P4 Setyowati
P4 Setyowati
Lestari Setyowati
English Education Study Program
STKIP PGRI Pasuruan
[email protected]
Abstract—Not many foreign language (FL) to reach the intended competencies [1]. However,
writing teachers/lecturers are interested in using in Indonesia, most teachers/lecturers prefer to
authentic materials. However, when selected use textbooks which are available and provided
carefully, authenic materials can become a for them. It is true that textbooks are efficient,
powerful tool for learning to write. This paper offers standardized instructions, a program
is intended to describe why FL writing teachers/ structure and its syllabus, quality maintenance
lecturers should utilize authentic materials for and has variety learning resources [2]. However,
teaching writing, and how to do it for classroom they also have some downsides. Richards (2001)
teaching. This paper is written based on the states that the language used in textbooks are
writer’s personal experience in using authentic not the type of language used and found in
materials during her teaching of writing for everyday communication. He further states that
university level. Several reasons for using the content discussed in the textbooks is scarcely
authentic materials for teaching writing are 1) authentic for the learners and oftenly do not quite
these type of materials can serve as a bridge match with their needs. Moreover, the frequent
which connect what is learnt in the classroom use of textbooks might reduce the teacher’s skill
and what can be found outside the classroom; 2) to develop their own instructional materials
many of authentic materials are interesting and which is suitable with the characteristics of their
motivating for teaching and learning process; students [3]. This does not mean to suggest that
and 3) it can trigger autonomous learning as it is forbidden to use textbook for teaching and
they are available everywhere, both printed learning process, yet it gives clear messages that
and electronically. To be used for FL writing, it is necessary for language teachers to create
three phases teaching can be elaborated in the their own instructional materials which match
classroom, namely pre-activity for the preparation with the characteristics of the students’ need.
of background knowledge, whilst activity, and There are some important requirements needed
post activity. Using authentic materials for EFL to design and develop teaching materials. As
writing is very beneficial for foreign language stated by Richards (2006), those requirements
learners because it trains not only their language among others are the author’s knowledge and
skills, but also their critical thinking skills. competence on the language use, the materials
focus, and the activities/tasks that come with
them
Keywords—authentic materials; foreign language;
writing In the teaching of writing in foreign
language context (FL), finding materials which
are suitable with the students’ need and level are
I. BACKGROUND not easy. Writing is often considered to be the
The role of instructional materials is very most difficult language skills to master. It is not
crucial in classroom teaching. The instructional enough for the student-writer to have only ideas
materials help both the instructor to deliver the because to make a good piece of writing requires
teaching objectives as well as help the students sufficient practical knowledge of how to put
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Authentic Materials for EFL Writing: Why and How?
those ideas into a meaningful discourse for the And 3) providing tasks and activities which are
reader. When it is not easy for the student-writer, suitable with the learning objectives are quite
let alone for the writing teachers/instructor who challenging. However, these should not be the
have a big responsibilty to make writing ‘easy’ reasons for not using authentic materials for
for the students. Topic selection for writing teaching foreign language skills. There are three
activity usually becomes a probelm for writing main reasons why authentic materials should
teachers [4]. They state that if the topic is not be utilized for classroom teaching, namely 1)
selected carefully, the students might get bored they create a bridge which connect the artificial
and have not much to write on the paper. Thus, it world (classroom) and the real world context, 2)
is important to select materials with challenging they are interesting and motivating, and 3) they
topics which are close to the students personal can trigger autonomous learning because these
life. type of materials are available everywhere, both
One way of doing this is through the use of printed and online.
authentic materials. Basically, authentic materials
have been used since hundred of years ago for 1) Authentic materials create a bridge
teaching a language [5]. Eventhough the term
Every language learners wants to have
authentic material is not novel, there is no fixed
a near native competence as a result of their
difinition of authentic materials. Peacock (1997)
learning of the target language. Similarly, every
defines authentic materials as materials which
teachers/lecturers wants to equip their students
are not intentionally produced and created
with sufficient knowledge about the language
for reaching the aims of language learning.
and how to use it for communication. One way
Meanwhile [7] defines authentic materials as
to reach this aim is through the use of authentic
materials which involve the use of day to day
materials. As in Indonesia, English is learnt as
language used for communication in the target
a foreign language which result in not much
language context. In addition, [8] also states
exposure found as soon as the students go outside
similar opinion. He says that authentic materials
the classroom. What the students learnt in the
are materials which are naturally written or
classroom is the artificial world of how the target
spoken for communication based on the native
language is used. Thus, the foreign language
speaker context. Based on these definition, it can
learners surely need an exposure in what way the
be concluded that the term authentic materials
language is actually used for real communication.
refers to authenticity of the language used
naturally both in spoken and written discourse Authentic materials create a bridge the
by the native speaker of the language in particular artificial world (the classroom) and the real
context. This paper is intended to describe why world. Among the many examples of authentic
FL writing teachers/lecturers should utilize materials is the short stories which are written
authentic materials for teaching writing, and how in the target language. The teachers/lecturers can
to do it for classroom teaching. use short stories for teaching the language skills
(listening, reading, speaking, writing) as well
as the language components. The stduents can
II. FINDING AND DISCUSSION learn the syntactical structure, the vocabulary, the
A. Reasons for Using Authentic Materials style, the idoms, and the culture presented in the
Not many teachers/lecturers are interested story. As stated by [10] the use of short stories for
to use authentic materials for their teaching. teaching a language has many advantages, among
Some common reasons are 1) the use of authentic them are it can be used to teach all four language
materials for classroom teaching needs careful skills simulataneously and also the language
preparation and selection, 2) it is not easy to find components. Moreover, the use of short stories,
authentic materials suitable with the learners’ say for example for teaching reading, offers
need. As stated by [9], ‘appropriateness’ becomes opportunity for the learners to have emotional
the main concern of using authentic materials. and perrsonal connection [11] which results in
sharpening the students’ critical thinking skills 3) Authentic Materials trigger autonomous
[12]. The ‘bridge’ which connect the classroom learning
and the real world can be seen in the syntactical With the advancement of technology
structure and word choice used in the short nowadays, the information can be accessesed by
stories. [13] state that popular short stories/essays everyone and everywhere. When one need to find
offer real language used which is relevant to the out how to write an application letter typically
learners’ experiences which in the end may result written for a company, he/she can find it from the
in the natural language acquisition. internet as fast as a blink of the eyes. Learning
is no longer confined to the classroom walls as
2) Authentic Materials are interesting and the world spread so wide from the smartphone
Motivating and gadget which offers various application for
learning.
Authentic materials are interesting because
they are real. For foreign language learners who One case for this is the use of storybird
never have a chance to visit the country of the for reading and writing. As explained earlier,
native speaker, having a clip of the real postcard Storybird is a web application which enable
written by the native speaker or a birthday card anybody to read the short stories and to learn to
invitation typically used by the native are quite create short stories and poems. Reading narrative
appealing. When these postcard and birthday genre in the storybirds is enjoyable because it has
card are brought into the classroom, they might colorful pictures which accomodate the story.
switch the learning atmosphere from boring to The teachers can assigned the students to read
motivating. When the real world is brought into the stories in the storybird, then make their own
the classroom, it will create the ‘affect’ reasons comprehension questions. Or, the students can be
[9]. assigned to make their own stories, either picture
story book or flash fiction. Reserach has shown
Another reason why authentic materials
that the use of storybird for teaching reading help
are interesting and motivating because they are
the students to improve their receptive vocabulary
varied, ranging from printed to electronic sources.
[15]. Other research also shows that the use of
When FL teachers/lecturers have aims to teach a
storybird improves the students vocabulary
procedure text of how something is done, short
and reading comprehension (Chuang, Kuob, &
videos from You Tube can be downloaded. For
Chiang, 2013). The good news is, storybird can
example, the students can learn how to make toys
be accessed everywhere by anyone as long as
from unused materials from the You Tube videos.
there is an internet connection.
Or, if the teachers/lecturers want to teach how to
write a short essay developed by comparison and
contrast paragraphs, they can download short B. How
movies from You Tube, then ask the students in In this part, the writer explores how authentic
what way the movies are similar and in what materials from various sources can be utilized
way they are different. In addition, nowadays, for teaching writing (paragraph and essay). The
there are many web application for writing following ideas are the ones that have been
which are usually equipped with model texts, for implemented in classroom teaching. However,
example storybirds.com. In the storybirds, there the use of athentic materials, are not limited only
are many reading materials (short stories, picture in the ones presented in the following sub section.
story book, flash fictions, poems) written by Here, the writer focuses only on procedural
people of all ages. As stated by [14], storybird is writing, comparison and contrast, cause and
beneficial to develop the students’ literacy skills effect, and problem solution essay.
both in reading and writing for foreign language
learners. The reading materials in the storybirds
are interesting and motivating because they are
equipped with pictures.
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Authentic Materials for EFL Writing: Why and How?
1) Writing Process/procedural (using You Tube 2) Writing comparison and contrast (using
video finished in two meetings) literature and You Tube Video finished in two
In meeting 1, the lecturer discussed a short meetings)
essay developed by process or chronological In the meeting 1, the lecturer discusses the
order. The students were given an authentic comparison and contrast essay. The students
sample text downloaded from the internet and were given an authentic text developed by
analyzed the rhetorical focus and linguistic comparison and contrast, discussed the features,
features. The students identified the structure of the thesis statement and its rhetorical focus. Some
the text. Some practices were given in relation to rhetorical practices and grammar practices were
the phrases typically used for procedure essay, given to the students. The practices were making
such as first, second, next, after that. The students sentences by using particular phrases used for
made sentences from the phrases individually, comparison and contrast essay, such as compared
then exchanged the work with other friend to to..., on the other hand, similar to... The students
identify grammatical error. work were exchanged with other students to
In meeting 2, during the pre-activity, the identify grammar problem, and discussed them.
students were asked about their childhood In meeting 2, during the pre-activity, the
experience whether they had once played with students were asked whether they are familiar
things made from second hand items. The point with H.C Cristian Andersen and his works,
of this activity is to prepare their background namely the Ugly Duckling, The Swan, the Little
knowledge about the topic. The question was Mermaid. The students were introduced with one
followed with the materials to make the toy and of his work. Then, in whilst activity, the students
how to make it. The students gave various answer were given The Little Match Girl. A copy of the
about the questions. Then, the lecturer wrote short story was delivered to the students (the story
on the white board the rhetorical focus and the can be downloaded freely in http://hca.gilead.org.
language focus to make a procedural paragraph. il/ or other websites). The students were given
In the whilst- activity, a short You Tube videos 5 minutes to skim and scan the story without
was shown to the students about making toys discussion of the comprehension questions.
from unused things. The video showed about After finished reading, the students were shown
making a bowling set from the unused drinking the short video about the The Little match Girl
bottle. It lasted about 3 minutes. After that, the (the video can be downloaded from You Tube
students were asked to discuss the vocabulary, the in https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=npBPh-
rhetorical focus (first, second...) and the language CDRyk, or other channel, choose the short version
focus (the verb). Then, the students were grouped les than 7 minutes).
to create their own innovation. The topic was Eventhough the short story and the short
making something from the unused thing. With movie tells about the same character (the little
their own selected member, the students discussed match girl), there are some differences in terms
about the topic, and make plan of how to do it. of its intrinsic elements. The students were asked
After finishing the discussion, they wrote their to guess the similarity and the differences during
ideas in the form of a short procedural paragraph. the classroom discussion. After that, the students
They might also present their work in fornt of the write a short essay by using comparison and
classroom by using slides. Finally, in the post- contrast paragraph development individually.
activity, the lecturer asked the students about what
they have learnt. In the next meeting, the students
might present their paragraphs by completing it 3) Writing Problem Solution essay (using
with the product which they had invented. The articles from news paper, YouTube video,
lecturer can also assign the students to publish literature)
their work either in their blog, You Tube Channel, In meeting 1, the lecturer presented the
or other social media. objectives of the learning. The students were
asked whether they had once problem in their
life, and what they did to solve their problem. The entittled The Wicked Prince. This short story is
students were presented with a problem solution simple in its premise, but difficult in terms of its
model essay downloaded from the internet, and vocabulary. The students were asked to discuss
discuused it through group work. The lecturer the text either in group or in class discussion,
prepared some questions for the students to answer either orally or written through comprehension
in group. Some of the questions were asking the questions. After that they were asked whether the
students to identify the feature, rhetorical phrases text is difficult or not, and what they would do
typically used for problem solution text, and the to solve the problem in understanding a difficult
feature. Some comprehension questions related text. The following is the sample of the student’s
to the text were also given. After that, practice work.
focusing in language and rhetorical focus were Reading and understanding a
given. The students made sentences from the text whether it is in the form of a novel or
phrases on a particular topic, namely the problem even just a short story is never that easy
with, the solution(s) is/are, in relation to the to do especially when the text is written in
problem, therefore, one of the solution is, etc. As a foreign language in which the readers
always, the students exchanged the work with do not even speak the language in their
other group for error analysis. everyday life but that does not mean
In meeting 2, the students were asked about difficult nor impossible to do. Literary
the environmental problem that they usually work is meant to entertain and or give
see in their surrounding life. The students were information or lessons to its readers
shown a short video about the excessive use of meaning it is meant to be understood
plastic which become one of the water pollutant by anyone so it is safe to say that there
in the river and the sea. A short discussion is no text or story which is too hard to
was done to prepare the students background be understood. There may be something
knowledge. After that, the students were given getting in the way when someone is trying
a short article from Jakarta Post about Reduce to understand a text and regardless of
and Reuse Plastic Bag Plight downloaded from how hard those things could be but just
https://www.the jakartapost. com/news. Some remember that nothing is unsolvable. So,
comprehension questions were given to the if you find a hard text or short story, like
students to have better understanding of the news. “The Wicked Prince” by H.C. Anderson,
Then, the students were grouped in pair to give there are several things that you can do
their opinion about the excessive use of plastic to understand the story, such as scanning
for shopping and the effect for the environment. the story and finding the important or
The students were instructed to give at least two main points about the story.
solutions and give specific examples to solve the Hard texts tend to be written
problems. After they were done discussing, they longer than simple texts are. Therefore,
had to present their ideas in the form of short when you are about to read a long text
essay, at least four paragraphs essay. In the post then the first thing you may need to keep
activity, a short classroom discussion emerged to in mind is that do not get too distracted
discus the solutions proposed by the students in over the long texts but just read the
writing. text, the whole text, by doing a reading
An alternative of problem solution essay is scanning and the second thing you may
giving the students a literary text. The students do would be: do not try to worry about
were asked to respond to the text and give their the hard vocabulary you may possibly
opinion whether the story they read is difficult find in the text because it won’t do you
or not, and how to solve the problems when they any good. Just read the text wholly and
find difficult text. An example that has been done carefully and do it fast the best you could
was using a short story written by HC Andersen manage. The other important thing to
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Authentic Materials for EFL Writing: Why and How?
do is that to find the main or important particular topic through classroom discussion.
points about the text and you can do The topic was about smart phone and children.
that while you are reading scanning the The lecturer asked whether it was necessary to
text. So, in other words, you can do both give children a smartphone. Some students might
reading and finding the main points all agree while others disagree. The students then
at once. So, again, you do not have to given an article entitled How Young is too Young
worry about the words in which you do for a Smart phone taken from online newspaper
not understand. Just read the story and downloaded from https://www.thestar.com.my/
you will understand eventually. tech/tech-news. The students were given some
Finally, from what I have time to skim and scan the text and find difficult
revealed above, now we can safe to say vocabulary. After that, they were assigned in
that reading scanning and finding the group to discuss the article and to state their
main points would be the best to do when opinion whether to agree or disagree. The lecturer
you are trying to understand a text or in present a cause and effect text structure and
this very case is a hard text instead of asked the students to fill them out. This became
worrying and or having to care about the their pre-writing stage. The students filled the
long text or the difficult words you may structure with their ideas in the form of phrases
find in it. (by Lintang Puspitasari, 423 or sentences. When they were done, the students
words) write the essay individually. In the post activity,
the lecturer asked the students’ opinion randomly
about what they learnt so far and conlcluded the
The sample writing written by the students day learning.
above shows how she presents their ideas when
she reads difficult text. She elaborates her
solutions when she had problems reading The III. CONCLUSION
Wicked Prince by HC Andersen. Instead of The use of authentic materials for teaching
having the students give solutions of a problem writing is both fun and challenging. When the
only from their imagination, they need to face students give their respond on particular issue
real problem when they read real difficult text. (social, environment, technology), they find the
This shows that authentic materials offers real issue that they are discussing is not something
life problem and challenge the students’ critical far and strange. Those issues are real as they can
thinking skills to solve them. read in the newspaper (printed and online), as
well as listen to and watch on TV or You Tube
channels. When the issues are brought into the
4) Writing Cause and effect essay (using articles
classroom, they bridge what happen outside
from newspaper)
the classroom and what is inside the classroom.
In meeting 1, the lecturer presented the As the technology are becoming more and more
organization of cause and effect essay and gave sophisticated, distance and time are no longer
a sample essay downladed from the internet for become the boundaries to improve the quality
the students to analyze. The students analyzed of teaching. This shows that there is no excuses
the rhetorical focus, the thesis statement, and not to use authentic materials for teaching, more
its features. After that, the students were given specifically for paragraph and essay writing for
language practice in making sentences by using higher education or univeristy level.
phrases typically used for cause and effect essay,
However, further study needs to be conducted
namely as a result, the effect of, therefore, thus,
to find out the effectivenes of authentic materials
because, because of, etc. The students made
for teaching writing in university level by using
sentences based on the topic given. After that, the
an experiemntal design. Having the information
students exchanged their work for error analysis.
whether authentic materials are effective/not for
In meeting 2, the lecturer prepared the improving the quality of teaching writing in EFL
students’ background knowledge about a
context is important for the writing instructor to M. Peacock, “The effect of authentic materials
develop instructional materials which employs on the motivation of EFL learners,” ELT J.,
authentic materials from various sources. 1997.
Secondly, more research also needs to be done to D. Tamo, “The Use of Authentic Materials in
find out in what way authentic materials benefits Classrooms,” Lcpj, vol. 2, no. 1991, pp.
learners in terms of the writing elements, such 74–78, 2009.
as how the students’ open the essay in the first F. Kilickaya, “Authentic Materials and Culture
paragraph, their ability to state thesis sentences, Content in EFL Classrooms,” Internet ELT
their ability to give details and examples, and J., no. 2002, p. 10(7), 2004.
their ability to make concluding paragraph for
R. R. Day, “A Critical Look at Authentic Materials
the essay. All in all, the use of authentic materials
*,” Spring, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 101–114, 2004.
for teaching writing is highly recommended
because these type of materials trains not only the O. R. Erkaya, “Benefits of using short stories in
students’ skills in writing, but also their higher the EFL context,” Asian EFL J., 2005.
order thinking skills. A. Ahmad, “Use of Short Stories as a Tool of
Teaching Reading in English as Foreign
Language.,” J. Educ. Res., vol. 15, no. 2, pp.
IV. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
72–83, 2012.
This study is funded by Directorate General
L. Setyowati and S. Sukmawan, “Writing for
of Higher Education (Ditjen DIKTI) 2019,
Comprehension in Prose Fiction Analysis:
contract number 1499.a/STKIP/KS /IV/2019
The Students’ Voices,” Arab World English
J., vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 134–145, 2018.
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