The Understanding of Non Authentic Material Advantages and Disadvantages of Authentic Materials a. The Advantages

2. The Understanding of Non Authentic Material

Using non authentic materials is not only the way to improve reading comprehension because students only study the language in the classroom and not being exposed in the real life. The term of non authentic materials or text is the opposite of authentic text. There is several discussion of non authentic text in language teaching terms. According to Jeremy Harmer, non authentic text could be described as a text that has been written for language teaching purpose especially for language students. 23 In the other words, non authentic materials are designed especially for language learning purposes. The language that use in non authentic materials is artificial and varied, because it concentrate on something that has to be taught and often containing a series of false-text indicators that include:  Perfectly formed sentences all the time;  A question using grammatical structure, gets a full answer;  Repetition of structure;  Very often does not read well. 24 From discussion above the writer defines that non-authentic text or materials are text or materials that have intentionally been written for language teaching purpose, it is often focused on grammatical structure like short story, label, and personal letter.

3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Authentic Materials a. The Advantages

The importance of using authentic materials for the students as stated by Kilickaya, those students benefiting to exposure the real language being used in a real 23 Harmer,o p € ‚ ƒ€ , p. 185. 24 Berardo, o p € cit ., p. 62. context. The main advantages of using authentic materials in the classroom therefore include:  Having a positive effect on students motivation;  Giving authentic cultural information;  Exposing students to real language;  Relating more closely to student s needs;  Supporting a more creative approach to teaching. 25 Grellet said in her book that it is important to use authentic texts whenever possible. There are several reasons for this. a Simplifying a text often results in increased difficulty because the system of references, repetition and redundancy as well as the discourse indicators one relies on when reading are often removed or at least significantly altered. b Getting the students accustomed to reading authentic texts from the very beginning does not necessarily mean a much more difficult task on their part. 26 Based on the explanation above, by using authentic materials enables students to interact with real language, real situation and more focus on the content than the form. The students can feel that they are learning a target language as it used outside the classroom. Also it s to complete the gap between the competency and the performance of the language learners, which is a common problem of non native speaker. Because it requires in exposing the language patterns being put into practice in real life situation and communication 25 Kilickaya, o p „ … i t „ , p. 2. 26 Grellet, o p „ c † ‡„ , p. 7. ˆ ‰ Š h e ‹Œ s Ž vantages The disadvantages of using authentic materials have explained by Berardo that authentic materials often contain difficult language, unneeded vocabulary items and complex language structures, which can often create problems. Sometimes the vocabulary may not be relevant to the learner s need and too many structures can create difficulty. 27 For more detail this is the comparison about the advantages and disadvantages of using authentic materials. Authentic Materials Table 2.1 Advantages Disadvantages Real language exposure with language changevariation being reflected. Often too culturally biased, difficult to understand outside the language community. Students are informed about what is happening in the world. Vocabulary might not be relevant to the student s needs. Textbooks tend not to include improper English and become outdated very quickly. Too many structures are mixed so lower levels have problems decoding the texts. The same piece of materials can be used for different tasks. Special preparation is necessary, can be time consuming. Ideal for teachingpracticing mini-skill- skimmingscanning. Can become outdated easily, e.g. news stories, article. Contain a wide variety of text types, language styles not easily found in conventional teaching materials. Using authentic materials is a burden for teachers. 28 27 Berardo, o p  it ., p.65. 28 Richards,o p ‘’  ,p. 253. Encourage reading for pleasure, likely to contain topics of interests. So the use of authentic materials for teaching reading should be relevant and matched with the learner s need or interest. It is also important to consider the ability level of the students. Moreover, the students can feel comfortable and confidence when they using authentic materials in reading class.

4. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Non-Authentic Materials a. The Advantages