The Effect of Using Authentic English Language Materials on EFL Students’ Achievement in Reading Comprehension

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the effect of using authentic and non- authentic materials on EFL eleventh grade studentsí achievement in reading comprehension in English. The sample of the study consisted of two eleventh grade student sections in Al-Kourah Directorate of Education in Jordan. One of the two sections was randomly assigned as the control group (37 students) and the second section was assigned as the experimental group (35 students). Then a pre-test of reading comprehension was applied to examine the two groupsí equivalence in reading comprehension achieve- ment before starting the study. After treatment a post-test of reading com- prehension was applied on the two groups. The results of the study indicated that the mean scores of the experimen- tal group was significantly higher than the mean scores of the control group in the reading comprehension achievement test after twelve weeks of treat- ment. This means that the use of authentic materials had a significantly greater positive effect on the eleventh grade EFL students’ reading compre- hension achievement scores than the effect of the use of the non-authentic materials after twelve weeks of treatment.