion

In this chapter, it is going to be presented and analyzed the information

that was collected by the use of the different instruments applied. The idea of

this section is to know the main data and comments from the samples. Also, it is

important to mention that for reasons of different obstacles that the researchers

faced, it could be only done the Non-participative observation, the teacher’s and

students’ survey, and finally, general opinions of the activities.

4.1.Relevant aspects of the institution and the English classroom

4.1.1. Condition of the institution

Generally talking, the building of the Miguel Araya Venegas High School is

so old. It presents some problems especially on the walls and ceilings, they are

full of holes. Also, they have graffiti in which are vulgar expression of students

and teachers.

4.1.2. Use of Authentic Materials and Didactic Materials

There was not use the Authentic Materials, not even Didactic Materials. It

was only used a copy in which were some pictures related to the topic

“Computers and Technology in our Lives”. Students only were listening to the

teacher, getting bored. The teacher tried to involve the students to the activities,

but there were not enough and did not catch the students’ attention.

4.2.Educative Relevance of the Authentic Materials

4.2.1. Authentic Materials Definition

According to the survey that was applied to the students, they do not know

the terminology of Authentic Materials before the activities were done. The most

frequent answers were in a negative way, “I don’t know” was the most common

answer. On the other hand, the teacher had an idea of what Authentic Materials

are.

In the following chapter, it is shown the most common answers by the

students and the answer that the teacher brought to the survey.

Chart #2

Survey’s most common answers

Students Teacher

“I have never heard about that” “Materials you can have at had

created by the teacher for certain

“I really don’t know”

“Materials like songs that the teacher

bring to the class”

purposes”.

So, as it was shown in the chart, almost all the comments were negative.

The students were not familiar with the meaning of Authentic Materials. On the

other hand, the teacher, because of his university formation and the experience

he has gotten during the years, was so close to the definition. Some others (a

few) knew the term. For that reason, it was explained by mean of examples, the

terminology of Authentic Materials to the students, because it is so important

that they know it, in order to they know how to improve in a better way the

English level. Also, it is important to elaborate different workshops in order to

they can practice their English and shown the advantages that these kind of

materials bring to them.

4.2.2. Materials done inside the English classroom during the year

According to the surveys that students and teacher realized, it can be

mention important aspects. The most activities that the students have done are

the reading comprehensions, so, they have work more in the reading skill. But,

the problems is that they do not feel comfortable with this activity because they

think they are not acquiring anything, they just translate all the words from the

texts in order to “get vocabulary”. On the other hand, the activities that the

teacher has done frequently are dialogues, role-plays, description of objects

and reading comprehension.

The following chart shows the most frequent activities students from the

sections 9-3 and 9-5 have performed during their three or more years inside the

High School.

Chart #3

Frequent activities

Most Frequent Activities done by the Students

Most Frequent Activities done by the Teacher

1. Dialogues2. Reading Comprehensions3. Creation of sentences (grammar)4. Description of objects, people,

places, animals, etc.5. Videos6. Completion of songs7. Oral presentations8. Identification of objects

1. Reading comprehension2. Creation of sentences (grammar)3. Description of objects, people,

places, animals, etc.4. Dialogues5. Completion of songs6. Oral presentations7. Role-plays8. Bingo

As this chart shows, students are so familiar with repetitive activities in

which they only followed some indications and they feel they are inside a

routine, because they do always the same in each lesson. Also, it can be notice

that it is not frequently the use of the Authentic Materials in the activities. The

teacher does not apply funny exercises using the language. Students and

teacher have only used books and copies related to the different topics and

subjects.

4.2.3. Importance of the activities

Taking into account the different answers that the two groups gave to the

survey, it is important to mention that they know that the use of activities inside

an English class are essential in the learning process, because they constitute a

good way to practice what is being taught. Also, they can learn vocabulary in

order to putting in a real situation. Also, the use of different activities allows

students to get out of the routine, and students can understand better any kind

of topic. However, they just talk about how they learn only vocabulary and how

to read and write it. So, they never mentioned that the activities can help them

to communicate with others.

On the other hand, there was a minority of students that mentioned that

the use of the activities were not satisfactory to them because some of them did

other teachers that were not well prepared and also, teachers were talking

about other stuffs and they did not explain anything.

4.3.Activities using Authentic Materials

The application of activities using Authentic Materials was strange for the

students of the two groups because they were not familiar with this kind of

implements. So, at the beginning it was kind of hard that students get involved

in the different activities.

4.3.1. Playing “Guess what it is”

Chart #4

“Guessing”

Skills / Objective Teacher’s Role Student’s Role Materials

Listening and

Speaking. Using

simple sentences to

make descriptions

for each object

Guide, facilitator. Experiences.

Independence and

personal growth from

learning.

Technological

pictures in

flashcards

The idea of this activity was that students can recognize the pictures

related to technology and computers in order to say what are the uses they

have and how important they are. Also, the team group was important, because

they have to help each other in order to win the competition. (see annex # 8)

In here, it is important that the teacher introduce certain vocabulary and

structures related to the topic, with the purpose that students can create

sentences and can express the correct ideas in an oral way.

4.3.2. Playing “Big Bingo”

Chart #5

“Bingo”

Skills / Objective Teacher’s Role Student’s Role Materials

Listening. Recognition of

vocabulary.

Model and

language

manipulator.

Directed by skilled

techniques to produce

correct responses.

Cardboard, pictures,

glue, scissors and

caps

The main purpose with this activity was that students can recognize by

dictation of the different technological objects the vocabulary related to the

topic.

In here, the students can sit down on the floor to feel more relax and

comfortable because they have to look careful at the pictures and recognize

correctly the object that the teacher says. So, this activity makes students to be

concentrated because if they are not, they can loose the opportunity to win.

Also, this is an exercise in which students work together as a team, helping

each other.

4.3.3. Playing “Find the Treasure

Chart # 6

Find the Treasure

Skills / Objective Teacher’s Role Student’s Role Materials

Reading.

Comprehension of clues

by reading them.

Communications

facilitator and

participant in

activities.

Learner is a processor

of comprehensible

input.

Pictures, tape, color

papers.

In the realization of this activity, students put in practice their reading skill

in order to follow certain clues that guide them at the end, in which they find the

treasure: knowledge in a funny way.

With this activity, students had to run in all the room to look for the correct

clues. It is a way where students can move, in this manner they feel they are

out of the routine. Also, the team work takes an important aspect here, because

all the members of the team have to help and try to figure out together the

different signs.

Furthermore, those activities and other ones can be done in groups with

the idea of students can improve by themselves and the help of their

classmates the language.

In those activities and games, the motivation is so important because in

this way, students will feel that what they are doing is not a waste of time, at the

contrary, they are creating and improving their knowledge and skills. It is

important to say that teachers do not have to give extra points to the winner,

they have to look for different and significant small gifts in which students feel

they are doing well and they win it because they put their effort to do the

activity. In this part, the competition is a good technique, but teachers should

have a good control of the class in order to the group will not end fighting.

At the first time that students make those kinds of activities, they will be

lost and inside the class will be mess; however with the time, students are going

to be familiar with the activities and the development of the class will be better.

Chapter V

5. Conclusion, Limitations and Recommendations

5.1. Conclusion

The use of authentic materials in the classroom has been discussed, with

the student benefiting from the exposure to real language being used in a real

context. Other aspects which proved positive when using authentic materials

was that they are highly motivating, giving a sense of achievement when

understood and encourage further listening, speaking, reading and writing. They

also reflect the changes in the use of language. They are also very versatile;

they can be used in different ways to promote different skills and can be used

more than once as well as be updated. Anything can be used as authentic

material but for developing the language, one of the most useful resources is

the Internet, with large amounts of varied material being easily accessible.

One of the main reason for using authentic materials in the classroom is

once outside the safe, controlled language learning environment, the learner will

not encounter the artificial language of the classroom but the real world and

language how it is really used. The role of the teacher is not to trick the

language learner but to prepare him, giving the awareness and necessary skills

so as to understand how the language is actually used. Having made a

distinction between authentic and non-authentic material and evaluated the use

of them in the classroom, it is worth taking into consideration Davies who wrote:

“It is not that a text is understood because it is authentic but that it is authentic

because it is understood. …Everything the learner understands is authentic for

him.” (Davies 1984:192)

Moreover, when a teacher uses different Authentic Materials, students will

be motivated because they are not accustomed to these kinds of activities. For

the first time, it is kind of hard that students collaborate but, little by little, they

will get involved and participate in the activities. But, the most important aspect

is that they will learn faster and better, without any kind of book or copies that

they do not like and enjoy. So, our students will learn having fun.

However, with this project it could be noticed that some teachers do not

like to work with Authentic Materials because they need their own time to

prepare the activities and choose the materials in order to teach any subject, for

this reason, teachers decide to follow a book with the excuse that the institution

limits them. Also, teachers think with these activities students will not

participate because they are in a hard age in which for them, everything is

ridiculous.

5.2. Limitations

During the realization of this paper, there were some limitations that the

researchers had to pass by. In addition, these limitations affected the correct

development and do not permit the applications of some activities that were

thought to be done.

First of all, it was a mess with the destinations that each group had. It was

supposed that everything was coordinated, but it was not at all. For example,

this investigation was supposed to be done in Guardia High School, but, there

were complications in the agreements of the days to go or activities that the

institution were doing. At the end, the investigation could be done in Cañas. In

here, there were other complications. First, mid-term exams did not allow the

realization of the activities and the application of the evaluations. Also, there

was a civic celebration that stopped the activities and finally, there were the

eleventh final tests, which produce the cancelation of the classes of the groups

that this investigation was taken place.

5.3. Recommendations

To the University:

It is important to decide / choose that a course will be taught by only one

professor, because it is so hard for the students to work with two professors.

Both have different ways of thinking, so, it is difficult to students to understand

their point of view and what they really want about the different issues.

Even though it is hard to change the cycles where the different courses

are, it is important to know that any kind of project that has to be done at High

Schools in the second semester of each cycle, because High Schools are in a

period in which are too many factor that will affect the projects, for example the

final examinations of the eleventh levels and some teachers need to take care

those exams.

On the other hand, it is so important to have clear where and with whom

the students are going to go to do the innovations, because in this way,

students will not waste time in going to the designed place where do not accept

them.

To the High School and Teacher:

In this case, it is important to have good installations for the students

because in that way, they will feel more motivated and anxious to go to a nice

school and classrooms.

Also, it is important that the institution does not give too many excuses to

bring the multimedia. In addition, it is unbelievable that they have the equipment

but they do not permit the used of most of them, for example: the institution has

an intelligent board that is getting dust inside the teacher’s room.

Furthermore, the teacher has to continue with the attitude he has, but he

has to look for new and interesting activities in order to catch the attention of the

students and do not use too much the book.

Bibliography

Anthology: Seminario de Innovación, Investigación de Campo en Inglés y Producción

Educativa. Paradigms. 2008.

Brandl, K. (2002). Integrating Internet-based reading materials into the foreign

language Curriculum. Retrieved July 12, 2003, from

http://llt.msu.edu/vol6num3/brandl/

Encyclopedia, Wikipedia. Constructivism (learning theory). Retrieved September 23rd, 2008,

from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/constructivism_(learniong_theory) html

Foppoli, J. (2006). Authentic vs. Graded Material in Second Languages. Retrieved

August 20th, 2008, from

http://www.ncsall.net/?id=191

Huifen Chen, L. (2007) ”Language, Learning & Technology”. Retrieved September, 23rd,

2008, from

http://www.entrepreuner.com/tradejournals/pub/OHTQ.html

Language Learning Web Sites. “Four basic language skills”. Retrieved October 30th,

2008, from

http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/LANGUAGELEARNING/OtherResources/

GudlnsFrALnggAndCltrLrnngPrgrm/FourBasicLanguageSkills.htm

Martinez, A. (2002).”Authentic Materials: An Overview”. Retrieved May 15th, 2008, from

http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Lessons.aspx?menu=003

Web Master (2004). “Authentic Materials and Cultural Content in EFL Classrooms”.

Retrieved August 1st, 2008, from

http://useit.vn/content/view/200/92/1/2/lang,english/

Annexes

Annex # 1Universidad Nacional

Chotorega Head Office Campus Liberia

Investigation and Innovation Seminary

The following instrument of observation will be done with the purpose to

collect information that helps the innovation project of Authentic Materials.

Institution: Miguel Araya Venegas High School Teacher: ___________________________________Level: ___________________________________Date: ___________________________________

1. Institution Comments

1.1. Condition of the Installations Bad( )

Regular( )

Good( )

1.2. SecurityYes

( )No

( )

2. English Classroom

2.1. Classroom Condition Bad ( )

Regular( )

Good( )

2.2. DecorationsYes ( )

No ( )

2.3. Didactic MaterialsYes ( )

No ( )

2.4. Didactic Materials Quality Bad ( )

Regular( )

Good( )

2.5. Multimedia Yes ( )

No ( )

3. Relevant Aspects inside the classroom

3.1. The professor uses the Second Language (English)

Nothing ( )

A little ( )

Enough ( )

3.2. Students use the Second Language (English)

Nothing ( )

A little( )

Enough( )

3.3. Use of Activities Nothing

( )A little( )

Enough ( )

3.4. Use of Authentic MaterialsNothing

( )A little ( )

Enough( )

3.5. Students’ interest to the language and activities

Nothing( )

A little( )

Enough ( )

4. Teacher – students, students – students relationship

4.1. Teacher – students respect Nothing ( )

A little( )

Enough( )

4.2. Students – teacher respect Nothing ( )

A little( )

Enough( )

4.3. Students – students respect Nothing ( )

A little( )

Enough ( )

4.4. Affective Filter is presented during English Time

Nothing( )

A little( )

Enough( )

Other aspects:

______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Annex #2Universidad NacionalSede Regional ChorotegaCampus LiberiaSeminario de Innovación, Investigación de Campo en Inglés y Producción Educativa

TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE The fourth level students from the Universidad Nacional in the Bachelor in

Teaching English are doing a research paper and an innovation about the use of

Authentic Material into the English classes. For this reason, we are asking for your help

to collect the information that it is going to be so important and strictly confidential.

Age: __________ Sex: __________Write your answer in the blanks or write the letter “X”.

1. How many years have you worked as an English teacher?

_______________________________________________________________.

2. Which levels have you worked with?

_______________________________________________________________.

3. What are the skills you work the most with your students? Why?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________.

4. What kind of activities and materials do you use to develop your English

classes?

( ) dialogues

( ) role plays

( ) listen to music

( ) videos

( ) story telling

( ) writing from a picture

( ) oral presentations

( ) identification of objects

( ) bingos

( ) hang up

( ) reading comprehension

( ) description of objects, places,

people, etc

( ) creation of sentences

(grammar)

( ) others

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

5. In your personal opinion, what are the Authentic Materials?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________.

6. Do you consider that the use of the Authentic Materials is important and

necessary in the learning process of a second language?

( ) Yes. Explain

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________.

( ) No. Explain

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________.

Annex #3Universidad NacionalSede Regional ChorotegaCampus LiberiaSeminario de Innovación, Investigación de Campo en Inglés y Producción Educativa

ENCUESTA ESTUDIANTESLos estudiantes de cuarto año de la carrera Bachillerato en la Enseñanza de

Inglés III y IV ciclo de la Universidad Nacional, están realizando un trabajo de

investigación e innovación acerca del Uso de Materiales Auténticos dentro de

las lecciones de inglés. Por este motivo se les está solicitando su colaboración

para recolectar información, la cual será de suma importancia y estrictamente

confidencial.

Edad: __________ Sexo: __________Escriba su respuesta en los espacios en blanco o marque con una “X” en los

casos necesarios

1. ¿Cuantos años lleva recibiendo inglés en esta institución?

_______________________________________________________________.

2. ¿Ha sido siempre el mismo profesor?

( ) Si ( ) No ¿Cuántos? _______________

3. ¿Qué tipo de actividades han realizado en las clases de inglés durante

este curso lectivo?

( ) diálogos

( ) dramatizaciones

( ) completar canciones

( ) videos

( ) escuchar historias

( ) escribir a partir de

imágenes

( ) presentaciones orales

( ) identificación de objetos

( ) bingos

( ) ahorcados

( ) comprensión de lecturas

( ) descripción de objetos,

lugares, personas, animales,

etc.

( ) creación de oraciones

(gramática)

( ) otros

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

4. Tomando en cuenta lo contestado en la pregunta #3 ¿Considera usted qué

las diferentes actividades realizadas le han ayudado en su aprendizaje del

idioma inglés? ¿Por qué?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________.

5. ¿Conoce usted el término de “Materiales Auténticos”?

( ) Si (Siga a la siguiente pregunta)

( ) No (Fin de la encuesta)

6. Explique lo que conoce por Materiales Auténticos.

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________.

7. Durante el proceso de aprendizaje del idioma inglés ¿El o la profesor(a) ha

realizado actividades donde utiliza materiales auténticos? ¿Qué tipos de

actividades?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________.

8. ¿Dichas actividades han sido de su interés?

( ) Si. ¿Por qué? ____________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________.

( ) No. ¿Por qué? ___________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________.

Annex #4Universidad Nacional

Sede Regional Chorotega Campus Liberia

Seminario de Investigación e Innovación

El siguiente instrumento de evaluación hacia las diferentes actividades

empleadas por el profesor, será ejecutado con el fin de recolectar información que

será muy valiosa para el proyecto de innovación que se esta realizando con los

materiales auténticos.

Institución: Liceo Miguel Araya Venegas

Profesor: ___________________________________

Nivel: ___________________________________

Tema: ___________________________________

Fecha: ___________________________________

Nombre de la Actividad: ____________________

1. ¿Que le pareció esta actividad?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

2. ¿Fue de ayuda en el aprendizaje del tema?

( ) Si ¿por que?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

( ) No ¿por que?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

3. ¿Considera usted que esta actividad beneficia en el aprendizaje del idioma Inglés?

( ) Si ¿por que?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

( ) No ¿por que?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

4. ¿Qué le parecieron los materiales empleados en esta actividad?

( ) Malos

( ) Regulares

( ) Buenos

5. ¿Qué le pareció el manejo de la actividad por parte del profesor?

( ) Regular

( ) Bueno

( ) Excelente

Annex #5Universidad Nacional

Sede Regional Chorotega Campus Liberia

Seminario de Investigación e Innovación Entrevista Grupal

El siguiente instrumento de recolección de datos para las diferentes actividades

empleadas por el profesor, será ejecutado con el fin de recolectar información que

será muy valiosa para el proyecto de innovación que se esta realizando con los

materiales auténticos.

1. ¿Qué opinión tiene ustedes acerca del idioma Inglés?

2. ¿Consideran que el idioma Inglés es importante? ¿Por qué?

3. ¿Qué le parece la forma de dar clases del profesor?

4. ¿Cuáles actividades han realizado con el profesor?

5. ¿Qué tipo de actividades les gustaría realizar?

Annex #6

Pictures of the institution

Figure N. 1Old Shield

Figure N.2High School entrance

Figure N.3Civic activities (Gym)

Figure N.4Mathematics classrooms

Figure N.5Condition of a classroom

Figure N.6Gym condition

Figure N.7Cafeteria

Figure N.8Main hallway

Pictures of the English classrooms and groups

Figure N.1English classroom

Figure N.2English classroom

Figure N.39-3 playing Guessing

Figure N.49-3 playing Guessing

Figure N.59-3 playing Bingo

Figure N.69-3 playing Bingo

Figure N.79-5 playing Guessing

Figure N.89-5 playing Guessing

Figure N.99-5 playing Bingo

Figure N.109-5 playing Bingo

Pictures of the Authentic Materials

Figure N.1

Figure N.2

Figure N.3

Figure N.4

Figure N.5

Figure N.6

Figure N.7

Figure N.8

Figure N.9

Figure N.10

Annex #7 Activity of the topic: “Natural Recourses”

Annex #8Activity with Animals Sounds

Topic: “Natural Recourses”

Alligator Bats Bear Woodpecker

Cat Chicks Chimpanzee Wolf

Cougar Cow Coyote Rooster

Crow Dog Dolphin Whale

Duck Elephant Flamingo Toad

Gecko Goat Grey Squirrel Hawk

Sheep Horse Hyenas Red Howler Monkey

Kitten Lamb Leopard Rattle Snake

Mosquito Owl Peacock Cricket

Pigs Raccoon Killer Whale Lion

Canary Donkey Turkey Pigeon

Cicada Frog Tiger

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31 32

33 34 35 36 37 38

39 40 41 42 43 44

45 46 47

Annex # 9Universidad NacionalSede Regional ChorotegaCampus Liberia

Seminario de Investigación e Innovación en el Campo del InglésThe Use of Authentic Materials inside the English Classroom

Students: Marisol Milanés Matamoros Randall Alvarado Navarro

ACTIVITIES

Activity’s Name: Things in Room

Aims: Learn technological

vocabulary and prepositions.

Recognizing the technology in the

daily life into the house.

Class time: 15 minutes

Preparation time: Variable (30 to

60 minutes)

Materials: Pictures of technological

objects, glue, scissors and

cardboard

Description:

BEFORE CLASS: Teacher needs to do 4 or 5 houses using the cardboard

and look for pictures of technological objects.

IN CLASS: Teacher divides the group into 4 or 5 sub-groups. Then, the

teacher gives to each group a house with some pictures of technological

objects. Later on, students have to put the pictures on the room where

they used to use the technology. At the end, students have to explain

where they glue the pictures.

Activity’s Name: Big Bingo

Aims: Recognition of vocabulary. Class time: 15 minutes

Preparation time: Variable (30

minutes to 1 hour)

Materials: cardboard, pictures,

glue, scissors and caps

Description:

BEFORE CLASS: Teacher needs to prepare 5 or 6 bingos sheets of 49

boxes. Also, teacher looks for pictures related to technological objects.

Then, he or she glues the pictures on the bingos sheets and look for caps.

IN CLASS: Teacher divides the group into 5 or 6 sub-groups. Then, the

teacher gives to each group a pictorial bingo. Teacher starts to play bingo

telling the name of the object. The first group, that finishes, is the winner.

It can be played some times.

Activity’s Name: Find the Treasure

Aims: Comprehension of clues by

reading them.

Class time: 20 minutes

Preparation time: Variable (30

minutes to 1 hour)

Materials: pictures, tape, color

papers.

Description:

BEFORE CLASS: Teacher has to prepare 10 clues for each group

(according to how many sub-groups will be divided the group). And, look

for the scenery of each clue. He or she has to decorate the class with the

scenery where students will find the clues.

IN CLASS: the teacher divides the group into sub groups and gives them

the first clue, students have to analyze the clue and find the next one.

The group, which finds the ten clues first, wins the game.

Activity’s Name: Guess what it is

Aims: Listening and Speaking.

Using simple sentences to make

descriptions for each object.

Class time: 15 minutes

Preparation time: Variable (20

minutes)

Materials: pictures

Description:

BEFORE CLASS: Teacher needs to look for pictures related to

technological objects.

IN CLASS: Teacher divides the group into 2 sub-groups. Next, each group

assigns a person who goes in front of the class and sit down on a chair.

The teacher stands behind and shows the picture with the name and the

members of the group give him or her some clues in order he or she can

guess what the object is.

Activity’s Name: Identify Flora and Fauna

Aims: Speaking. Using simple

vocabulary.

Class time: 10 minutes

Preparation time: Variable (15

minutes)

Materials: pictures

Description:

BEFORE CLASS: Teacher needs to look for pictures related to animals.

IN CLASS: Teacher shows to the whole group different kind of flora and

fauna. They have to recognize the different animals and plants.

Variation:

Teacher could change the pictures according to the topic that he / she will

develop.

Activity’s Name: Video

Aims: Speaking, listening, reading

and writing.

Class time: 15 minutes

Preparation time: Variable (15

minutes)

Materials: video, lap top, video

beam or DVD and TV

Description:

BEFORE CLASS: Teacher needs to look for the video and make up the

questions.

IN CLASS: Teacher shows to the whole group the video related to natural

resources. Students have to analyze the video and answer in a written

and oral way the questions.

Variation:

The video will be according to the topic.

Activity’s Name: Identify Animals Sounds

Aims: Listening. Matching the

sounds with the animals.

Class time: 10 minutes

Preparation time: Variable (15

minutes)

Materials: Sounds, lap top (radio),

the names of the animals and

numbers

Description:

BEFORE CLASS: Teacher needs to write down the names of the animals

and look for each animal sound.

IN CLASS: Teacher divides the group into three small groups. Each group

will have their own names paste in the wall, when they listen to the

different sounds they have to recognize the sound and glue the number in

the correct animal.

Activity’s Name: Selling Trip Package

Aims: Speaking and listening. Using

simple vocabulary.

Class time: 15 minutes

Preparation time: Variable (10

minutes)

Materials: Brochures

Description:

BEFORE CLASS: Teacher needs to look for brochures of tourist places that

offer destinations with abundant flora and fauna.

IN CLASS: Teacher divides the group into four subgroups in which each

group must have two salesmen / saleswomen that offer to the other two

different tourist places in which they can enjoy the flora and fauna. .