A Study On Authentic Materials For College Non-English Majors

Since the 1990s, the trend in second language learning has been shifted from the use of artificial material to the use of authentic material. However, in China, authentic material is rarely used because of big classes and the fact of shortage of teachers. Textbooks, among which many are out of date, can not meet students' needs.This paper begins with a brief literature review of the related study both in China and in the west. A total of 133 freshmen of non-English majors and 13 teachers from two universities (Zhengzhou University of Light Industry and Shandong University of Finance) participated in the study. Based on the previous study in this field, the present study attempts to answer four research questions.(1) What's college non-English majors' and their English teachers' attitude towards using traditional textbooks and authentic material?(2) Is authentic material able to increase class motivation?(3)What are teachers' roles and students' roles if authentic materials are used in EFL classrooms?(4) What are the challenges faced by teachers and students?The researcher uses a series of instruments to ensure the quality of the study. Questionnaires are used to get a clear understanding about students' and teachers' attitude towards their books and authentic material. Teachers' logs are mainly adopted to see whether authentic material can increase class motivation and what are the teachers' and students' roles in the process of authentic material use. Teachers' and students' interviews and class observations are also utilized to see what challenges they meet.After the data analysis by using NUD*IST (version N6) qualitative data analysis software and quantitative data analysis method, several substantial findings come to light. (1) In EFL classrooms, the use of authentic material is greatly accepted and welcomed by students and teachers as a whole. For them, in each class there is something new to expect and this offers a kind of freshness. This makes much a difference to their learning.(2) Authentic material is able to increase students' motivation. By using authentic material, students not only have access to the latest news, hottest topics and material concerning their needs and interests but also participate in the work of seeking information and some of them even begin to think independently about some issues. Sense of achievement derives from authentic material enables them to endear English. There is actual use for them to study English instead of only studying English for tests.(3) Benefits for students are inevitable. During the process, students shift their traditional roles of inactive listeners and passive receivers into active participants, debaters and sometimes decision makers. They learn from their peers, from the material chosen by their teachers, the material sought by themselves much more than what they learn from what their teachers said. Better self-esteem is built up. Autonomous learning is promoted. Engage students in collaborative, project-based learning in which students work with other classmates on complex, extended, real-world-like problems or projects. Although meeting difficulties, their ability of searching desirable information on line and use it for essay writing is improved, which forms good foundation for their future academic reading and writing(4) Teachers' abilities are meeting challenges. With authentic material, English teachers can not just enjoy themselves by waiting for everything to be prepared at hand as they used to. Conversely, in the whole process, their reading is greatly expanded; their capability of cooperation with colleagues and interactive ability with students are both improved; their tries in designing tasks enable them to ponder more beyond their daily teaching. All the hardships teachers in the research endured can be great resources for their professional development.There are some limitations with this research. For example, sample group is not big enough. However, authentic material can serve as an outstanding alternative for traditional teacher-centered model. It will help to promote the use of authentic material in EFL classrooms and a more systematic and scientific way of using authentic material. Moreover, the author also put forth a suggestion of building a database for a larger population to use and systematic training for teachers to use authentic material more effectively.