TEACHING ENGLISH WITH AUTHENTIC MATERIALS

Abstract

The use of authentic materials in EFL has long been acknowledged to be advantageous to leaners as they provide real-life experience in the language classroom. However, many of the existing definitions which most teachers are utilizing to select appropriate teaching resources present a strong bias toward the notion of “native speakers’ production”. This brief paper aims to call for reconsideration of defining “authentic materials” by pointing out that the English language no longer belongs to the so-called “native speakers”, stating the fact that a growing number of non-native speakers are using it to communicate purposefully every day. It is argued that the language that those speaking English as their second or foreign language create can perfectly be employed as teaching materials in EFL/ESL classrooms because such language presents real communication among English language users in the 21st century whether they speak it as their mother tongue or not. By discussing those points, the paper goes on to recommend a theoretical framework on which more suitable criteria for choosing authentic materials can be built on to conform with the teaching context of this century