The impact of authentic material use on 8th grade students' attitudes towards EFL learning

Abstract

This research aims to find data to see if authentic materials have an impact on the attitudes of 8th-grade students in EFL lessons. English teaching has undergone significant changes and shifts within the past few decades, and the current generation of teachers and students is more dependent on the latest technologies for teaching and learning. For that reason, teachers of English nowadays use a wide range of teaching resources and materials to fulfil their students' interests and learning styles. This paper focuses on the impact of authentic materials on 8th-grade learners‘ attitudes towards their learning contexts in EFL settings i, a topic of significant relevance in the current educational landscape. The study was conducted for eight weeks during the Autumn semester of the 2023 – 2024 educational year. The research sample comprised forty-seven 8th-grade students studying at Private Diyarbakir Bil College Secondary School. As data collection tools, an attitude scale towards an English course, diaries and semi-structured interviews were utilized. The quantitative data was analyzed by using SPSS program by means of related non parametric tests. The qualitative data was analyzed by means of content analysis. The emergent themes and their sub codes were extracted and the frequencies were given in the related tables. The results of the study showed that there was almost no statistically significant difference between the control group and experimental group after an 8-week activity though the experimental group only had a slight improvement in their attitude towards use of authentic materials. The qualitative data showed that both groups were in favour of use of authentic materials but some external factors like LGS exam, exam anxiety or family pressures about that exam and so on were various factors having an impact on their general English learning route or mood.