be truly authentic in the context for which it is originally written. In summary, authenticity refers to the genuineness, realness, truthfulness, validity, reliability,
undisputed credibility, and legitimacy of materials or practices.
3. Sources of Authentic Materials
Widdowson 1990 differentiates between the terms authentics and genuine materials. Authentic materials are designed for native speakers of English
and used in the classroom in the same way they are designed for. For instance, a TV news report, a movie, a newspaper, a magazine article, pictures, and so on
used as a basis for discussion. Carefully selected YouTube video clips might become an efficient web-based listening tool as a language teaching resource to
assist students in listening activities, and the goal of improving listening comprehension may be more easily reached.
Currently, the use of a variety of genuine short video clips is believed to be a pedagogical resource to benefit and enrich language teaching, and this
practice is becoming a new edge tendency in the classroom. Beare, 2008; Duffy, 2007; Harmer, 2007; O‟Dowd, 2007. According to Hedge 2000, examples of
authentic materials include newspapers, magazines, TV programs, radio talks,
menus, brochures, comics, novels, short stories, weather forecasts, and recipes.
Moreover, it is suggested by Berardo 2006 that internet is considered the most useful source. While printed materials date very quickly, the internet is
continuously updated, is interactive, and provides visual stimulation. It provides easy access to endless amounts of different types of material. Moreover, the
commit to user
internet can be the portal to other sources. For example, teachers can obtain articles, audio clips, and videos from the internet.
However, despite the useful qualities of the internet, Miller 2003: 16 claims that in order to use radio programs with learners, teachers need to decide
on some global listening tasks for the learners due to the fact that all non-verbal information is missing. Unlike radio, TV and video allow learners to access
paralinguistic features of the spoken text; as a result, TV and video may be easier for the students to comprehend.
Gebhard 1996 gives more examples of authentic materials that EFLESL teachers had used. Some of his examples, which might serve as source materials
for lesson planning are: 1.
Authentic Listening-Viewing Materials: TV commercials, quiz shows, cartoons, news clips, comedy shows, movies, soap operas, professionally
audio taped short stories and novels, radio ads, songs, documentaries, and sales pitches.
2. Authentic-Visual Materials: slides, photographs, paintings, children‟s
artwork, stick-figure drawings, wordless street signs, silhouettes, pictures from magazines, ink blots, postcard pictures, wordless picture books,
stamps, and X-rays. 3.
Authentic-Printed Materials: newspaper articles, movie, advertisements, astrology columns, sports reports, obituary columns, advice columns,
lyrics to songs, restaurant menus, street signs, cereal boxes, candy wrappers, tourist information brochures, university catalogs, telephone
commit to user
books, maps, TVguides, comic books, greeting cards, grocery coupons, pins with messages, and bus schedules.
4. Realia Real world objects Used in EFLESL Classrooms: coins and
currency, folded paper, wall clocks, phones, Halloween masks, dolls, and puppets, to name a few. Realia were often used to illustrate points very
visually or for role-play situations To sum up, the sources of authentic materials are classified into Authentic
Listening-Viewing Materials, Authentic-Visual Materials, Authentic-Printed Materials and realia.. The literature indicates that researchers have investigated
the impact of authentic materials on language comprehension and performance at various levels
. Some studies provided insights about learners‟ attitudes toward authentic input. In addition, pedagogical research sought to provide
recommendations for material selection and sources. However, no study has been conducted with the aim of eliciting teache
rs‟ beliefs toward using authentic materials in their classes. Because of the importance of the teachers‟ role in
providing authentic input for the students, the present study attempts to address this issue.
4. The Importance of Authentic Materials
