Foreign Language Teaching and Learning in Bangladesh. An Investigation on the impact of Authentic Material

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2012 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Miscellaneous, course: Teaching English to the Speakers of Other Languages, language: English, abstract: This research aims to find out whether there is any impact on performance when students read authentic materials beside the textbooks. Students in Bangladesh often have difficulties in learning English as a foreign language for lack of appropriate learning materials in the classroom. Too often foreign language teaching texts in our country are designed either too difficult or too easy for students. Without appropriate texts that suit them, learners spend long hours in the classroom accomplishing very little in the long run. Most of them remain weak in reading, writing, listening and speaking in English properly even after receiving higher education. Students performance varies according to the type of materials given to them. A significant amount of research shows that there is something about the type of textbooks/materials that should be looked into and evaluated carefully so that necessary adaptation can be made for effective learning to take place. When learners are introduced to variety of materials, it is necessary to understand what impact they have on the learners.