Using authentic reading materials with lower level students

I first became interested in exploring more effective ways of teaching reading skills while I was teaching an IELTS preparation course to pre-sessional university students in Cardiff over 10 years ago. At that time, I was expected to employ the traditional procedure of having students read a passage from their coursebook and then answer comprehension questions. For most students, making noticeable improvements in their reading ability using only this ‘testing’ technique was a real struggle. Although I think the process of ‘struggling’ to learn something can in itself be useful, I always felt that this procedure was ‘hit and miss’. It tested reading skills, but did not teach students to be more effective readers. 

My search for a better way to ‘teach’ reading led me to books about ‘study skills’ in general (e.g. Buzan 1995 and Palmer 1996). These books placed emphasis on reading for ‘gist’, using ‘speed reading’ techniques. While my IELTS students thought exam preparation techniques (e.g. timed-readings) were of value, few felt comfortable with abandoning their habit of stopping to find the definition of every unknown word in a text. Their recognition vocabularies were simply not large enough to facilitate rapid reading.

Another factor that I became aware of at this time was how involved these students became in discussions that involved ‘authentic’ topics. In fact, it was during these lessons that they really seemed to make the most effort to improve their communication skills. This led me to the conclusion that employing ‘authentic’ topics and texts and tasks, that students were interested in ‘for their own sake’, might be instrumental in motivating them to improve their English language skills. 

Over the years, I have taught many EAP and ESP classes and in all of them the learners have expressed a desire to improve their reading skills, and in particular they have wished to improve their comprehension of ‘authentic’ texts. And, as I observed all those years ago with my IELTS students, ‘authentic’ texts would appear to have a profound effect on students’ motivation. 

However, the claim that authentic materials lead to an increase in learner motivation has rarely been ‘tested’ in ESL/EFL literature. One of the few investigations into the topic concluded that teachers should “try appropriate authentic materials in their classroom, as they may increase learners’ levels of on-task behaviour, concentration, and involvement in the target activity…” (Peacock 1997 :152). 

That being said, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages states that the text types students should be exposed to must be related and confined to texts relevant to certain specified situations and certain specified topics. 

Text types related to the situations include: 

• signs (e.g. street signs) 
• directions (e.g. how to make a phone call) 
• instructions (e.g. warnings)

Text types related to ‘topics’, in addition to those listed above include:

• personal correspondence 
• informative articles
• weather forecasts from newspapers and magazines

Therefore, according to the Council of Europe, authentic texts are not only highly appropriate for lower level learners, they are, in fact, the only type of texts students at lower levels should be focusing on.

Anyway, without going into further detail in this article, here are a handful of problems and solutions. Enjoy!

Problem 1

While the idea that we can use texts of any level of difficulty with any level learner by simply adjusting the complexity of task is conceptually appealing (to teachers), experience has taught me that many lower level learners want to understand the meaning of every word in a text. They often have low recognition vocabularies and plod through difficult texts, dictionary in hand, often without ever achieving much understanding of the overall meaning of a text. While analytical learners don’t seem to mind this approach, it can be extremely frustrating for those who favour a more holistic learning style.   

Solution 1a

Teachers should pay attention to the inherent difficulty of the texts they choose for the classroom. Authentic news items, that are ‘roughly tuned’ for lower level learners, are available from websites like onestopenglish.com. By using materials that respect students’ recognition vocabulary, more fluent reading becomes possible. This, in turn, leads to a more global understanding of a text, which most students find extremely motivating.    

Solution 1b

Students can be taught strategies to help them deduce the meanings of words from context (i.e. what Nuttall (1996) calls ‘word attack skills’). These include: 

looking for structural clues to establish a word’s grammatical category and paying attention to morphology e.g. the study of affixation, or the way phrasal verbs are put together. 

Problem 2

Students may lack the concentration to study authentic texts for extended periods of time because of the heavy cognitive load this represents. Texts may appear/be too long.  

Solution 2

This problem can be addressed by presenting texts in sections. For example, a text can be revealed or given out one section at a time. Detailed analysis of each section can lead to predictions about the next section, which can, in turn, be verified. For ‘spatial’ (visual) learners, this technique can be enhanced with accompanying pictures or photos.

Problem 3

It may be difficult for teachers to find samples of ‘authentic’ English language news items compatible with the world knowledge of their students.  

Solution 3

There are several English language websites which target readers living in countries where English is learned as a second or foreign language (countries that Braj Kachru (1985, in McKay 2002) described as ‘Outer Circle’ and ‘Expanding Circle’ countries respectively). For example, al-jeezira.com and The South China Morning Post have websites that feature English language news items that are not culturally specific to America, England or Australia (i.e. ‘Inner Circle’ countries, ‘ibid.’).  

Problem 4

Examples of genuine ‘authentic’ English text-types, other than news items (e.g. customs forms, price-lists, timetables, etc.), can be extremely difficult to locate in some non-English speaking countries. 

Solution 4

As always, the Internet is an excellent source for examples of authentic text-types. For example, official government websites often provide on-line application forms for tourist Visas, immigration procedures, etc. The internet can also provide photos of English road signs, telephoning instructions, etc., that will appeal to students with a ‘spatial’ learning style.  

It will be up to each individual teacher to gradually accumulate samples of authentic English text types such as; menus, posters, magazines, holiday brochures, stickers, advertisements, etc. Whenever teachers visit English speaking countries they should collect as many of these items as possible.

Problem 5

Students may not be interested in the topics of the texts in their coursebook and, as a result, teachers may be faced with a general lack of motivation on the part of the learners.

Solution 5

Let the students choose which topics they want to study. If the teacher is lucky enough to be using a coursebook that features free-standing units (i.e. units that can be taught in any order), it is a good idea to have students review the table of contents/syllabus and prioritise the order of the topics in the course. 

If the teacher is responsible for their own course materials, lesson topics should be based on pre-course and initial needs analyses. If the teacher has no input into decisions concerning the syllabus/coursebook, incorporating brief follow-up questions into course materials (such as, ‘Do you have the same problem in… ?’), will help to personalise a topic and engage ‘intrapersonal’ language learners. 

Problem 6

Students may not be familiar with the genre of a text and its features, which may be different in their language.

Solution 6a

Content-based instruction can help facilitate language learning, but we should never assume that the rhetorical structure of a student’s first language contains the same patterns as that of ‘Inner Circle’ countries. It is the teachers’ responsibility to find out as much as possible about the features of genre writing in students’ first language and to help students notice the differences in patterns of discourse. 

Solution 6b

Students can be taught ‘text attack skills’ (Nuttall 1996) to help them understand the contextual and pragmatics meanings expressed in the text. These include:

• recognising the functional value of a text (e.g. asserting, explaining, hypothesising, concluding).
• recognising the presuppositions underlying a text (the knowledge and experience the writer expects readers to have, and the opinions, attitudes and emotions the writer expects the reader to share).  

Problem 7

Competence (or lack of competence) in using ‘word attack’ and ‘text attack’ skills can be very influential in motivating students’ to read extensively outside of the classroom. And, without extensive reading, students will never develop the ‘reading habit’. However, locating enough ‘authentic’ texts suitable for an extensive reading program for lower level adult learners can be difficult.   

Solution 7

An alternative would be to introduce students to ‘adapted’ texts. These are novels, short stories, and informational texts (e.g. the Oxford Bookworms series of ‘graded’ readers) that are ‘roughly tuned’ to match the recognition vocabulary of learners at specific levels. 

Just as motivation influences success and success influences motivation, competence in word and text attack skills can promote fluent reading and visa versa. Other advantages of extensive reading include (Renandya & Jacobs 2002):

• enhanced language learning in such areas as spelling, vocabulary, grammar and text structure
• increased knowledge of the world
• higher possibility of developing a ‘reading habit’.