| As we know,language input materials are the foundation of language learning for EFL(English as Foreign language)learners.It is clear that most language input materials of textbooks used in classroom are un-authentic,edited or simplified.They are far from reflecting real language and lose its authenticity.Therefore,many scholars suggested that authentic materials be used in language learning.Exposure to authentic materials can help students better understand the target culture and envision how they might participate in communicative activities.The paper is to investigate the effect of authentic reading materials on improving students' reading ability and enhancing their interest.The paper is conducted over a period of fourteen weeks.It involves 240 freshman in Heilongjiang Ba Yi Agricultural University,whose major is engineering.They were divided into 3 groups according to their teaching classes: students in the control group using the traditional textbook;students in experimental group 1 using authentic materials;and students in experimental group 2 using authentic materials as well as textbooks.After the 14 weeks teaching,240 students were tested by CET4.In addition,all of the students received a questionnaire to measure their motivation at the beginning and end of the course.Using the Univariate Analysis of Variance of SPSS software,we could come to the conclusion that we should use a combination of both authentic materials and textbooks as input materials to improve the students reading ability and enhance their interest in language learning.From class observation,the researcher finds that the students in control group had less interest in what they were reading and became less involved in class discussions.But in the experimental groups,students had greater interest in reading materials and became more involved in class discussions.The paper testifies the effect of authentic materials in language learning and therefore they should be used as language input materials. |
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