A review on the implications of Realia in enhancing students’ Educational experience in Online Language Classroom

Abstract

The use of realia as an additional teaching material incorporated in the language classroom has long been documented. It is used in classroom instruction to enhance students’ real-life experiences. However, there often exists a gap between the content taught in the classroom and its association with the real-life given the dynamic and complexity of each discipline that could restrict demonstration of real-life examples in the class. Although realia are easily obtainable, not all classrooms are supposed to employ additional materials as such due to the stipulated syllabus or content appropriateness. Various types of educational and illustrative realia like virtual realia, magazines, pictures, and songs are employed in the classroom practices and they are proven effective and yielded encouraging implications. Given the importance and longstanding usage of realia in classroom practices, this review aimed to review the types, implications, and limitations of realia in the recent educational context, specifically in the language classroom. It was concluded that the extensive use of realia may enrich students’ learning experiences in various levels of language classroom as supported by the literature. The current review also provides practical implications to students, educators and stakeholders to gauge a more in-depth understanding about the use of realia in classroom practices.