Effects of Using Authentic Materials on English Vocabulary Knowledge and Vocabulary Retention of Grade 11 Students

Abstract

This research aimed to compare the students’ English vocabulary knowledge before and after being taught using authentic materials and to study the students’ English vocabulary retention after being taught using authentic materials. The subjects were 40 Grade 11 students studying at one of secondary
schools in Trang. They were selected by the purposive sampling. The research was carried out for ten weeks of twenty class periods. The instruments were ten lesson plans, an English vocabulary knowledge and an English vocabulary retention test. The data were statistically analyzed by means, standard deviation and t-test for dependent samples. It was found that the students being taught by using authentic materials gained higher posttest mean scores than the pretest mean scores with statistical significance at the .01 level and the students’ vocabulary retention mean scores after the 2 weeks and 4 weeks of experiment were not significantly different at the .01 level. It can be signified that using authentic materials can enhance the students’ English vocabulary and vocabulary retention.