The Use of Authentic Materials in Teaching Reading to Secondary School Students in Malaysia: A Literature Review

Abstract

English language has been used globally. In Malaysia, to strengthen the English proficiency among the Malaysian students, English language is introduced as a compulsory subject at both primary and secondary schools and administered under the language education policy. Students in secondary school must learn the language for the sake of their future endeavours. As teachers, it is their role to grab the students’ attention to learn English language through reading. However, most of the students nowadays never show the interest to read. Various kinds of authentic materials could be used to help the students in their language acquisition and to bridge the gap between classroom knowledge and students’ capacity to participate in the real-world situation. Prior to this, the researcher finds that authentic materials are useful in enhancing the secondary school students to read and help the students to explore more knowledge from this borderless world. In accordance to encourage the students in secondary school to read, this review will expose the readers to the use of authentic materials in teaching reading, the roles of authentic materials in developing the reading skill among the secondary students, and the teachers’ role in teaching reading by using the authentic materials. Most of the findings have shown that authentic materials give positive impacts to the secondary school students to improve their reading skill. In short, the more materials the students read, the more knowledgeable they will become.