What are authentic materials?
4:42 PM
During the lecture today, we were challenged with the question of what constitutes authentic material. The question is, let's say you take a menu from a restaurant, you take it to class and you might consider that you are using authentic material. What about if you find that same menu printed on a book? The publisher of the book took the menu from the same restaurant and put it in his book along with the activities to work with it. This might not be considered authentic because it is on a book.
One of the arguments raised is that the menu is really only authentic in the restaurant where it is used to order your food. The moment you bring it into the classroom, that menu is little more than a prop for an interaction that is simulated. Generally we would concider it more valuable and "authentic" than the material in the book.
Queastion: Are there degrees of authentisity? Are there materials that are more authentic than others?
My own personal opinion is that i consider a piece of material authentic depending on the original intention and use of the material. Is it or was it used to convey a message or record information for communication. So the menu in this case is authentic because it's original intention was to list food and prices available so that someone would choose. If I find the material in the book, then the idea is that it is authentic and the book that you are using uses authentic material.
One of the arguments raised is that the menu is really only authentic in the restaurant where it is used to order your food. The moment you bring it into the classroom, that menu is little more than a prop for an interaction that is simulated. Generally we would concider it more valuable and "authentic" than the material in the book.
Queastion: Are there degrees of authentisity? Are there materials that are more authentic than others?
My own personal opinion is that i consider a piece of material authentic depending on the original intention and use of the material. Is it or was it used to convey a message or record information for communication. So the menu in this case is authentic because it's original intention was to list food and prices available so that someone would choose. If I find the material in the book, then the idea is that it is authentic and the book that you are using uses authentic material.
I do see the point and agree that the moment that material is used for another purpuse, not it's original purpose (used to practice asking questions) then it stops being authentic.
In this perspective, the only authentic material in the classroom is the material produced by students in order to tell their own stories and ask their own questions. In the classroom the only authentic material is student created material.
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