By Prof. Karen Dennis Stewart
FeritKilickaya states that the material written in this document aims to answer the question of when and how authentic materials should be used in EFL, and how cultural content may be included in the curriculum.
Athentic Materials: Definition
Authintic materials is slightly different in literature.
- They have a positive effecton learner motivation.
- They provide authentic cultural information.
- They provide xposurw to real language.
- They relate more closely to learners' needs.
- They support a more creative approach to teaching
Desadvantages of Using Authentic Materials
The write Richards (2001, p. 253) points out that authentic materials often contains difficult language, unneeded vocabulary items and complex language structures, that causes a burden for the teacher in lower level classes. Also, another writer, Martinez (2002) mentions that authentic maeterial may be too culturally based and many structures are mixed.
Using Authentic Materials: At Which Level?
Guariento and Morley (2001) states that at post-intermediat level, the use of authentic material is available for use in the classroom. Matsuata states that the use of authentic materials is a burden for the instructors teching beginning students as they have to spend a lot of time to prepare for authetic materials regarding the hability level of the students. But, according to the survey carried out by Chevez (1998), learners enjoy dealing with authentic materials since they enagle them to interact with the real language and its use.
What Can be Done to Overcome Difficulties We Face?
The writer Martinez (2002) suggest that teachers may use authentic materials for the learners to listen for the gist of information presented and that by using authentic materials teachers will have the opportunity to encourage students to read for pleasure. Guariento and Moley (2001) suggest that authentic materials should be used in accordance with student's ability, suitable task can be given to learners in which total understanding is not important.
Cultural Content
Cultural content is a key to effective teaching and learning a language provided that problems arising from introducing culture into EFL classroom are dealt with effectively and teaching strategies and learning material are chosen appropiately.
Knowing a language goes beyond the knowledge of grammatical rules, vocabulary items and pronunciation. Succesful language learning requieres language users to know that culture underlying in order to get the meaning across. English teachers have a lot of choices in terms of text books, qand it is surprising that many of them rely on unintersting textbooks that focus student's attention on grammatical structures, and isolation practice.
McKay, (2000, p. 7) Said that the reson for the use of culturl content in classroom is that it will toster learners motivastion. She identifies three types of cultural materials: target culture material, learner's own culture materials and international target culture materials.
How can we introduce cultural content in our classrooms?
There are a lot of activities we can use,ut the key point is that we should create a relaxing environment where students can discuss their own culture together with the target culture in meaningful and communicative tasks and activities. Teachers can use sources such as newspapers, videos, talks/discussions, role play/dramatizations and culture quizzes/tests.
Authentic materials enable learners to interact with the real language and content rather than the form. Learners feel that they are learning a target language as it is used outside the classroom.
