The Use of Authentic Materials in English Classroom

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     Should teachers use authentic materials in English foreign language (EFL) classroom? This has been the question that causes confusion to the English teachers at the time of planning their lessons because it is easier to use nonauthentic materials (i.e. materials designed for teaching purposes) instead of accepting the real challenge of teaching with authentic materials. By definition authentic materials are the materials prepared for native speakers and not designed to be used for teaching purposes (Jordan, 1997 as cited in Kelickaya, 2004). For that reason, teachers must provide the best learning opportunities to their students by selecting the appropriate material according their needs. Through the use of authentic materials, teachers prepare students for real communication by providing them real exposure to the language, acquiring cultural information, and motivating their learning.

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     Using authentic materials in EFL classroom allows students to start understanding the real use of the language in the world. The main purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to use it in real situations (Hamed & Hilal, 2014). Teachers must prepare students with a huge variety of contexts that help students to express in many ways their opinions instead of preparing robots with limited options. The way of accomplishing this objective is through the use of authentic materials which creates better speakers of a second language. In addition, students learn not only the real language but also they acquire and foster their cultural knowledge.

 

     Cultural information helps students know the context that surrounds the language. The advantage of using authentic materials is that learners have the sense that the real language which is used for communication is being learnt opposed to classroom language (Hamed & Hilal, 2014). As they are not designed with teaching purposes, students acquire a variety of language features such as structures and vocabulary. However, some researchers find this as a disadvantage because authentic materials often contain difficult language, unneeded vocabulary items, and complex language structures (Richards, 2001).Consequently, students feel de-motivated and frustrated for their lack of lexical items and structures (Kelickaya, 2004). Therefore, the teacher has the option of solving doubts about those problems or to adapt the original version of the authentic material to suit with the objectives. The reason of applying or adapting these materials is to raise interest and motivation on the students.

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     Authentic materials affects the students learning process by increasing their motivation. Students enjoy dealing with the real language and its use since they are able to understand them (Kelly, et al. as cited in Dahmardeh, 2011, p. 77). As a result, the authentic materials encourage students to try to understand somehow a little bit more than before so it increases their interest and confidence when the complete comprehension is achieved. Authentic materials also provide an element of surprise in which students have the opportunity to experience with some real examples of English use (Graham, 2015). Using real English examples, creates a real setting in which interesting topics are shared as in real life situations therefore, students lose their fear of being in a real English setting. It also refreshes the common English classes in which the nonauthentic materials are focused only in highlighting the target language instead of focusing in communicating a message.

 

     Teaching with authentic materials not only increases students' confidence but also provides them real exposure to the language, to cultural information of English contexts and to motivation in their learning process. In spite of these benefits some teachers still believe that nonauthentic materials are better to teach at least to English beginners. This statement must not be an excuse to not use authentic materials in EFL classroom because teachers can find good authentic materials which fits with the students' needs. Finally, preparing the adequate material for learners' level should help them to interact not only in the classroom setting but also in real life setting which can be achieved easier through the use of the authentic materials.

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REFERENCES

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Dahmardeh, M., (2011). Authentic or not? A case study on the role of authenticity in English language teaching in Iran: Journal of English language teaching and learning, 5 (7). Retrieved from http://elt.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_620_d98b83fffe3d9321cf6e5ee1129fba00.pdf

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Graham, M,. (2015). Authentic materials: A motivational tool for the EFL classroom: Educational and Linguistic Reasearch, 1 (2) Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/elr.vli2.8488

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Hamed, R. & Hilal, M., (2014). The effect of using authentic materials in teaching: International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 3(10). Retrieved from http://www.ijstr.org/final-print/oct2014/The-Effect-Of-Using-Authentic-Materials-In-Teaching.pdf

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Kilickaya, F., (2004). Authentic materials and cultural content in EFL classrooms: The Internet TESL Journal, 10(7). Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kilickaya-AutenticMaterial.html

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Richards, J. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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