Authentic Texts

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Why does my teacher make us read difficult

authentic texts?
While most students want to be able to read an authentic text such as a real newspaper article, even
very Advanced level learners can find reading it in the limited time given in class a challenge. Some
students therefore wonder why the teacher doesn't give difficult texts for homework when students
have more time to read it slowly or just give easier texts. If you think your teacher should give you
easier texts, you could be right! Most teaching experts agree that carefully graded texts are usually
better for language learning. If you are in a special position such as needing to read articles for your
work or studies, however, you might need lots of help reading properly. Reading slowly with a
dictionary at home is not the best way of learning good reading skills. Even if you don't have a special
reason to read in English, there are good reasons for using difficult authentic texts in class
occasionally. Some of the good reasons are listed below. You can compare this list with the list of bad
reasons for using difficult authentic texts in class and decide whether you think your teacher has the
right balance in your class.

Good reasons for using difficult authentic texts in class

Reading skills

Using a difficult real life English text in class can be a good way of the teacher training you to use
special reading skills such as ignoring the parts that are not important, guessing the meaning of words
from context, skimming and scanning quickly for the important parts, reading for general
understanding, and increasing reading speed. If you read the usual textbook texts for your level it is
probably possible to understand it within the time limit without using any of these useful skills, so a
more difficult text is useful as training in the same way as a marathon runner sometimes doing sprints.

An achievement/ motivation

Finishing a difficult text for the first time can be a great way of showing you that your English has
progressed and so giving you the confidence to you move up to the next level.

A goal

Reading an authentic text can also show you how much you still have to learn in order to understand it
more fully, and so push you to study harder to reach that level.

 
Topical texts

Some readings with difficult vocabulary can be much easier than you would think because they are
about a story in the news that you know well already. These kinds of texts can also lead onto
interesting classroom discussion, and make it easier for you to understand radio news on the same or
similar stories.

Self-study

If your teacher can show you some sources of good English texts that interest you and he or she also
teaches you how to read them in a way which makes reading easier and quicker, this should help
motivate you to read English more frequently outside class.

Real life reading survival skills

If you will ever need to read real English texts for your studies, a visa application, your work, to
communicate with a pen friend or to read something on the internet that is not available in your own
language, you will need preparation for this by using the reading skills your teacher can show you in
class.

Bad reasons for using difficult authentic texts in class

If your teacher uses a difficult authentic text sometimes for one of the good reasons above and uses
that as an opportunity to teach you specific reading skills, you should put in the extra effort needed
knowing that it will be good for your English study. If you still find yourself struggling with difficult
texts almost every lesson though, it might be that more use of graded texts for someone your level
would be better for a while. You might want to suggest this to your teacher or school management if
one of the bad reasons for using authentic texts below is true for your class.

Teaching philosophy

Some teachers believe that graded texts shouldn't be used because they are an inauthentic example of
language and that graded texts only teach students "textbook English" that will not be useful in real
life. Most teachers and teaching experts agree, however, that graded texts are generally more useful for
learning the language needed to reach the next level than authentic texts. If your teacher insists on only
using authentic texts for native speakers and you feel you are not learning the skills you need to cope
with those texts well enough to learn lots of language from them, you might have to think about
changing class or school.

A lack of simplified texts

Especially if you need very specific English for your work or studies, it might be difficult for your
teacher to find texts written for language learners that are interesting and relevant. One way in which
you could help is by bringing in any self-study books you have found to be useful, or by emailing your
teacher authentic texts on the topic that you found difficult to understand so they can simplify them for
use in class.

Unexpected difficulty

The things that make reading a text difficult for native speakers are different from those that make
reading difficult for non-native language learners, so the teacher might sometimes be shocked by how
difficult you find a particular text. This shouldn't happen often though, and if it does it might be better
to ask to use a textbook where the texts are already graded.

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