The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Carol A. Chapelle
situation itself may not be authentic, but the language used during the task resembles the kind of discussion and negotiation that happens in real‐life interactions.
Authentic Materials in a Historical Context
Authentic materials have had a place in language classrooms since the early days of the grammar translation method, which was aimed at teaching students to read (and translate) classic literary texts. However, as language teaching methods evolved, so did the status of authentic materials. The audiolingual method, which utilized pattern drills to manipulate form, dismissed authentic materials in favor of contrived dialogues that carefully controlled the vocabulary and grammatical structures presented to learners. The dialogues that characterized the audiolingual method lacked the naturalness of authentic discourse and undoubtedly had “little of the savour of real‐life conversations” (Singleton, 2014, p. 116). In the late 1970s, with the development of communicative language teaching (CLT), authentic materials gained popularity once more, but this time with the goal of promoting meaningful communication using texts and social situations beyond the confines of the classroom. For many language educators, a central feature of CLT is the use of authentic texts. Authentic materials also have played a prominent role in content‐based instruction (see Snow & Brinton, 2017), where the goal is to integrate language and content. Likewise, in foreign language contexts, there has been a general trend towards integrating language and content at all levels of instruction, as advocated by the Modern Language Association (MLA) report (MLA Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages, 2007). As a result, authentic literary texts are now being utilized to some degree in lower‐level courses with the goal of reducing the artificial separation between “language” and “content” courses. Finally, authentic materials have taken on a central role in assessment, especially integrated performance assessment (IPA), which involves students reading or listening to authentic texts related to a particular theme (see Adair‐Huck, Glisan, & Troyan, 2013).
Reasons for Using Authentic Materials
A common assumption among language educators is that authentic materials can be an important source of motivation because learners perceive their real‐world purpose and cultural relevance. For example, Matsumoto (2007) documented that authentic Japanese learning materials (e.g., movies, animation/anime, songs) constituted a “peak learning experience” for many American learners of Japanese (p. 200). Nevertheless, the relationship between authenticity and motivation is not straightforward. Authentic texts that are too difficult for the students, especially if presented without sufficient pedagogical support, can result in frustration rather than enhanced motivation. In fact, some studies have found that learners prefer non‐authentic materials. Kmiecik and Barkhuizen (2006) reported that learners of English favored nonauthentic listening texts because they were easier to comprehend; they felt overwhelmed by the speed of delivery and unknown vocabulary in the authentic listening materials. Thus, authentic texts are not inherently motivating. As Gilmore (2007) explained,
the success of any particular set of authentic materials in motivating a specific group of learners will depend on how appropriate they are for the subjects in question, how they are exploited in class (the tasks) and how effectively the teacher is able to mediate between the materials and the students. (p. 107)
A compelling reason for using authentic texts is that they typically provide better language models than textbooks. Although the quality of instructional materials can vary, research has consistently shown mismatches between textbooks and natural language use, especially with respect to spoken language (see Gilmore, 2015, for a comprehensive list of studies that document such mismatches). In addition, textbooks generally present little information about pragmatically appropriate language use. Speech acts (e.g., apologizing, making a request, giving advice), as presented in textbooks, may differ quite dramatically from how they are realized in real‐life conversations. McConachy and Hata (2013) maintain that textbooks cover a limited range of speech acts, and furthermore, provide a very narrow range of expressions—often an inventory of decontextualized phrases—for achieving those speech acts. Consequently, researchers have advocated for authentic materials as a way of providing learners with models of language that show how speech acts are constructed and interpreted in the target culture.
An important curricular reason to use authentic materials is that they provide a vehicle for integrating language and content. As mentioned previously, many foreign‐language programs aim to integrate more varied and richer content in lower‐level courses. For example, this may involve students watching portions of a cooking show (an authentic television program) within a lesson on food vocabulary. Grammatical structures can also be taught through authentic materials with a story‐based approach called PACE (Adair‐Huck & Donato, 2002). Crucially, authentic materials can provide opportunities for students to think critically about the social, cultural, and political issues affecting the country or countries where the language is spoken.
Critiques
There have been various objections to the use of authentic materials for language teaching purposes. Richards (2006) writes about the “myth of authenticity” (p. 16) and highlights the difficulty of finding authentic texts that are appropriate for low‐proficiency college‐aged readers. Similarly, Long (2007) argues that authentic texts “present too dense a linguistic target” (p. 130) and thus, are appropriate only for very advanced levels. It is important to note that Long's objection to authentic texts is framed in terms of curricular design: He believes that tasks, not texts, should be the foundation of language courses. A more far‐reaching criticism of authentic materials is found in Widdowson (1998), who argued that a text needs to be localized to serve a meaningful communicative intent. What makes a text real or authentic is that it is “appropriate to a particular set of contextual conditions” (1998, p. 712), which cannot be replicated in the classroom.
Pedagogical Challenges
One of the challenges of working with authentic materials, as mentioned above, is finding materials that are appropriate for the learners' linguistic level. Moreover, it is necessary to scaffold learning with level‐appropriate tasks. Practitioners advise that learners, especially beginners, do not need to demonstrate full comprehension of the language sample in order to benefit from authentic materials. Accordingly, a common recommendation is to “grade the task, not the text.” In other words, by manipulating the task demands, the authentic material becomes more accessible. Another challenge involves exposing learners to authentic spoken language that is unscripted. Wagner (2014) explains that most listening activities in L2 classrooms are based on scripted texts that have been written, revised, and carefully read aloud. Thus, classroom learners typically have few opportunities to hear spontaneous (i.e., unplanned) spoken discourse. Although some types of unscripted spoken language can be relatively easy to obtain, there are confidentiality issues that impede access to authentic, unscripted interactions such as doctor–patient conversations. Finally, there is the issue of balancing authentic and nonauthentic materials. Authentic materials are usually discussed in opposition to textbooks and other types of simplified texts (e.g., graded readers). However, both authentic and nonauthentic materials can be used in conjunction and for different purposes. For example, Zyzik and Polio (2017) argue that graded readers are optimal for an extensive reading program, in which the goal is to read large quantities of material independently and for the purposes of general comprehension. In contrast, authentic texts require more pedagogical support and thus are better aligned with intensive reading.
SEE ALSO: History of Language‐Teaching Methods; Materials Development; Task‐Based Language Assessment
References
1 Adair‐Huck, B., & Donato, R. (2002). The PACE model: A story‐based approach to meaning and form for standards‐based language learning. The French Review, 76, 265–96.
2 Adair‐Huck, B., Glisan, E., & Troyan, F. (2013). Implementing integrated performance assessment. Alexandria, VA: ACTFL.
3 Ellis, R. (2017). Position paper: