Kabir1 Authentic Materials are an efficient way of Teaching and Learning EFL in the Foundation Courses of Private Universities

of Bangladesh
Empirical study on the impact of authentic materials in EFL teaching: The use of authentic approach in EFL classrooms have become a common phenomenon nowadays. Before my research in this respective field, there are also numerous researches and studies took place and still going on. They also came up with different benefits and drawbacks of this approach.According to Nunan (1989), proponents of authentic materials point out that, classroom texts and dialogues do not adequately prepare learners for coping with the language they hear and read in the real world outside the classroom. They argue that if we want to comprehend aural and written texts in the real world, then the learners need opportunities for engaging in these real-world texts in the class (54). Giving preference to authentic materials, Richards (2001) asserts that, authentic materials are more useful than the created materials as they reflect real world uses of language compared with the contrived context of much created materials(252).Widdowson (1990) point out that, It has been traditionally supposed that the language presented to learners should be simplified in some way for easy access and acquisition. Nowadays there are recommendations that the language presented should be authentic(67). Pattinson (1987) proposes seven communicative activity types which can be developed fruitfully among learners through authentic approach. They are: a) questions and answers b) Dialogues and role-plays c) Matching activities d) Communicative strategies (paraphrasing, borrowing or inventing words, using gestures, asking for feedback, simplifying) e) Pictures and picture stories (spot the difference, memory test, sequencing pictures to tell a story) f) Puzzle and problems (making guesses, drawing on their general knowledge and personal experience, using their imagination and test their powers of logical reasoning) g) Discussions and decisions (to decide which items from a list are essential to have on a desert island) (68). The nature of authentic approach also fits in with the opinion given by Richards and Renandya (2002), asserting that, the more realistic the language is, the more easily it can cater to the range of proficiency levels of the learners. This statement is not true only because we live in an increasingly multimedia world in which advances in technology allow for flexibility in delivery, but also because such materials can create a learning environment that is rich in linguistic and cultural information about the target language.

Criteria or considerable factors for selecting authentic materials: The fact is unavoidable that the selection of authentic materials has always been a crucial task for course instructors as well as lesson planers. Candlin and Edelhoff (1982) point out that, the authenticity issue involves much more than simply selecting texts from outside the arena of language teaching, and the process to which the learner submits aural and written texts and the texts and the things he or she is required to do with to the data should also be authentic (60). As it is stated

before, the curricular programmeof the private universities selects course books for foundation courses written by foreign authors. An example of such cour se book is Headway. This course book is very much useful for interactive learning. Apart from books as a source of authentic materials teachers also select teaching materials from other effective sources like newspaper and magazines,

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internet etc. In such situations a teacher has to consider some aspects in order to select materials properly. To make this selection process easy and successful a famous ELT practitioner, Berado (2006) has given a selection criteria consisting three measurement steps. They are- suitability of content, exploitability and readability (63). Suitability of content or text indicates that the selected text should be interesting as well as appropriate to the learners need and abilities. Bacon and Fineman (1990) assert that the text should be culturally relevant to the experience of the students. This concept also supports the idea of suitability of content. Exploitability deals with the concept of how the text can be used for teaching purposes and to develop students competence. Readability also refers the quality of the language along with its lexical and structural difficulty.

Sources of authentic materials: The sources of authentic materials are unlimited.With the help of technological developments, we can get access to many sources easily and quickly. Almost all the printed materials are on the Internet in electronic forms and we can easily search anything anytime. As a result, we do not lack cultural content and other useful materials to use in language classrooms. Jordan (1997) lists sources of cultural information like- Newspapers: these are a good source of cultural information: local papers will give more of a flavour of everyday life in towns.Video: a number of published ELT video tapes are a good visual source for engaging learners (nowadays, we have CD/DVD versions of these video tapes, which provide us with better quality). Talks/discussions: some topics may be suitable for giving information to students in a plenary session.Role play/dramatizations: these can be used to initiate discussion and introspection (105).There are also many other sources of authentic materials like: food menu, travel brochures, traffic signs, weather forecast, recipe, short story, poems and plays, formal and informal letters, personal dairy, comics and cartoons, country maps, telephone directories, shopping lists, music, advertisements etc.

Advantages of using authentic materials in EFL classrooms: The main advantages of using authentic materials are (Philips and Shettlesworth 1978; Clarke 1989; Peacock 1997, cited in Richards, 2001):they have a positive effect on learner motivation, they provide authentic cultural information, they provide exposure to real language, they relate more closely to learners needs and they support a more creative approach to teaching (252).So it can be said that incorporating authentic materials in EFL classrooms is an advantageous task. Teachers as well as learners can enjoy the taste of successful and creative medium of teaching and learning through this practice. Textbooks often do not include incidental or improper English. By this learning process learners are exposed to real discourse as watching videos and interviews of famous people or news reports. They can take part in conversation by experiencing them. Authentic materials can help learners be informed about what is happening in the world (dealing with articles from newspaper or magazines) and thus they can have a basic educational value.

Limitations of authentic materials:

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In comparison with numerous benefits of practicing this teaching process, the limitationsare few. Matsuata (n.d.) states that the use of authentic materials is a burden for the instructors teaching learners as they have to spend a lot of time to prepare for authentic materials regarding the ability level of the students. In this sense,selection of authentic materials is a time consuming matter. Sometimes using such materials in the language classroom may result a matter of expense for the teachers (selecting materials by browsing internet and making photocopies of articles from newspapers and magazines). Teaching the beginning level learners may sometimes be problematic as they are not familiar with this learning process. They may find difficulty in understanding and dealing with the tasks and activities. The selected materials sometimes may prove culturally biased. If we think in broader sense, above mentioned limitations can be treated and well managed and for that nothing but consciousness of the teachers or instructors is enough.

Opinion of teachers: In order to take my research paper into a logical as well as credible stage I have done survey and face to face interview with nine professors and lecturers from three different private universities (Eastern University, Brac University and University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh). All of them conduct foundation courses and teaches EFL. They are also experienced in teaching and dealing with authentic materials. The survey and interviews helped me much in order to work with my research topic and at the same time it gave me much strength and confidence to complete my research paper. By analyzing the survey data and going through the conducted focus group discussions,I got some positive and useful information.First of all the analysis shows that,99% teacherslike to use authentic materials in their classes. They also gave their own preferences of selecting such materials. These are: availability, familiarity, enhancing capability, representation of the real world and language within specific community, engagement of learners in lively activities, relating the learners daily experiences, simulating learners interest and motivation level, helping to learn properly, creating an effective atmosphere for eclectic discussion and developing students real life communication capabilities. These criteria of preference fully support the definition and goals of authentic materials. They did not mention any reason for not accepting or choosing such material which also gives us a hint that they have reliability upon such materials and they believe that through this learning process student can learn or catch the topic of discussion comparatively faster than the text of the traditional text books. Opinions of students: From the need to organize my research paper in a better way, I also conducted another survey and focus group discussions in order to understand the attitude of the learners or students towards such learning process. I have collected information from twenty one students from these three universities respectively. Before doing the survey, I gave them a rough idea about this learning process. The survey analysis sates that 100% students are familiar with this learning process. This most noticeable thing of this survey is that 85% of the students feel themselves interested dealing with such learning process. They can relate themselves with the content of the text and can participate actively in the classroom. While giving their opinions in accordance with the survey questionnaire some of them also

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gave me the idea that authentic materials have increased their vocabulary and at the same time they feel themselves confident enough to communicate with friends and others. 100%students also recommended this learning process for the other students. They also opined that, this sort of materials should be considered by the teachers who teach EFL.