Students’ perceptions on the benefits of authentic materials through technology in English listening comprehension

Abstract

The use of didactic materials in teaching has been an important issue throughout the history of education. Considering the constant educational innovations, authentic materials have been effective tools for developing listening comprehension skills. Recent studies have shown that use of authentic materials through technology in teaching have highlighted the need to analyse their effects in Learning the English Language. In this sense, the present research aims to figure out the seventh-grade students’ perceptions on the benefits of authentic materials through technology in the improvement of their listening comprehension skills at an elementary school in Loja city during the 2022-2023 school year. For this reason, the researcher applied an action research model approach with a questionnaire to gather quantitative and qualitative data, which were interpreted and analysed by using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The results showed that students agreed that authentic materials like songs, cartoons, conversations, TED talks, and documentaries helped them to acquire the language, keep them motivated, develop their interaction with their classmates, feel comfortable, and improve their listening skills. Therefore, it was concluded that seventh-grade students positively perceived the use of authentic materials provided through technology.