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I learned about the advantages and disadvantages of authentic and created materials. Which kind of materials would you favor for a class of intermediate students? Why?
Authentic materials:
Advantages
- It can boost the confidence of students if they are able to understand it.
- It’s authentic or real so it’s more interesting for the students.
- It can be geared to the interests of a particular set of students such as teen agers or business people.
- It prepares the students for the real world, most especially if they are migrating to an English-speaking country.
Disadvantages
- The material is not graded to the level of the students because it’s made for native speakers and not ESL learners.
- It can sometimes be too difficult or complicated for the students to comprehend.
- It might contain a lot of informal English which can be disadvantageous to the students who haven’t mastered formal/academic English yet.
Created materials:
Advantages
- The material can be graded to the level of students.
- The teacher can easily choose which vocabulary or language items to include in the material (ex: crossword puzzles, matching activities, role-plays)
- It can be used to replace or supplement material from the book.
- Student-focused
Disadvantages
- Some students may find it a bit boring because it’s not real.
- It limits the exposure of students to real English or everyday English.
- Can be too time-consuming to create the material.
- Some original materials have not been tried and tested.
I would favor the use of authentic materials for intermediate students because they already have a good grasp of the English language. Using authentic materials can bring the right kind of motivation and challenge to the class. I’m sure that they will appreciate the fact that they are not only learning the language but are being exposed to the cultural content of the material as well.
Task 2 – What do you consider to be the advantages and disadvantages of using course books with a class?
