The effect of using authentic materials on the spoken use of English verb tenses for English as a foreign language among Arab secondary school students in Malaysia

Many Arab learners in Malaysia, who are learning English as a foreign language (EFL), are struggling to use English language proficiently in conversations. The methodology used by the teachers is largely traditional in nature and they still use grammar translation method. This method failed to produce proficient Arabic learners in English, especially in speaking. Although some studies have been conducted on the use of authentic materials in teaching English to EFL learners,
there is lack of research on the effects of using authentic materials among Arab EFL learners. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the effect of using authentic materials on the spoken use of English verb tenses among Arab international secondary school students in Malaysia. The study also examined the ways native Arab speakers learn EFL, and the perceptions of Arab students and EFL teachers on
the use of authentic materials. The present study adopted a quasi-experimental design in which the control group which consisted of 25 students was taught using the conventional method while the experimental group of 35 students was taught English using authentic materials. The four types of authentic materials that were used are films, videos, newspapers and photos during 18 hours of experimental teaching. A speaking pre-test, a post-test and structured interviews were conducted with both groups. The data were analysed quantitatively using two non-parametric
tests, which are the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test for checking whether the data samples were matched and the Mann-Whitney test for comparing any significant difference of the means of the post-test of both groups. Findings revealed that the majority of the Arab EFL learners, who learnt English at the international secondary
school, learnt English through memorization. The teachers believed that authentic materials could help the students practice English in real life and the students were motivated in learning English. The findings showed that the experimental group performed better than the control group in using tenses in the post-test. It is concluded that the authentic materials could provide stimulating, and enriching learning experience among Arab EFL learners. The study contributed to the use of authentic materials particularly for grammar teaching in an EFL context. The EFL teachers would be able to facilitate EFL learners by improving their pedagogy in terms of creating more interesting, stimulating, interactive and engaging language
learning activities.