Authentic Materials Use in University Preparatory Classes: The Experiences of Turkish EFL Instructors

Servet ÇELİK

Kübra AYTIN

Karadeniz Technical University

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Authentic Materials and English Language Instruction

In countries such as Turkey, where English language learning ishighly emphasized in public education, there are ongoingquestions about how to teach the language effectively and makelearning permanent. Teaching materials play a significant role inthis process.

• Why use authentic teaching materials?

• Language teachers who are non-native speakers of English mayhave difficulty creating appropriate materials when preparedresources are not available (Martinez, 2011).

• Authentic materials bring native-like communication to EFLcontexts where learners have little opportunity to encounter thelanguage outside the classroom (Mousavi, 2012).

• Authentic teaching materials can both fulfill the instructionalgoals of a lesson and engage learners’ attention.

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What are Authentic Materials?

As language education shifted from a humanistic, rather than abehaviorist instructional paradigm, and when communicativeapproaches took the place of structure-based teaching methods,instructional materials also changed, with authentic materialsoften taking the place of artificial teaching tools (Joy, 2011).• Authentic teaching materials can be defined as follows:

• Items which fulfill the same aims both in the classroom and in thereal world (Embong, Abdullah, Yacoob, Noor, & Abdullah, 2011);• e.g., a text which is used as a communicative device in its country of

origin (Guariento & Morley, 2001);

• Communicative resources that have not been created strictly forlanguage teaching purposes (Dastgoshadeh & Jalilzaeh, 2011).;

• Any communicative objects: texts, audio or video materials and soon, that are created in the natural, native environment of the targetlanguage.

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Examples of Authentic Materials

Some examples of authentic materials that can be used inEnglish as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes include:

• newspapers, magazines and television programs(Ghaderpanahi, 2012), which have the advantage of being upto date and interesting;

• Music, Internet sources, movies and television series (Ghosn,2002);

• Recipes, advertisements, brochures, catalogues, timetables,application forms and so on (Joy, 2011).

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Advantages of Authentic Teaching Materials

Authentic materials are often seen as beneficial becausethey encourage students to:

• listen and follow along with a lesson (Ghaderpanahi, 2012);

• relate the language to everyday issues that they may encounter outside of theclassroom (Mousavi, 2012);

• become motivated to learn (Peacock, 1997);

• use the language for communicative purposes (Morton, 1999);

• develop familiarity with the culture of the target language (2004); improvecomprehension (Chong, 2011);

• develop greater self-confidence in their ability to understand native speakers in reallife.

In addition to these advantages, Heitler (2005) contends that authentic materials canbe precisely related to students’ interests; this benefit may support Gilmore’s (2011)conclusion that students tend to prefer authentic materials to artificial learningresources.

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Perceived Drawbacks

Despite these advantages, certain drawbacks have beennoted with respect to authentic materials use:•They can convey unnecessary cultural information that may lead learners toprejudge speakers of the target language (Embong et al, 2011);

•They may include lexical and grammatical structures that are too difficult andcomplex, and as a result, they may not be suitable for low-level learners (Guo,2012).

Therefore, discretion must be exercised in terms of considering learners’needs and abilities when choosing authentic materials for classroom use(Kılıçkaya, 2004).

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Rationale for the Study

University preparatory schools, which are designed to help entering students to improve theirbasic English skills before continuing their academic programs, have become a major aspect ofTurkish education. In preparatory programs, learners spend one year learning various aspects ofEnglish, focusing on both structure and the four skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening.In this context, authentic materials are frequently employed as instructional tools.

• A limited number of studies have been carried out concerning various aspects of Englishpreparatory programs, such as:• the instructional model used (e.g., Arslan & Saka, 2010);• learner outcomes in relation to instructional materials applied (e.g., Efe, Demiröz, & Akdemir, 2011)

However, instructors’ views toward authentic materials and their applicability in English preparatory classesare not well understood. Therefore, the researchers designed this study to explore the following researchquestion:

• How do university preparatory school instructors view authentic teaching materials, theirusage and their effects on learners in an English preparatory program?

In order to elicit the instructors’ perceptions and experiences concerning authentic materials use, theresearchers elected to conduct this study according to a qualitative research design, using open-ended,written interview questions to encourage them to elaborate on their ideas (Creswell, 2011, 2013).

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Research Design: Participants

Sampling method:

• The participants were selected according to a convenience, partlypurposive sampling method (Creswell, 2011, 2013).

Target population:

• EFL instructors with 2-7 years of experience.

Respondents:

• Seven EFL instructors from various regions of Turkey agreed toparticipate in the study.

Informed consent:

• Prior to the data collection phase, the participants providedinformed consent for use of the interview data. ©

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Research Design: Data Collection and Analysis

• Data collection phase:• A series of open-ended questions was used to examine the perspectives of

the English instructors (Creswell, 2011, 2013).• In order to facilitate the data collection process while at the same time

reaching participants from diverse regions of the country, the questionswere distributed as a written survey.

• The survey, consisted of thirteen questions concerning the instructors’opinions about authentic materials and their features; their views ofstudents’ responses to the authentic materials and the effects of thesematerials on their learning; and timing and institutional issues concerningauthentic materials use.

• Data Analysis:• The data were analyzed according to the underlying ideas that emerged in

the course of iterative readings and organized into a cohesive narrativeaccording to the researchers’ interpretations of the participants’ views(LeCompte, 2000).

• A research report was then compiled and sent to the participants forconfirmation or adjustment of the researchers’ interpretations.

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Results & Discussion (1 of 4)

Instructors’ Understanding of Authentic Materials

The participants offered similar interpretations of the term “authentic materials” thatclosely aligned with the interpretations generally found in the literature:

• Participant 1 described authentic teaching materials as “anything related to the learners’ real lives that you can use in the classroom.”

• Participant 7 noted that these materials are “prepared [according to] real life expressions, examples or situations.”

• Participant 5 identified them as “anything produced by the speakers of the language that doesn’t necessarily have an educational purpose, such as works of literature.”

These interpretations closely reflected those offered by Dastgoshadeh and Jalilzadeh(2011) and Guariento and Morley (2001).

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Results & Discussion (2 of 4)

Advantages of authentic materials

•Participants 2 and 4 expressed that authentic materials are beneficial because theyprovide interest for learners and they are “real,” in line with the assertions of Mousavi(2012), Peacock (1997) and Morton (1999) that authentic materials are motivating andallow learners to use the target language for communicative purposes.

Drawbacks of authentic materials

•Participants 5 and 7 pointed out that learners at lower levels who lacked the skills tocomprehend the material might be intimidated and lose their motivation for learning, aconcern likewise raised by Guo (2012) and Kılıçkaya (2004).

Types of Materials Used

•All of the participants stated that they use authentic materials, some more frequentlythan others.

•Materials included newspapers, music, movies and literature in teaching the fourlanguage skills.

•Participant 4 also reported using technology such as “Facebook and Twitter posts” inthe course of instruction (Ghosn, 2002).

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Results & Discussion (3 of 4)

Instructors’ Views of Students’ Responses to Authentic Materials

Overall, the participants expressed positive views concerning their students’ responses toauthentic materials.

• According to Participant 1, these resources helped learners to “see English as not only alanguage but also a part of their lives.”

• Participant 2 reported that learners “made more comments about the topics.”

These perspectives echo those of Mousavi (2012) and Heitler (2005), who noted thatauthentic materials help learners to relate the target language to their daily lives and thusserve as a motivating factor for learning and retention.

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Results & Discussion (4 of 4)

Institutional and Time Constraints Related to Authentic Materials Use

The respondents noted the following in terms of difficulties incorporating authentic materials in their lessons:

• A crowded course syllabus, for which two of the instructors compensated by using authentic materials as supplementary instructional tools, while one made use of authentic learning sources in out-of-class assignments;

• Lack of adequate access to authentic teaching materials.

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Limitations, Conclusion & Recommendations

Limitations:• Due to the small number of respondents, their opinions cannot be extrapolated to the

general population of preparatory English instructors.• The use of written survey questions did not allow for immediate follow-up or clarification. On

the other hand, asking the participants to confirm or redirect the researchers’ understandingof their views may have provided some compensation for this issue.

Conclusion:• In general, authentic materials were perceived as making a positive contribution to the

learning process, as they tended to hold students’ attention and increase their incentive tolearn.

• Lack of access to authentic materials and limited time to use these resources affected theability to put them to effective use.

• Difficulty in comprehending the materials was cited as presenting a challenge for somelearners.

Recommendations:• By increasing institutional access to authentic materials and tailoring the preparatory English

curriculum to include the use of such resources, instructors may be supported in improvinglearner outcomes.

• As technological resources such as social media were particularly noted as increasing learnerengagement, expanding the availability of these tools and ensuring that language instructorsare adequately trained to use them may also promote more effective learning.

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References• Arslan, R. Ş., & Saka, C. K. (2010). Teaching English to science students via theme-based model of content-based instruction. Journal of

Turkish Science Education, 7(4), 26-36.• Chong, P. K. A. (2011). The use of culturally relevant authentic materials and L1 in supporting second language literacy (Unpublished

master’s thesis). University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.• Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Publications.• Creswell, J. W. (2011). Educational research: Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Boston,

MA: Pearson.• Dastgoshadeh, A., & Jalilzadeh, K. (2011). Authentic language materials: A new outlook. European Journal of Scientific Research, 58(1), 84-

87.• Efe, H., Demiröz, H., & Akdemir, A. S. (2011). A situated learning practice for language teaching classes: teaching spoken English with

authentic materials. Paper presented at the 1st International Conference on Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics(FLTAL’11), Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina.

• Embong, A., Abdullah, M., Yaacob, R., Noor, M., & Abdullah, A. (2011). The sustainability of utilizing the authentic materials in Englishclassroom: From the perspective of the theory of learning. International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 11(2), 132-134.

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http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kilickaya-AutenticMaterial.html• LeCompte, M. D. (2000). Analyzing qualitative data. Theory into Practice, 39(3), 146–154.• Martinez, A. (2011). Capitalizing on the advantages of the Latin American EAP situation: Using authentic and specific materials in EAP

writing instruction. Iberica, 21, 31-48.• Morton, R. (1999). Abstracts as authentic material for EAP classes. ELT Journal, 55(3), 177-182.• Mousavi, S. (2012). The effect of authentic versus non-authentic aural materials on EFL learners’ listening comprehension. English

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THANK YOU!

Any questions or comments?Please contact Servet ÇELİK

servet61@ktu.edu.tr

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