Authentic Vrs Non Authentic materials

Authentic material is the vehicle of the daily communication that is used in conversations, books, traffic signs, menus, programs, posters, announcements, etc. Generally, the authentic materials are entire versions, not published of texts written for speaking native." In other words, the benefit students get from being exposed to the language in authentic materials. Authentic would be material designed for native speakers of English used in the classroom in a way similar to the one it was designed for. The non authentic material is the material which it was designed with the exclusive purpose of teaching a foreign language as well; it means that it was not created for native speakers of the target language.

Advantages

Using authentic material in the classroom, even when not done in an authentic situation, and provided it is appropriately exploited, is significant for many reasons, amongst which are:

1. Students are exposed to real discourse, as in videos of interviews with famous people where intermediate students listen for gist.Authentic materials keep students informed about what is happening in the world, so they have an intrinsic educational value.


2. As teachers, we are educators working within the school system, so education and general development are part of our responsibilities.


3. Textbooks often do not include incidental or improper English.The same piece of material can be used under different circumstances if the task is different.Language change is reflected in the materials so that students and teachers can keep abreast of such changes.


4. Reading texts are ideal to teach/practice mini-skills such as scanning, e.g. students are given a news article and asked to look for specific information (amounts, percentages, etc.). E.g. basic students listen to news reports and they are asked to identify the names of countries, famous people, etc. (ability to detect key words).


5. Books, articles, newspapers, and so on contain a wide variety of text types, language styles not easily found in conventional teaching materials.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages mentioned by several writers are:

1. They may be too culturally biased, so unnecessarily difficult to understand outside the language community.


2. The vocabulary might not be relevant to the student's immediate needs.


3. Too many structures are mixed so lower levels have a hard time decoding the texts.


4. Special preparation is necessary which can be time consuming With listening: too many different accents.