Using Authentic Materials to Improve English - Major Students’ Reading Comprehension: An Experimental Research Project at a Vietnamese College

Abstract

This experimental research study aims at investigating the effectiveness of authentic materials (AM) in reading comprehension. The participants include 30 English - majored students, evenly divided into two groups: a control group using only coursebook and an experimental group using AM in eight weeks. Both groups took a pre-test and a post-test, and then the experimental group was interviewed. The findings showed that the experimental group exposed to authentic materials achieved better results at reading comprehension. They also mentioned some benefits of authentic materials such as updated contents, interesting writing stylse, various cultural values, global knowledge and cooperative skills. Some recommendations were provided, including teachers’ implementation of various AM genres with the communicative teaching method, and students’ involvement in reading activities such as discussing reading texts of interest with their peers.