The role of authentic materials Content Introduction Chapter I authentic materials

Authentic Materials : Authentic Materials: An overview of Alexandro G. Martinez (2002) The term Authentic Materials and the advantages and disadvantages of their use, as well as possible sources, are related. Authentic Materials: Sometimes referred to as “real” or “contextual,” real-life materials are materials that students encounter in their daily lives but are not created for educational purposes. These include newspapers, magazines and websites, as well as driver’s guides, utility bills, medicine kits and clothing labels. Martinez mentions Widdowson’s difference between original and non-original materials. Real materials are materials created for the speaker and used in the classroom in their original form and design. In other words, they are not changed in any way. If the actual material is real material adapted for the class, e. g. confusing paragraphs, truncated headings, etc. Martinez listed the following pluses and minuses: Advantages: - Students are introduced to the real language - Most of them are actually mastered - There is no wrong language in the textbooks Real materials can be inspiring for some students - A single text can be used for a variety of activities and tasks - Real texts have a wide choice of styles, genres and formalities - They can encourage students to read for pleasure Disadvantages: - Real texts can be difficult to understand due to culture. space - vocabulary may not be fully appropriate for readers
For beginners, they are more difficult Preparing texts and lessons is often cumbersome and time consuming - There are different accents and dialects in listening - Materials wear out quickly (news) Sources of real materials Newspapers, menus, magazines, Internet, TV shows, movies, CDs, songs, brochures, comics, literature (novels, poems and stories), catalogs, flyers, tickets, postcards, promissory notes, checks, packages, recipes, business cards, labels, stamps, etc. to get real material Internet library Usually every city or university library has an English department. Not only books but also magazines and music can be found there. - When you visit a foreign country where you speak English, you should think about a great opportunity to get real materials. Challenge The British Council’s websites describe some aspects of the use of real materials.
One of them is the difficulty of such materials. They say it’s hard, but that’s the point. Also, the trick is not to assign the task according to the level of the students, not to choose the material according to the level of the students. However, leaflets, menus, tables, video and audio ads, short reports, short news are suitable for lower levels. The tasks should be much simpler and the dictionary should be introduced in advance. Excess material for intermediate levels can be longer articles and news or reports, entire TV shows. The dictionary should also be pre-taught. Any real material can be used with advanced students. It is not necessary to teach in advance, but it is good to have some explanations and definitions prepared.
Claire Kramsch had a different view of real materials. In his book Context and Culture in Language Teaching (1996), he devoted a chapter to real texts and contexts. He adds to Widdowson's definition: "It is better to consider authenticity not as an adjective present in language examples, but as an adjective created by the recipient's response. In this sense, authenticity is the reader listener and the writer ma ' is a function of the interaction between the texts that embody the intentions of the fasting person ... Reality depends on the appropriate response.
" As an example, he mentions the German menu, if it is used in an English class to read prices or to study the end of adjectives, there will be no real text. If it were used as a German menu, it would be real text. It then does not include an obligation to behave in accordance with the conventions of the speech community given cultural competence, and says that we should not want our student to behave like others or plagiarize patterns of behavior. Behavior is not a guarantee that a language speaking community will accept it. Teachers should select textbooks according to the following guidelines:
Carefully review the new book to make sure it provides a sufficient cultural perspective
2. The teacher should make a list of cultural aspects in each lesson and check whether they are positive or negative. 3. The teacher should review the exercises in detail and see if they support her cross-cultural activities. 4. He should check that the dictionary, examples, grammar structures, etc. are placed in some meaningful cultural background. 5. Check the cultural relevance of the pictures and photographs. 6. Examine the dialogues according to the cultural context. 7. Review textbooks that may be culturally biased. Check their objectivity.
Using Real Materials in Classes There are different definitions of real materials, but they have one thing in common. All definitions emphasize the fact that real materials “influence real language and apply it in their own society”. “Original materials are materials that we can use in the classroom and have not been modified in any way for ESL students” (Sanderson, 1999). Studies and surveys have shown that there are many advantages to using original materials. However, there are a number of shortcomings that teachers and students need to be aware of when using a variety of real material sources, such as newspapers, TV shows, menus, magazines, the internet, movies, songs, brochures, comics, literature, and more. The paper shows how real materials can be used at any level to suit students ’needs and knowledge. The use of real materials in the EFL classroom is something that many foreign language teachers have discussed in recent years. There are convincing voices that emphasize that the English presented in the classroom should be real, not just for learning purposes. In general, this means that the original material naturally includes language that occurs as a communication in native-speaking contexts, or rather in selected contexts where standard English is the norm: real newspaper reports , real magazine articles, real ads, cooking recipes, astrological predictions and more. Most educators around the world agree that real texts or materials are useful for the language learning process, but there is less agreement as to when the original materials will be included and how to use them in the EFL classroom. Definitions of real materials Definitions of real materials are slightly different in the literature written by different language researchers. Rogers (1988) describes real material as “appropriate” and “qualitative” in terms of goals, objectives, needs, and interests of students, and “natural” in terms of real life and meaningful communication. Harmer (1991) described authentic texts as “materials for native speakers; they are real texts; designed for language speakers, not language learners. ”Jordan (1997) refers to real texts as“ texts not written for language teaching purposes. ”Peacock (1997) uses original materials to accomplish some social purpose in a language community. what they have in common in these definitions is “the influence of real language and its application in their own society” (Widdoson, 1990), in other words, that students are exposed to language in real materials. the benefits of getting acquainted. In short, “real materials are materials that we can use in the classroom with students and that have not been modified in any way for ESL students. A classic example is a newspaper article written for an English-speaking audience ”(Sanderson, 1999). Bringing real material to class can be motivating for students as it adds an element of real life to the student’s learning experience. Real materials are important is important because it increases students ’motivation to learn, helps to introduce the student to the“ real ”language.Of course, we must always remember that we need to remember the task, not the material.This means, for example, start Instead of asking the student to read the full-page article that came to his mind, we should ask him to read the title and guess what the article will be about.