Unit 2: Evaluating Resources
Textbook vs. Authentic Resources - an ongoing debate
Textbooks are to authentic materials what travel guide books
are to the actual travel experience.
are to the actual travel experience.
Travel guide books are organized and thorough. The author has spent time carefully
researching and editing their best recommendations for you, the eager traveller. They
perhaps have been to the destination themselves, have eaten the local food, visited the
museums and posed for a picture or two. This guidebook is easy to use as it is organized
into logical sections and flows nicely. In reading this guide book you gather lots of information
and become knowledgeable about the best practices while visiting the country. The pictures
are colourful and interesting as you pour over the pages, dreaming of your upcoming vacation.
After reading the guidebook, you feel prepared, equipped and excited to visit the places you
have spent your time learning about. This is a passive, structured and a neatly leveled learning
experience. Using a textbook to learn English has many similarities.
Experiencing a new country or vacation spot is exciting, inspiring, tiring, stretching
and as times challenging. You are now able to smell the baking pizza in Italy, taste the fresh
seafood in PEI, feel the fine sand between your toes in Cuba and see the beautiful cherry
blossoms in Japan. You had read about all these things and even seen the glossy travel guide
pictures but it wasn’t quite like experiencing them with your own senses. You read about how
to order a meal in Swedish or hail a taxi in New York or converse with your new co-workers
in Shanghai but now that you’re really there it all seems much more challenging than those
guidebooks had neatly outlined. You will need to take your book smarts and apply them to
real life situation. You will need to problem solve by observation or looking up the answer to
your specific question. This is where the real learning takes place, the kind of learning to
soaks deep down into your memory. My description of a real life travel experience bears
many similarities to using authentic materials in the classroom.
and as times challenging. You are now able to smell the baking pizza in Italy, taste the fresh
seafood in PEI, feel the fine sand between your toes in Cuba and see the beautiful cherry
blossoms in Japan. You had read about all these things and even seen the glossy travel guide
pictures but it wasn’t quite like experiencing them with your own senses. You read about how
to order a meal in Swedish or hail a taxi in New York or converse with your new co-workers
in Shanghai but now that you’re really there it all seems much more challenging than those
guidebooks had neatly outlined. You will need to take your book smarts and apply them to
real life situation. You will need to problem solve by observation or looking up the answer to
your specific question. This is where the real learning takes place, the kind of learning to
soaks deep down into your memory. My description of a real life travel experience bears
many similarities to using authentic materials in the classroom.
What is my personal opinion in the textbook vs. authentic material debate? Well I feel
that both are valuable and have a place in the EAL classroom. In different contexts, times in
your career and classroom environments you may benefit from the different strengths of each
of these materials. A textbook is an organized, thorough, categorized and well researched
resource while authentic materials can be more engaging, personalized, nuanced, and similar
to what the learner will experience when they leave the classroom. As a EAL teacher I will
most likely use a combination of these two materials as I see the benefit that each brings.
that both are valuable and have a place in the EAL classroom. In different contexts, times in
your career and classroom environments you may benefit from the different strengths of each
of these materials. A textbook is an organized, thorough, categorized and well researched
resource while authentic materials can be more engaging, personalized, nuanced, and similar
to what the learner will experience when they leave the classroom. As a EAL teacher I will
most likely use a combination of these two materials as I see the benefit that each brings.
Links to some resources on authentic material:
References:
[Photograph of travel guides] (2019). Retrieved from:
https://theunconventionalroute.com/travel-guidebooks-versus-blogs/
https://theunconventionalroute.com/travel-guidebooks-versus-blogs/
[Photograph of travellers in Italy] (2018). Retrieved from:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/travel-guidebook-here-to-stay/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/travel-guidebook-here-to-stay/
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