The Advantages of Authentic Materials in the ESP/ EFL Classroom: Newspapers

Abstract

The paper is divided into two main parts, i.e. a theoretical and an applicative one. The first partdeals with the theoretical background of authentic materials, focusing especially on newspapers. Inorder words, this section presents different kinds of authentic materials and discusses theimportance and the consequences of using authentic materials in the ESP class, with a specialfocus on the advantages of using newspapers as an aid during the ESP classes. The second partconsists of an experimental case study, in which we taught the same language or grammarstructures to a control group (by traditional methods) and to an experimental group (by “thenewspaper method”, i.e. teaching based on newspapers). The results of our experiment highlightthe efficiency and even the necessity of using authentic materials (especially newspapers) in themodern ESP classroom.

Keywords

• authentic materials
• newspapers
• ESP
• experiment
• teaching