contain at least some information your students already understand.
26
It means
that, teachers need to choose the suitable materials with the students’ existing knowledge, because it can help students to understand the materials
easily.
c. Are the materials appropiate for my students in terms of language
level?
If an activity calls for a detail and in-depth understanding of the language in the materials you choose, students can soon lose motivation and
interest if the language is simply too difficult for them to understand. We can say briefly here that there are several options for teachers to consider:
give your students adequate help and preparation to work with more challenging materials; choose materials where the language level is suited to
the level of your students; choose tasks which are achievable by your students at their level.
27
Students have a different of language level. Therefore, teachers need to agree with the materials that would be taught to
students.
28
It means that, teachers need to choose the suitable materials with the students’ existing knowledge, because it can help students to understand
the materials easily.
d. Should I use only materials from today’s newspaper?
Although it would seem preferable to use the news of the day in newspaper-
based lessons, this is not always practical from the teacher’s point of view
– teachers have busy schedules, news can date quickly, and lessons take time to prepare. Without wishing to avoid topical items, it is
worth mentioning that most activities in this book work extremely well with „eternal’ news items, or what is called in newspaper jargon „soft’ news.
26
Paul Sanderson, Using Newspapers in the Classroom, p. 8
27
Paul Sanderson, Using Newspapers in the Classroom, p. 8
28
Paul Sanderson, Using Newspapers in the Classroom, p. 8
These are news stories which are usually not headline news, and are extremely difficult to put a date on.
29
It can be said that teachers need to use materials from today’s newspaper, but teachers should not forget the steps
to choose the materials which have discussed above.
e. Can I use newspaper materials that are not from English-language
newspaper?
As stated earlier, an important aim of this book is to instil in students a positive and comfortable attitude towards working with English-language
newspapers, and towards reading generally in English inside outside the classroom. It is clear, therefore, that presenting texts to students in their own
language will deny them this opportunity. In spite of this, the possibility of using materials taken from newspaper from your own country is not
completely ruled out. The key point in to bear in mind when making this decision is to be perfectly clear about your lesson objectives and the skils
you wish to give your students practice in.
30
From the explanations above, the writer infers that all of the factors clearly interrelate, and the selection of suitable newspaper materials will be
very much a compromise decision. Means that it is very important for the teacher to choose the suitable materials for hisher students, because it
makes students intersted in and encourages them to learn it more and students’ motivation is a crucial for their success in learning.
29
Paul Sanderson, Using Newspapers in the Classroom, p. 9
30
Paul Sanderson, Using Newspapers in the Classroom, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 7
C. AUTHENTIC TEXT
The Understandings of Authentic Text
The form of Authentic according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary means known to be real and genuine and not copy, true and accurate made to be exactly the same as the original. Beside that, there are
many discussions of the use of authentic texts or materials in English as a foreign language ESL classroom.
Ferit Kilickaya expalins that the common definition of authentic text is „esposure’ to real language and its use in its own community. He wrote:
“many teachers have discussed that English presented in the classroom should be authentic, not produced for instructional
purposes. Generally what this mmeans is material which involve langiage naturrally occuring as communication in native speaker
context of use, or rather those selected contexts where standars English is the norm: ral newspaper report, for example, real
magazine articles, real advertisments, cooking recipes,
horoscopes.”
31
Futhermore, He cites in Rogers about the definition of authentic text, it is as “appropiate” and “quality” in the term of goals, objectives, learners’
needs and interest and “natural” in the terms of real life and ,meaningful
communication. While Harmer cites in Matsuta, defi nes that “authentic text
as materials which are designed for native speakers of the language.” In addition Jordan mentions
that “authentic texts as text that are not written for teaching purposes.”
32
It means that, authentic text is different from the textbook because it materials are designed only for native speakers or in
other word, authentic text is written for them and it does not written for teaching purpose.
31
Ferit Kilickaya, Authentic Materials and Cultural content in EFL classroom, retrieved on 5
th
April 2007 from http: www.metu.edu.tr-kilickaya, .p.1
32
Ferit Kilickaya, Authentic Materials and Cultural..., p. 2
