Authenticity of materials and foreign language teaching

Abstract

This article aims to revisit the discussion about the concept of authenticity in the teaching of foreign languages by authors of great relevance in German and English, as well as in Brazil, emphasizing the role of authenticity of materials. The German-speaking authors researched defend a conception of authenticity of materials related to text genres, which also covers texts adapted for teaching. The English-speaking authors, on the other hand, problematize the overestimation of authenticity of materials in the teaching, and interpret the concept of authenticity more broadly, calling authentic also the interactions between the learners, the context of the classroom, etc. In Brazil, there was a strong influence of the Englishspeaking authors, however, research that addresses the use of authentic materials continues to be published. In this way, we can perceive the coexistence of different views of authenticity, including of materials, which may have contributed to the reduced number of authentic texts in textbooks of German as a foreign language. Taking into account that the authentic / nonauthentic dichotomy does not adequately cover the texts found in current textbooks, we propose a more gradual typology (based on BROWN and MENASCHE, 2010) for a more detailed analysis of these materials

Keywords

• authenticity
• authentic materials
• foreign language teaching