A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Abstract

Abstract This study aimed at investigating the attitudes of the Libyan EFL university teachers and students towards using audio books to develop reading fluency. A mixed method approach was implemented to achieve and fulfil the purpose of the study. A closed-ended questionnaire and semi structured interviews were adopted to collect the required data. 70 EFL university students and 60 EFL university teachers participated in the questionnaire as well as 8 EFL Libyan university teachers were interviewed. To analyse the quantitative data of the questionnaire, SPSS was used. Also, a thematic analysis method was used for analysing the qualitative data of the interviews. The findings revealed that EFL Libyan university teachers’ attitudes towards using audio books to develop reading fluency is notably high. Teachers believe that using audio books can aid their teaching to develop reading fluency. The research findings also highlighted that EFL university students believe that audio books can be an effective teaching tool to use in class and as an out-of-class assignment to assess their learning process for reading fluency.