The importance and special peculiarity of the use of authentic materials in EFL

Nowadays, the use of authentic materials plays an important role in the development of listening comprehension. The notion of authenticity has been much discussed. Marrow’s definition will serve us well. He relates it to “a stretch of real language produced by a real speaker or writer for a real audience and designed to carry a real message of some sort.”(1977:13) If students are to use the language to communicate effectively in the real world, Rogers and Medley (1988) propose that students have to experience the language as it is used for real communication among native speakers. This can be done through the use of aural authentic materials in the language classroom.

Harmer (1983:146) says that authentic texts (either written or spoken) are those which are designed for native speakers: They are real text designed not for language students, but for the speakers of the language in question. Nunan (1989:54) thinks that a rule of thumb for authenticity here is any material which has not been specifically produced for the purposes of language teaching. Furthermore, Gilman and Moody (1984) recommend that the teacher should use authentic materials in implementing listening comprehension training not only at advanced level but with students at the beginning and intermediate levels.

According to Gebhard (1996), authentic materials can be classified into three categories:

• 1 .Authentic Listening-Viewing Materials: TV commercials, quiz shows, cartoons, news clips, comedy shows, movies, soap operas, professionally audiotaped short stories and novels, radio ads, songs, documentaries, and sales pitches.

• 2 .Authentic Visual Materials: slides, photographs, paintings, children’ artwork, stick-figure drawings, wordless street signs, silhouettes, pictures from magazine, ink blots, postcard pictures, wordless picture books, stamps, and X-rays.

• 3 .Authentic Printed Materials: newspaper articles, movie advertisements, astrology columns, sports reports, obituary columns, advice columns, lyrics to songs, restaurant menus, street signs, cereal boxes, candy wrappers, tourist information brochures, university catalogs, telephone books, maps, TV guides, comic books, greeting cards, grocery coupons, pins with messages, and bus schedules. Here, we mainly focus on the authentic listening materials. Compared with non-authentic listening materials, authentic listening materials have the advantage of exposing students to the real language—language used in real life. This can be seen clearly by looking at the different features of the two kinds of materials.

• S . Haines (1995) considers the following to be the advantages of authentic materials:

• •     Authentic texts have a communicative purpose unrelated to the

language teaching itself

• •      Most texts are aimed at particular target listeners, who may be

expected to react to the text in some way

• •      Authentic texts help students to develop listening strategies

As the speech is the perfect example of real spoken language there are many forms and ways of working on it: Paying attention to the accent, working out the pitch of the voice, activities based on commonly used and useful phrases or expressions.

Disadvantages of authentic materials are:

• •      The enormous difficulties that sometimes affect the motivation of

students and lower the teaching process because of the negative influence

• •     The low level of matching with teaching program. (It is not easy to

choose the material matching with necessary topics, vocabulary and grammar)

• •     Most of the taught language rules are broken in them

• •     They have much background and technical noise

• •    Authentic texts are soon out of date

These disadvantages are not characteristic to any of the materials designed for special teaching purposes, though they are less natural or interesting. Consequently, both types of material (authentic or non-authentic) can be satisfactorily used in teaching, but as authentic ones are more effective in the development of listening comprehension. Authentic materials help Students Bridge the gap between the classroom and the outside world. Many students enroll in school to learn or improve a language-related task, such as helping a child with homework or speaking English at work. Others enroll because they have personal long-term goals that involve education, such as becoming an engineer or business owner.

The first step in using authentic materials is identifying students’ needs and goals. Teachers can do this in a variety of ways: scheduling, intake interviews with students, conducting weekly learner focus groups and discussions, administering written needs assessment surveys, etc. Invite students to participate in the process of identifying authentic materials. They may consider these materials inappropriate for school, based on their earlier academic experiences or their cultural perspectives. Teachers can engage them in conversations about the rationale for using authentic materials and ask them to collect and bring authentic materials to class to support their learning goals. Many teachers have a habit of collecting authentic materials wherever they go in the community.

Authentic texts vary by type, region, and context. Research tells us that students will benefit more from using local authentic materials than using ones that are a step removed from their lives (Jacobson, Degener, and Purcell-Gates, 2003). For example, generic charts and maps from life skills textbooks may not be as motivating to students as the local theater schedule, local rainfall charts, or the municipal bus map.

Moreover, it is important to use materials in authentic ways, not in traditional school-based ways. The purpose or function of authentic materials often will determine how teachers use them. For example, it is far more beneficial to use a current newspaper to search for relevant information, such as what the weather will be tomorrow or the best place to buy new tires, than it is to use an outdated newspaper to locate proper nouns. Keeping authenticity at the forefront, teachers can help students: Create and update personal calendars and address books, Write postcards they will mail after class, Make shopping lists they will use that evening, and Respond to e-mail from their children’s teachers.

language Teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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