REFRAMING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR:

PRACTICING GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT

By:
Dana YudhaKristiawan
Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Banyuwangi

In most of the text books used in the teaching of grammar, exercises are taken out of context, whether that
context is oral or written. For example, students asked to transform grammatical rules are typically made
to do repetition drills. This bores students and does not accustom them to use grammar in context. To
meet this need, I will show how the use of authentic materials assists students in learning grammar in
context. To begin with, I will talk about the nature and the rationale of using authentic materials in
teaching. Then, I will discuss the criteria for selecting authentic materials for classroom use. Finally, I
will demonstrate the step-by step guidelines for class work so the audience can adapt or adopt them in
their own teaching .I contend that teaching grammar with authentic materials will enhance understanding
of grammar use and application whether in speaking or writing.
Keywords: Authentic materials, grammar, context
Introduction
In most of text books used for teaching and learning grammar, it is found that students are asked to do the
exercises. For the example the exercises are to transform grammatical rules which are typically made to
do repetition drills. Meanwhile, the teachers in the teaching learning process of grammar (e.g., in the
Indonesian EFL context) they tend to lead students to memorize the grammatical pattern. Furthermore
they teach the students to master an element of grammar than move to another. For the example, after the
teacher teaches simple present tense and students master it then he/she teaches present continuous tense.
According to Nunan (1998) this phenomenon is called constructing a wall method. It means that the
grammatical competence is based on the easy bricks then providing the foundation for the difficult one.
If the bricks are not in the correct order, the wall will collapse under its own ungrammaticality. He
confirms that second language acquisition should be like growing a garden than constructing a wall. It
means that when learning a second language learners do not need master an element of grammar perfectly
in time but simultaneously and imperfectly.
In teaching learning foreign language teachers should enhance students interest, motivation and
achievement. It is a challenge for teachers creates opportunities in teaching learning foreign language
becomes meaningful to the students. One alternative that can be applied by teacher is using authentic
materials on their pedagogical practice. According to Peacock (1997) He recommended based on his
research that teacher can try the appropriate authentic material as they may increase their learners' levels
of on-task behavior, concentration, and involvement in the target activity more than artificial materials.
Practically, in learning grammar students must be accustomed to understand and use grammar for either
written or communicative purposes. To fill this void, this article discusses key issues on how authentic
materials assist students practicing grammar in context. It also addresses the implementation of authentic
material into instructional materials. This contribution of this article is to give the readers with the
practical account on how authentic material can be used to assist the students in learning grammar in a
context

Nature and Rationale of Authentic Materials in Teaching Grammar

There are many definitions of authentic materials. According to Wong, et all (1995) they define authentic
materials as materials which are used in genuine communication in a real world and not specifically
prepared for teaching and learning English The examples of such materials includes written, audio-video
that students encounter in their daily lives such as brochures, job applications, menus, voice mail
messages, radio programs, and videos. Drawing by this definition, the nature of authentic materials is
supplying students with real experience to expose the real language and its use in its own community. In
line with this notion, learning grammar should be beyond of form and tend to focus on meaning and use.
The paradigm of teaching grammar traditionally should be shift with functioning grammar in the context
of students using grammar orally or written.
Avoiding students get bored in learning grammar, authentic materials can be an alternative solution since
they can attract students attention. According to Scrivener (1996) authentic materials can motivate
reluctant learners into overcoming their shyness or fears with regard to language-learning. Furthermore,
the nature of authentic materials is genuine in time, location and people. It means that the events in
authentic materials are tent to similarly with the background knowledge of the students. This condition
makes students appreciate the use of language in the material. Finally, authentic materials can trigger
students in learning foreign language as they offer, in that they can offer contexts with which students are
more familiar.
The Criteria for Selecting Authentic Materials for Classroom Use
In selecting authentic materials teachers should consider about the authenticity of the learners. Lee (1995)
defines learners authenticity is an interaction between learners and authentic materials in which learners
can give appropriate response and positive psychology reaction. It will be useless if the students do not
respond properly with the authentic materials which prepared by the teacher. This implies that the
authenticity can be achieved whereas an agreement between the content of authentic materials are
synchronous with the students interpretation. Regarding with this discussion it is important to teacher to
consider the background of the students in selecting the material. The background of students includes
culture, interest, and linguistic competence. It makes easier for them to engage with the authentic material
since the prior knowledge; interest and curiosity of the students are not alien with them.
The notion of selecting authentic materials should be based on the students center. The authentic material
should give students learning grammar beyond the formula. It means the students can explore grammar in
the authentic material in communicative and written purposes. With reference to learners background
Khaniya (2006) mentions three aspects in materials selection. The first is the linguistic background which
influences classroom management, the selection of tasks, the sequencing and execution of tasks, and the
focus of micro-skill instruction. The second is the conceptual background which determines the need
for specificity or generality of information in the selected materials and the last aspect is cultural aspect
which affects trainee-instructor interaction, the formality or informality of classroom interaction, and
expectations of traditional instructor and trainee/student roles. (p. 21). To sum up, it can be concluded
that first and foremost, learners language level must be considered in selecting texts and texts must be
carefully examined for their lexical and structural difficulty. Moreover, to choose appropriate themes and
topics, learners needs and interests are required to be reflected on.

The Implementation of Teaching Grammar Using Authentic Materials

As earlier pointed out, using authentic materials can assist students accustomed in practicing grammar in
context. Here is a sample teaching grammar using authentic materials. I would like to focus on target
language students at vocational school level, particularly the first year students.
The selection of authentic materials
Based on the criteria of selection of authentic materials that language competence, theme and interest is
considered. Since the students are marketing programmed the selection of the authentic material is based
on of descriptive genre. In this case the authentic material used is products label. So they can describe the
product and learning about formula of the grammar in the product label.

Dana YudhaKristiawan is currently a lecturer and a chair of the English Education Programme, Faculty
of Teacher Training and Education, The University of 17 August 1945 Banyuwangi, Indonesia. His major
interests are in Material Design in ELT and Teacher Education

Khaniya, T. R. (2006). Use of authentic materials in EFL classrooms. Journal of NELTA, 11(2). 17-23.
Lee, W. (1995). Authenticity revisited: Text authenticity and learner authenticity. ELT Journal Volume
49(4), 323328.
Matthew, Peacock (1997) The effect of authentic materials on the motivation of EFL learners. ELT
Journal Volume 51/2
Nunan, David. (1998). Teaching Grammar in Context. ELT Journal Volume 52/2
Wong, Viola., Kwok, Peony., and Choi, Nancy (1995) .The use of authentic materials at tertiary level.
ELT Journal Volume 49/4
Scrivener, J. (1996) "ARC: a descriptive model for classroom work on language".In: Willis, J. and Willis,
D. (eds.) Challenge and Change in Language Teaching (Oxford: Macmillan Education. pp. 79-92)