Teachers' Perceptions Towards Using Authentic Materials in English Classrooms

Abstract

This thesis entitled "Teachers’ Perceptions Towards Using Authentic Materials in the English Classrooms" aimed to explore the perceptions of teachers towards the use of authentic materials and the challenges of using authentic materials in classrooms. I used a phenomenology research design under qualitative research approach. Unstructured interviews were used as tools for data collection. To achieve the research objectives, three English language teachers from two community schools of Kirtipur Municipality were selected using a purposive non-random sampling procedure. The data were analyzed and interpreted descriptively by identifying themes. The findings of the study revealed that teachers showed a positive perception towards using authentic materials in English class at Secondary level. It was found that the use of authentic materials contributes significantly to the development of students' vocabularies. These materials help enhance students' understanding of content knowledge and support their vocabulary acquisition. Authentic materials help learners' critical thinking by exposing them to real-world language use and contexts.Teachers used authentic materials in the class in many ways. Despite benefits,teachers found some challenges in using authentic materials, such as a lack of students' capability to understand vocabulary. Teachers faced difficulties in accessing suitable authentic materials due to limited availability of reliable sources, a lot of time-consuming nature of preparing and using such authentic materials effectively in the classroom. This study contains five chapters. The first chapter deals with the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, delimitations of the study and operational definition of the key terms. The second chapter consists of a review of the theoretical and empirical literature, implications of the study and conceptual framework. Likewise, the third chapter consists of design and method of the study, population, sample and sampling strategies, research tools and techniques, data collection procedures, data analysis and interpretation procedures and ethical considerations. The fourth Chapter includes analysis of data and interpretation of the results. Then, the fifth chapter focuses on findings, conclusions and recommendations of the study. Finally, the references and appendices have been included in the last part of the study.