Novel, the part of language teaching and learning in English Education Department of UMY, has been used in some classes as teaching material. The authenticity of the novel is the factor why the lecturers use novel as one of the materials in the class. The consideration is made due to the need of the students toward the English exposure. Some students of English Education Department of UMY misunderstood about the context of using authentic material especially novel in language learning classes. The aim of this research is to dig deeper about the students’ perception toward the use of English novel as teaching material. Thus, the researcher categories the research question into three aims. The first aim is identifying the advantage of reading novel toward students’ language improvement, second, is identifying the challenges that students faced, and the last is identifying the strategies used by the students. To obtain the data, the researcher conducted qualitative research using descriptive qualitative approach. The participants of the research were four students of English Education department of UMY in 6th semester, or those who had taken some courses which the lecturer used novel as teaching material. Finally, the researcher found some benefit of using novel as the material in reading classes such as increase their comprehension, their skills, and their interest in reading. Otherwise some challenges were also found from the statement of the participants, for instance the challenges come from the language and the learner learning style toward the use of English novel. Nevertheless, the students have some strategies to overcome their problem due to understanding the context of the novel, they used cognitive, social, and compensation strategy as the technique to overcome their challenges. viii Yet, regarding to the benefits and the strategies which they have, English novel is a good teaching material that can support them in language learning process.