Resource centre - Theory and issues - Authentic Materials
Not sure whether to use authentic materials in your classroom? In this article, Julio Foppoli sums up their pros and cons...
As you all know, the main difference between authentic vs. graded materials is
that in the latter, the materials almost always revolve around a particular
structure that is presented to the student. For example, if the tense being
presented is, say, "The Past Tense", every single speaker in the dialogs or even
the texts given to the students are in that tense. It seems as if there were no
other tense in the whole world. In reality, when talking about the past, for
example, native speakers may use a wider variety of tenses, sometimes even the
present tense:
"Last night something very funny happened to me. I was walking down the street
and suddenly a man comes and looks at me in the face and says: boy, you ARE
ugly".
This is not uncommon in real life, but when it comes to graded materials, you
will never find these types of situations that resemble real-life conversations.
In spite of this, graded materials are very useful if you want to raise the
students' awareness of certain structures or patterns that may be important for
them to learn. Every single context they see will contain many instances of the
same structure which will enable them to make inferences on how they are used.
Authentic materials, on the other hand, are real in the sense that they are not
created for students as the target audience but for native speakers. The obvious
advantage, of course, is that by using authentic materials you present students
with actual everyday language, just as it appears in real life. The main
disadvantage of these materials of course, is that sometimes they are not
teacher-friendly, and you may need to spend several hours reading or watching
videos until you finally find what you need in order to use in your class. In
addition, on many occasions in a whole context or situation you may find just
one instance of what you need to present your students with. This could be
overcome if you provide students with several situations in which the pattern
appears, but again, you need to have the time to research and gather the
appropriate materials.
If time is no object to you, you may well spend some time doing this research
and you will soon find out that there's myriads of information out there that is
terrific for your classroom! However, if you have time constraints, as most
teachers unfortunately do, a balanced approach may be the solution for you. You
can use your graded materials to present the topic and later on you may find
samples of that structure in authentic materials. Mind you, this will not be
difficult due to the fact that whenever native speakers talk about something or
write about something, they make use of nearly all tenses and structures of the
language. You can even tell your class to go over some authentic texts, videos
etc. and find similar constructions. Sometimes a combination of both approaches
yields the best of both worlds. It is up to you to decide what could be the best
for your classroom.
Using Authentic Materials
ESL resources
Downloadable activities
What do you think of this article? Add a comment »
Julio Foppoli makes a valid
point regarding the use of authentic materials. I think Julio may also be very
"techno" --- so he and his students could create more online to share! Note:
myriad is already plural - doesn't need the s... :0)
While we are on the subject
of myriad(s), to be correct the phrase should read, 'there is a myriad...' But,
maybe the original is a valid grammatical structure: my dictionary entry reads,
'Myriad, noun (also Myriads)! Don't English teachers get finicky?
On the question of the article itself, the author raises some interesting
points. It really is a matter of finding that balance between the textbook
approach and real-life examples.
"Hi. Thanks for the
article. I can relate to what is said here. I have found that at Intermediate
and above, the ss can handle such a situation. I use such material especially
with writing classes as they rewrite the passage and use alternate tenses to
indicate past... Thanks.
"Spot on - at the risk of
commenting using incorrect grammar - I use nearly all authentic materials and
you really don't need lots of spare time. It's right here on the Internet.
Google is my main source, just type in your topic and hey presto! Furthermore, I
resist graded texts for lower level and this has improved my students skim
skills greatly. Try it!
"I absolutely agree with
the article because I find as a teacher I need that extra edge to make the
reading of an article that bit more interesting and the material genuine and
ungraded. Thanks for the aticle.
"There is a point in what
the article says about graded and authentic materials - reading texts from
magazines and newspapers or watching movies or the news that are not tailored to
ESL students is particularly useful and helpful. However, if students are given
authentic materials straight away it will be very hard for them to get an idea
of grammar, that's where graded materials are vitally relevant. So I suggest
using authentic materials in classes for more advanced students, who are more
aware of English grammar and won't get messed up.
"Hi friends: I appreciate
your article. It's really very important to use both authentic and graded
materials to make the ss familiar with both the rules and the real life use of
the language.
"I agree with Yelena - at
lower levels graded materials are vital for emphasising the 'rules', which are
better understood before introducing exceptions and anomalies, which could cause
unnecessary confusion. At the other end of the scale I would say authentic
materials are equally essential, as learning English at higher levels largely
has the purpose of equipping students to understand text and speech from a
'myriad' of natural sources.
"First of all, I enjoyed
the article, it's nothing that I didn't know before, but it does put things in
context of teaching/learning and resources used. I totally agree with Yelena.
The use of authentic and graded material has a lot to do with the experiences of
the child, or lack there of. Teaching younger children would require an
introduction to structures in authentic material, but later in the lesson it
would have to be targeted using the graded material. Looking for authentic
material is in fact time consuming. Where do I start looking and researching?
"I do agree that authentic
materials are beneficial for the language learning process. It is, however,
sometimes difficult to find authentic texts in a country where English is a
foreign laguage. There are some English newspapers or magazines but they are
basically written by the citizens whose English is also counted as a foreign
language. A lot of texts are written using wrong tenses and seem to contain a
direct translation, unfortunately. I, therefore, keep using graded materials for
the sake of providing the students with the right language or structure to
learn.
"It's obvious that we
should use authentic materials in teaching English. But why do you concentrate
on using them only for teaching grammar? I am convinced that it is rather useful
to provide young learners with authentic rhymes (Nursery Rhymes) and original
books for children. We don't have to explain the use of tenses while reading
such stories with little children (I mean 1st or 2nd-graders, pre-reading
stage).
"I really agree with what
Julio said, are all of these your words? Please write if there are any
quotations, thanks...
"I'm a student and I'm
doing research about teaching english by using songs... I found this topic very
interesting... thanx for helping me in my research.
"I like the article and
think such things should be done in today's classrooms in order to avoid the
monotony and to create interest in the language learning process. Could it be
possible if you send one sample song along with different ways of exploiting it
in the classroom?
"Farhan, please have a look
at these two articles and their comments for specific song ideas...
Using pop songs and
Using songs.
"Truly, it's an interesting
article for ESL & ESL teachers. I do completely agree with you that ESL & ESL
teachers should use songs in their teaching. I personally have been using songs
especially those I like (pop & slow songs); they worked well in my class and all
students loved them to the extent that they have memorized them. I would be so
grateful for more ideas about using songs in teaching because i am so interested
in this issue.
"I'm working on a thesis
about songs and I have found out that songs serve many functions and are really
useful. Can someone help me with theoretical information about the use of songs
in EFL classes?
"I am an English teacher
from Palestine. I have thought about using some songs in my classroom, but I
have one concern: Is it legal (copyright wise) to use songs by well-known
artists in the classroom, I know that record the company copyright law disallow
it, am I right? I am asking because I am Christian and want to do things
ethically.
"Thank you Mr Foppoli. Your
article manages to give me some insight into the other aspects of authentic
materials. Since my thesis is in accordance with your article, it's really
meaningful for my extended literature review. Thousands of thanks!
"I found this to be
interesting. However, I found this guy was using dictionaries and copying from
other sites. He knows some of what he is doing but he is not creating
personalized materials for students. He is using the same materials for all
students just making it a little more difficult depending on the students level.
Do not fall for this people...
"I like using songs in
class but we must remember they have to cover our objectives... so be careful
when selecting one... we need them to encourage our students into a meaningful
learning.
"The idea of using songs
for teaching English is fascinating. I have used songs in my adult classes as a
warm-up for a topic or presentation of a grammar point, but mostly in the form
of gap fills. The students find it interesting too. But I'd like to get more
professional advice on the format or on the way of presenting songs to the class
as a communicative tool. I would be grateful if any of you can help me in this
regard. Thanks!
"I should like to add some
comments regarding the use of authentic materials in L2 teaching and learning.
Authentic materials are the materials which are not specifically written for
teaching. Songs are not the only authentic materials that we encounter in real
world situations. There are many more that a L2 teacher can make use of in his
classroom teaching. There are no theoritical, empirical an pedagogical evidence
that support the claim that using songs in L2 teaching can help learners to
improve their communicative competence. Therefore, when someone says something,
you need to have research evidence to support it. I do claim that authentic
materials can have impact on learners' language skills development and several
studies have pointed out that authentic materials properly selected and
cretively devised for classroom use can help learners develop their L2
acquisition. For more inforamtion, please refer to Nunan, Krashen, Ellis,
Larsen-Freeman and other proponents of CLT.
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