Abstract:
This study aimed at investigating the effect of authentic reading materials on developing and retaining secondary school students' vocabulary. The descriptive-research design used incorporated both qualitative and quantitative instruments to accomplish the objectives of the study, employing interviews with educational experts, questionnaire to English language teachers in both schools and universities. The study also used a pre-test and post-test given to secondary school students. The population sampling involved 332 English language teachers from both schools and universities, 30 female secondary school students from Alemtiaz secondary school as a case study and 10 educational experts whose experiences exceed 15 years. The results analysis showed that most of English language teachers and educational experts had positive attitudes towards the use and the impact of authentic reading materials on the secondary school students. Experimental and controlled groups, consist of 15 students for each group. A test, containing authentic reading materials, was given for the two groups. The mean differences measured by (t-test) in the students results was noticeable seen. The results also showed that the two pairs showed significant mean differences before and after the test (0.018) for the controlled group and (0.000), the (t) value of the experimental group (9.102) is greater than that of the controlled group (2.685). The findings showed that authentic materials affect positively on enriching and retaining secondary school students' vocabulary. The findings also showed that English language teachers and educational experts have positive attitudes towards the use of authentic materials. The study concludes by some recommendations and suggestions for further studies.
