The Role of Authentic Materials in Raising ESP Students’ Motivation and Awareness. The Case of Third Year Students biology at Belhadj Bouchaib University Centre of Ain Temouchent.

Abstract

Over the last century, the requirements for learning English for specific purposes have significantly raised the intention of the educationalists to suit the evolving needs of learners who need English to perform their study or professional interests. Despite the fact that many Algerian universities and other higher institutions have heavily invested to available the suitable materials that support ESP teaching, to enhance students’ learning experience; the lack of adequate and appropriate materials remains one of the main problems encountered by both ESP teachers and students in many departments in general and in the department of biology in particular which decreases the learners' motivation to learn the target language. Thus, the present research aims at investigating the role of authentic materials in raising ESP students’ motivation and awareness. To carry out this research, a case study has been conducted in the department of biology at Belhadj Bouchaib university centre of Ain Temouchent , where third-year students and ESP teachers were selected as a sample. A questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were designed respectively to the students and the teachers to collect the necessary data. The latter were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. Hence, the main results obtained from the data collected showed that the use of authentic materials has a positive impact and plays an effective role in enhancing the students’ performance. It also showed that, the use of authentic materials may be very effective in raising biology students’ motivation and awareness. Finally, the results revealed the usefulness of the authentic based language materials in responding positively to our learners’ interests, skills achievement and language development, in addition to raising the biology students’ motivation and awareness