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TITLE:
AUTHENTIC MATERIALS AS AN INNOVATIVE RESOURCE
TO IMPROVE READING SKILL
Research-based
Journal
Article
as
a
previous
requirement
to
obtain
the
Bachelors
Degree
in
Sciences
of
Education,
English
Language
Specialization
AUTHOR:
ERIKA LUCA GONZLEZ CARRIN
THESIS ADVISOR:
DRA.MG CARMEN ENITH DVILA VEGA
Loja Ecuador
2016
The Researcher
Thesis Advisor
and level of English by using the theory as a guide for all the classes. Authentic
materials provide students a real reading practice and a real contact with the
language getting in this way students attention easily. This research-based journal
article presents the objectives of the research, the review of the literature, the
methodology of the research, the conclusions and recommendations and the
bibliography.
Objectives
General
To research the theoretical and methodological references about Authentic
Materials and its implementation to improve reading skills.
Specific
To design and apply an intervention plan with a compilation of Authentic
Materials in order to improve reading skills among 2nd year students of
bachillerato, at Fernando Surez Palacio High School, during the school year
2014-2015.
Review of the Literature
Authentic Materials
Richards (2001) holds that authentic materials refer to the use in teaching of
text, photographs, videos selection, and other teaching resource that were not
specially prepared for educational purposes, but its use is worthy.
In accordance with a study carried out by Chvez (1998), learners enjoy
dealing with authentic materials since they enable them to interact with the real
language and its use.
Kinds of authentic materials
Amjad (2004), states that there are some kinds of authentic materials like:
newspapers, flyers, schedules, brochures, election materials, among others.
Newspapers
While many workbooks have detailed simulations of newspaper content (e.g.,
TV schedules, help wanted sections), their use is limited to the pedagogical aim of
the lesson. Students cannot use the content of the simulated newspaper. However,
with this resource used in higher scales, the experience and challenge are immense.
Flyers, brochures and schedules
Of all the types of informational brochures available, students seem to be most
interested in reading the health-related brochures, and also in some classes also
reported working with schedules, such as bus schedules.
Election Materials
Campaign literature comes in many formats, from bumper stickers and simple
handbills to longer statement pieces. These are available from candidates and
party campaign These are very helpful in getting student to understand the
structure of the ballot and the process of actually voting.
It is concluded that the sources of authentic materials that can be used in the
classroom are infinite, but the most common are newspapers, magazines, TV
programs, movies, songs and literature. However, it is important to say that one of
the most useful tools to get those materials is the Internet. On the web, both
teachers and students have access to several Facebook images, menus of
restaurants, tourist guides, song lyrics, and biographies of artists, among many
others.
Activities to apply with authentic materials
Charles, Lawrence, Offner, & Vorland (2012) suggest various activities to
apply when using authentic materials. Here are four examples of effective
activities with brief explanations:
Word Search: The students search for parts of speech such as adjectives on a
given page or search for certain categories of things. An advantage of this activity
is that students do not need identical copies of the authentic material.
Crosswords: The teacher prepares a crossword puzzle using words from the
handout. The questions for the handout can also be presented as crossword clues.
Crossword generating programs found on the Internet make this easy.
Personalizing: The students write a list of purchases for an imaginary party using
a supermarket handout, plan a trip using a travel brochure or plan a meal with a
menu. The students could also be asked to fill out a mail order form with an
imaginary order of purchases for family members, boyfriends, girlfriends, and
themselves.
Pair Practice: The students ask and answer the printed questions on the handout
and are encouraged to ask their own questions. The students can role-play the
parts of customer and clerk either following a sample conversation provided by
the teacher or making up their own.
All the activities mentioned in the previous lines are really useful and teachers
could include them in their teaching process. Authentic materials help students to
develop reading and engage learners because of the authenticity and content.
Students feel really motivated and enjoy learning to read with these resources.
Reading Skill
According to Swaffar (2010), three prominent ideas emerge as most critical for
understanding what "to read" means:
The process results from a negotiation of meaning between the text and its
reader.
Reading Aspects
In accordance with Tyner (2012), author of the book The Literacy Jigsaw
Puzzle, there are five aspects to the process of reading: phonics, phonemic
awareness, vocabulary, reading comprehension and fluency. These five aspects
work together to create the reading experience.
Phonics- is the connection between sounds and letter symbols. It is also the
combination of these sound-symbol connections to create words.
Phonemic Awareness- phonemic awareness is the understanding that words are
created from phonemes (small units of sound in language).
Vocabulary: the stock of words used by a particular person, or group, language,
or profession.
Reading Comprehension: is the most complex aspect of reading. It not only
involves all of the other four aspects of reading, it also requires the reader to draw
upon general thinking skills.
Fluency: Fluency is a readers ability to read with speed, accuracy and
expression.
Methodology
This action research work was supported with an intervention plan of 8 lesson
plans carried out during a period of two months. The data collection instruments
were a pre and a post-test, a pre and post questionnaire, observation checklists and
a field diary, which were applied at the beginning, during and after intervention.
The tests were guided to determine students reading level in English, specifically
in the following reading aspects: phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary,
reading comprehension and fluency. The questionnaires helped to obtain
information about students attitudes and feelings towards the implementation of
authentic materials. During the intervention, the researcher obtained data that was
useful to demonstrate the effectiveness of authentic materials to improve reading
skills among students. In relation to the methodology employed, the descriptive
method was suitable to describe the different phases of the study and the kind of
resources used by the researcher. Additionally, the analytic-synthetic method was
useful to analyze and interpret the obtained results of the tests and questionnaires.
Findings/Results
Based on the findings of the research, results show that implementing authentic
materials as an innovative resource had a meaningful impact on improving
students reading skill. This improvement is reflected in the significant increase of
the students mean from the pretest to the post-test mean as well as in the
questionnaires.
The questionnaire was an instrument done by the researcher. It was applied at
the beginning and at the end of the intervention. The post questionnaire was used
to collect students attitudes and feelings about the implementation of authentic
materials to improve reading skills. Learners accepted the plan completely and it
was also showed in their answers. However, this research-based journal article
presents the question that got the most significant and important change before
and after the application of the intervention plan (Question 2: Use of authentic
materials in the class).
Table 3
Use of Authentic Materials in Class.
f
0
23
23
Yes
No
Total
Pre-Questionnaire
%
0
100
100
Post-Questionnaire
f
%
23
100
0
0
23
100
Figure 2
100%
100%
80%
Pre. Q
60%
Post. Q
40%
20%
0%
0%
0%
Yes
No
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Amjad,
R.
(2014).
Knowledge
Inn.
Retrieved
from:
http://kninn.blogspot.com/2014/10/explain-different-activities-basedon.html [04-05-2015]
Berardo, S. (2006). The use of authentic materials in the teaching of reading. In
Reading
Matrix.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/berardo/article.pdf [07-05-2015]
Byrnes, H. (2004). Teaching reading. In National Capital Language Resource
Center.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/reading/reindex.htm [07-05-2015]
Charles , K., Lawrence , K., Offner, M., & Vorland, B. Effective Ways to Use
Authentic Materials. In The Internet TESL Journal. Retrieved from:
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kelly-Authentic.html [07-05-2015]
Dennis , D. (2013). Glendale Community College. In Reading better and faster.
Retrieved from: http://english.glendale.cc.ca.us/speed1.html [07-05-2015]
Guariento, W., & Morley. (2001). Text and task authenticity in the EFL
classroom. ELT Journal.
Guthrie, J. (2001). Contexts for engagement and motivation in reading In
Reading
Online.
Retrieved
from:
http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=/articles/hand
book/guthrie/index.html [02-05-2015]
Jacobson , E., Degener , S., & Purcell-Gat, V. (2013). Creating Authentic
Materials and Activities for the Adult Literacy Classroom. NCSALL .
Lamb , A., & Johnson, L. (2001). Skimming and scanning. In 42 explore.
Retrieved from: http://42explore.com/skim.htm [02-05-2015]
Swaffar , J. (2010). Foreign Language Teaching Methods. In What is reading?
Retrieved from: http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/reading/01/ [0105-2015]
S. Pang, E., Muaka, A., B. Bernhardt, E., & L. Kamil, M. (2003). Teaching
reading. Brussels, Belgium: Educational Practices Series.
Shank, C. (2015). Identifying strenghts and weaknesses. In WVA Adulted
Instructor Handbook. Retrieved from: http://tinyurl.com/peb6lm6
Tyner, B. (2012). Identifying the Critical Pieces of Literacy Instruction- The
Literacy Jigsaw Puzzle . Newark: International Reading Association.
TTULO:
MATERIALES AUTNTICOS COMO UN RECURSO INNOVADOR
PARA MEJORAR LAS HABILIDADES DE LECTURA
Artculo
cientfico
basado
en
investigacin
como
un
requisito
previo
para
obtener
el
ttulo
de
licenciado
en
Ciencias
de
la
Educacin,
mencin
Idioma
Ingls.
AUTOR:
ERIKA LUCA GONZLEZ CARRIN
DIRECTORA DE TESIS:
DRA.MG CARMEN ENITH DVILA VEGA
Loja Ecuador
2016
1
2
Investigador
Director de tesis
Leer es entender textos que han sido escritos. Es una actividad compleja que
implica percepcin y pensamiento. Leer no es una actividad simple, ya que no
slo supone el acto de tomar un libro y leerlo, implica realizar un conjunto de
actividades en nuestro cerebro y relacionar smbolos y signos para dar significado
a un texto. Adems, est relacionado a la comprensin y ello requiere
Aspectos de la lectura
Segn Tyner (2012), autor del libro The Literacy Jigsaw Puzzle, existen
cinco aspectos del proceso de lectura: fnica, fontica, vocabulario, comprensin
lectora y fluidez. Estos cinco aspectos trabajan en conjunto para crear la
experiencia lectora.
Fnica.- es la conexin entre los sonidos y smbolos de las letras. Es tambin la
combinacin de stas conexiones smbolo-sonido para crear palabras.
Fontica.- fontica es el comprender que las palabras son creadas a partir de
fonemas (pequeas unidades de sonido en un idioma).
Vocabulario.- el conjunto de palabras utilizadas por una persona particular,
grupo, idioma o profesin.
Comprensin lectora.- es el aspecto ms complejo de la lectura. Este no slo
implica los otros cuatro aspectos de la lectura, sino tambin supone que el lector
se aproxime a destrezas de pensamiento generales.
Fluidez.- Fluidez es la habilidad para leer con velocidad, exactitud y expresin.
Metodologa
Este trabajo de investigacin estuvo apoyado con un plan de intervencin de 8
planes de clase llevados a efecto durante un perodo de dos meses. Los
instrumentos de recoleccin de datos fueron pruebas y cuestionarios, hojas de
observacin, y un diario de campo que fueron aplicados antes, durante y despus
del plan de intervencin.
Las pruebas fueron orientadas a determinar el nivel de lectura en Ingls,
especficamente en las siguientes aspectos: fnica, fontica, vocabulario,
comprensin lectora y fluidez.
Si
No
Total
f
0
23
23
Cuestionario previo
%
0
100
100
Cuestionario posterior
f
%
23
100
0
0
23
100
Figura 2
Uso de Materiales Autnticos en clase
100%
100%
100%
80%
Cuestionario
Pre.
Q
previoC
60%
Cuestionario
Post.
Q
posterior
40%
20%
0%
0%
0%
Si
No
Interpretacin y Anlisis
Basados en los datos indicados en la tabla anterior, es evidente que los
materiales autnticos no son tomados en cuenta antes del plan de intervencin.
Aquello indica que los profesores solamente utilizan el libro de lectura que les es
provisto. De esta manera, los estudiantes nos tienen oportunidades significativas
para leer otro tipo de materiales interesantes en Ingls.
A pesar de ello, despus de la intervencin todos los estudiantes sostuvieron
que estos materiales han sido utilizados (por el investigador) durante el perodo de
aplicacin y su inters por leer se increment significativamente al 100%.
Berardo (2006), asegura que las oportunidades para tener un contacto con el
idioma real o para conocer informacin cultural de pases del extranjero es
reducida si los materiales autnticos no son utilizados en la enseanza.
Conclusiones y Recomendaciones
-
BIBLIOGRAFA
Amjad,
R.
(2014).
Knowledge
Inn.
Recuperado
http://kninn.blogspot.com/2014/10/explain-different-activities-basedon.html [04-05-2015]
de:
DIRECTORA DE TESIS
AUTOR DE TESIS
10