Exploiting Authentic Materials for Developing Writing Skills at Secondary Level – An Experimental Study

Abstract

The present study intends to scrutinize the efficacy of authentic materials for enhancing writing skills of the second language assimilators at secondary level in Pakistan. Authentic materials are very interesting, absorbing and motivating. Change and variety is something very important for human development and upbringing. Authentic materials can serve this purpose very well.

Moreover, authentic materials are diverse in nature and have a range of things to offer. There is a great diversity of materials available in newspapers, broadcasts, magazines etc in the form of advertisements, cartoons, bulletins, horoscopes, weather reports etc. Such materials will acquaint them not only with the language but also with the culture and value system of the country concerned.

The objectives of the research would be to improve the writing skills, arouse the element of curiosity, make them more motivated to learn the language skills, bring something of the everyday world into the classroom and to remove the monotony of the contrived texts.

Various data collection techniques employed during the course of the study would be class observations, practical teaching to a group of students and through a teacher’s questionnaire. The researcher strongly believes that this study would strengthen the belief in the use of authentic materials for developing writing skills and would have lasting implications on the writing classroom.