Date of Graduation
1990
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
The major purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the effects of using authentic materials as textbooks supplements on foreign language students' attitude, motivation, and culture and language achievement. Crawford-Lange and Lange's integrative process (1984) was used as a framework because it integrates the teaching of language with the teaching of culture. Forty-three students enrolled in their second semester of Spanish participated in the investigation. Four intact classes were used in the study and were randomly assigned to either the control or the experimental group. A traditional first-year Spanish textbook was used to teach all classes and the same content was covered. The experimental group received additional instruction with authentic materials collected, organized and prepared for classroom use by this investigator. A modified form of the Foreign Language Attitude Questionnaire (FLAQ) of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages was used to measure students' attitude toward the study of foreign languages and cultures, their initial types of motivation, skill preferences, and satisfaction. The same test served as pretest and post-test. Achievement pretest and post-tests were constructed by the experimenter and were administered to all students. The post-test was validated by eighteen Spanish professors and was used to measure language and culture achievement. While the analysis of the data indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups, the experience of those involved in the project was quite positive. Students, in general, responded favorably to the use of authentic materials. It is possible to integrate authentic materials into elementary college and high school foreign language classes to provide a cultural component and to facilitate practice of linguistic forms. The teacher's role in the selection of materials and preparation of tasks is of paramount importance. The linguistic and cultural content of authentic materials should be integrated into the testing program.
Recommended Citation
Gonzalez, Olgalucia Gaitan, "Teaching language and culture with authentic materials." (1990). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 8927.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/8927