EFL LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE USE OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS FOR READING COMPREHENSION IN IELTS PREPARATION COURSES

DOI: 10.18173/2354-1075.2023-0079

Tóm tắt

Teaching materials in IELTS preparation courses are considered as a focal concern of both IELTS teachers and material designers. In the meantime, authentic materials emerge as one of the possible sources for learning and teaching IELTS reading skills. However, the application of such non-pedagogical materials as reading texts has received considerable controversy. This research aimed to explore EFL learners’ perceptions of the roles of authentic material use for reading comprehension in IELTS courses. A group of 150 learners from a language center in Ho Chi Minh City were recruited to answer a questionnaire and ten of them participated in semi-structured interviews. The quantitative data was processed by the SPSS software, while the qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. The findings revealed that EFL learners agreed on the important roles of authentic material utilization for reading comprehension classes. Moreover, they had positive perceptions of the roles of authentic materials for reading comprehension, leading to the implication that real-life materials can be a feasible and efficacious type of material for IELTS reading classes.