Instructions for Teachers

The use of authentic materials itself can be viewed and examined from different angles and with two contradictory approaches.

Firstly, AM represent real language exposure bringing the element of up-to-date information that students can actually work with in their field and they are likely to contain topics of interest which serve the purpose of motivation. Secondly, AM come in a wide variety of text types which allow for a wide variety of use. Thirdly, they are ideal for practising mini-skills (e.g. reading - scanning and skimming). Nevertheless, there are also some negative aspects coming hand in hand with AM choice&adaptation by teachers and their use by students. AM choice&adaptation are time consuming and require special preparation. Once being adapted, they lose their authenticity and many can get out-of-date fast, too. The materials can be too difficult to understand, may contain too many structures within one text and also vocabulary which might not be relevant to all. As a solution, some experts suggest adjusting the text, some the task, some suggest setting the language level slightly above students’ knowledge to challenge the students, some slightly below to secure the positive progress, some suggest the challenge and support in both text and task need to be balanced in order to promote effective learning. This shows that there is no universal guide to follow when exploiting AM.