However, the use of authentic materials is sadly absent at lower levels. Of course this is not without justification. Primarily there is this kind of fear that the students will panic when faced with language that is largely unfamiliar.

Usually teachers, in order to overcome this fear, they edit the material to match the students’ level.

One of the purposes of this article is to discuss whether this is an unnecessary fear, as using authentic materials can be rewarding and stimulating for both teacher and students at all levels, even juniors.The issues which will be examined are the following:

•A definition of the term ‘authentic materials’

•The question of levels

•Some useful ‘tips’ concerning the notion of ‘pre-teaching’

•An example

•Dealing with unknown language

•Some example activities

A definition of the term ‘authentic materials’

Most people when they first think of authentic materials they usually assume that we are talking about newspaper and magazine articles.

However, the term can also include materials such as songs, web pages, radio & TV broadcasts, films, leaflets, flyers, posters, etc.

Indeed anything written in the target language and used unedited in the classroom may be considered as ‘authentic material’.

Of course, the materials used in class, depend on very specific factors: topic, target language area, skills, students needs and interests.

In other words it’s no good trying to get your students fascinated by a text on the latest political movie if they are all fans of adventure films.

The question of levels

Naturally certain texts (although authentic in nature) will lend themselves more easily to certain levels. At lower levels one may easily use leaflets, timetables, fast food and restaurant menus, short headline type reports, audio and visual advertising, or short news broadcasts.

At more intermediate levels one may also include longer articles, four or five minute TV or radio news reports, a higher quantity of shorter items, or even whole TV programmes.At more advanced levels any authentic material would do.

But … aren’t they difficult for the learners? Yes they are, but that is the main point with such materials! The selected text, written or recorded, is likely to be too hard, even for advanced students in some cases.

On the other hand though, the same happens in real life and occasionally in formal (public) exams. The methodology to be adopted, regardless of the text used, is not to edit, grade or even avoid the text, but to grade the difficulty of the task according to the students’ abilities, needs and interests.

This is so for three reasons: most importantly, it reflects the kind of situation your students may face in an English speaking environment or during a test, it saves you as a teacher time and energy since the teacher needs to work on the task/s and not on the editorial of a lengthy text and lastly, it encourages and motivates the learners when they feel that they may successfully ‘conquer’ a ‘real’ text.

Some useful ‘tips’ concerning the notion of ‘pre-teaching’

Before elementary students read or listen to a text it is important to pre-teach key vocabulary, expressions and other language difficulties so as to prevent panic.

At more intermediate levels again pre-teaching is important, although your students should be able to deal with unknown language items to some extent.

At advanced levels the students should have already acquired some techniques and tactics for dealing with unknown language items without panicking. However, it is still useful to have a few quick definitions at hand for some of the trickier parts of the text!

An example

Let me now provide a practical and classroom oriented example. I will try to prove that the same text could be used in a variety of different ways at different levels. Select a tourist information leaflet including a number of suggested excursions.

This type of material has the added advantage that it can be easily obtained for free and in multiple copies from tourist boards and agencies.

With a little pre-teaching at a lower level class the task set by the teacher may ask the learners to find out key information, for example, ‘What is the telephone number for..?’ or ‘When is..?’ ‘What can you see if you visit …?’ and so on.

At a higher level the same text could be used but the teacher may ask the learners to select the appropriate information (advantages and disadvantages) for each excursion in order to convince their classmates about the best possible excursion.So, the teacher has used the same text for both levels through grading the difficulty of the task/s set.

Dealing with unknown language

This is very important especially with lower levels. It needs to be firmly emphasised that students do not have to understand everything in a text as it is usually the case in their first language.

It is my feeling that students do not often believe this until the teacher goes through a few tasks convincing them about the validity of the specific procedure.

Teaching them the skill of dealing, managing and developing their confidence when they work with unknown language, is an important element in their development as independent learners.

Some example activities

The following are only some suggestions for you to use in class. Most of the activities described here may be adapted to more than one level when working with authentic materials.

1.Jumble the words/letters of the title of the text. Ask the students to ‘build up’ the title.

2.Ask the students to predict the content of the text by reading its title.

3. Ask the students to brainstorm the vocabulary which might be associated with the topic of the text.

4. Cut and mix the lines (sentences) of the text. Then, ask the students to listen or read the jumbled sentences and try to put them in order.

5. Ask the students to read the text and delete words creating a gap fill for their classmates.

6. Read/listen to the text to invent a title for it or a title for each paragraph.

7. Ask the students to read/listen to the text and create their own multiple choice or comprehension questions for their classmates. 8.

Ask the students to write a dialogue between the characters presented in the text.

9. Write a letter to one of the characters in the text.

10. Interview one of the characters in the text.

11. Use the text as a springboard to initiate discussions in L2 or their mother tongue for developing the students’ ideas about the topic.

12. Ask the students to role play parts or the whole situation as it is described in the text.

13. Ask the students to write a reply to the author of the text.

14. Ask the students to design posters concerning the topic of the text. Then, display the students’ work in the classroom.

15. Ask the students to give a live presentation concerning the text studied.

I think it is more than obvious that using authentic materials is a relatively easy and convenient way of improving not only the learners’ general skills, but also their confidence in a real life or exam situation.

This is only a brief introduction to the ideas involved, but some of these ideas could easily be expanded to form part of a motivating and effective course.

Akis Davanellos has been a school owner and Practitioner Teacher for twenty two years and he holds an MA in ELT from the University of Warwick in the field of ‘Change and Innovation in ELT’. He has written a number of articles in local and international journals and he has worked for international and local publishing companies presenting professional and commercial seminars and courses. He is the author of a number of books for international companies and he is the initiator and the main materials designer of the IGUANA PROJECT photocopy free and resource materials publishing house. He has also initiated the Iguana Project Educational Support System for schools (I.P.E.S.S.) offering professional / educational seminars and administration support. He has been actively involved in adult education research and he has also developed the ‘e-enilikes’ distant e-learning method for language schools suitable for adult learning needs.

<< Back