Using authentic material in secondary school

There might be language and cultural references that even native speakers from other countries, areas or age groups would not understand

This can be a huge problem if the teacher also doesn't understand! Ways of avoiding this include using the English-language press of the country the students are from; using texts about something you know one or more students are interested in and knowledgeable about such as one of their hobbies; and using websites, newspapers and magazines that have an international readership.

It might include language that isn't in a dictionary

This could be a good time for students to practice their “guessing meaning from context” skills, but that is only usually possible if they understand over 90% of the language around that word. This means that they have to be Advanced or even Proficiency level to be able to do so with most authentic texts. As with the point above, there are few good ways of using this factor and the best thing to do is almost always to try to avoid it by choosing more suitable texts, rewriting, or concentrating on another aspect of the text you choose.

The texts are often too long

This can be a factor with Sunday magazine articles that you'd love to use in class but cover six pages, and also for books for students to read at home. In fact, the shortness of a graded reader can be just as much part of the appeal as the simplified language. One solution with authentic texts is to use only an extract, but this can make understanding it even more difficult unless you can find some way of explaining very clearly what comes before or after the part you give them. There are also shorter news articles in the margins of a newspaper and on the Internet, but these rarely have the interesting storylines and language that are supposed to be the selling points of authentic texts. So, unless you are prepared to rewrite the text yourself there is usually no solution but to keep looking till you find the length you are looking for

2.3.5 The importance of motivation

Why spend time on finding out which texts to use in the classroom? Why not present your students with a text that you find suitable and make them read it with the intention of discussing it afterwards? Certain writers claim that there is a difference between reading a text and being engaged in the reading of a text. It is claimed that if a student is motivated in the reading of a text, the student is a better learner. Furthermore, a motivated reader will …”activate prior knowledge to construct new understandings…”. It is also claimed that the development of literacy (obtained from reading texts) and motivated students is “a reciprocal relationship…” the better you get at understanding the texts you read, the more motivated you will become. This will encourage you to engage in the reading of more texts with an increasing difficulty level. Reading leads to a better textual which in turn inspires you to read further. So the trick should be to get the students interested in texts - to get them motivated in the process of working with texts within and outside the classroom.

2.3.6 Different factors that further motivation

If you accept that motivated students are better learners, you are faced with another problem, namely how to motivate your students when reading a text. It is important to find out which factors influence the students in order to be able to change/enhance them.

In short, in order to increase the students' motivation, you should find out how to capture and maintain the students' interest when introducing the text, while reading the text and during work on the text. Verhoven and Snow have several suggestions how as to make sure that the students are motivated. They believe that if you allow students to take part in the choosing of the text, they will automatically be more interested in reading and working with it. At the same time, letting students take some responsibility helps them to reflect on their own learning process. It encourages them to think about what they actually want to learn about and how they want to do this. If you helped plan your learning process you are likely to be more motivated in the classroom and hereby create a better learning and class environment. By doing this you teach them how to learn and this will help the students in their studies further on.

The textbook and the worksheets which often follow it might be perfectly all right, but perhaps motivation could be increased if the students themselves come with ideas on how to work with a text. This should of course be done with the teacher acting as a guiding force. The teacher should present various ways of working with a text to the students, listen to their suggestions and perhaps create a combined list of activities. Furthermore, the method should be adapted to fit the needs of the different classes. What is perfect for one class will not necessarily work in another.It can be difficult for a teacher to motivate the students when reading texts - especially novels or other longer texts since these have a reputation of being boring and irrelevant. In competition with e.g. television, radio and comics which supply the student with a variety of short-term entertainment, not just any text will do.The theme of a text is extremely important. The theme should be of interest and of relevance to the students - otherwise the teacher will have a hard time maintaining class motivation. Students will often find a text interesting “…if it is familiar and easy to comprehend”. If the theme is familiar to the student, it will also be easier to discuss in class. At the same time it enables the student to activate his or her cultural background and the knowledge that he or she already possesses. When it comes to the language of the text it becomes increasingly difficult for the teacher to make the right choices. Should a teacher choose a text which is by far too easy for the group, the students are not likely to stay motivated. The text will be seen a dull and lacking purpose. On the other hand, should the teacher choose a text which is too difficult for the students they might shut down all together and read the text without even trying to understand it. Furthermore, the teacher has to consider the purpose of the text; e.g. should a text be included, even though it might be too difficult for students, because of the famous writer? Or would it be better to exclude the famous writer (thereby missing out on a highly motivating factor) and choose a text which is more accessible to the students? As we mentioned earlier, Kramsch, inspired by Krashen, puts forth a theory saying that a text should always be just above a student's level of proficiency. This way the student is challenged but will not find the text impossible to understand and at the same time the student will achieve satisfaction when the text is understood. You might say that the language of a text should be accessible while at the same time challenging and stimulating for the reader - adding new words to the reader's vocabulary.

3. Methods and data

To investigate whether or not our assumptions concerning authentic material was correct we decided to apply a quantitative approach and to use a qualitative way of dealing with the results. By this we mean that we analyzed the results we collected instead of simply presenting them. We decided on two different means of finding the answers to our questions. The first was a questionnaire which we handed out to two classes in two different schools. The purpose of using questionnaires as a method was to find out general opinions or certain knowledge within the respondent group.

3.1 Presentation of textbooks

We were aware of the fact that the different classes used different textbooks, namelyVereshagin, Afanasyeva. Therefore we had to decide whether or not these should be treated separately or could be seen as more or less the same. Both textbooks are used in English B course and both contain writers such as S.Opponheim, S.Raimi, M.Twain, A.MilnJ., M.Barrie , Howard Pyle. The topics of the books are by and large the same including topics like love, the classics, suspense and media. Even though the specific texts chosen may vary the general build of the books is the same. Both books contain questions to work with after the texts, and the questions cover areas like grammar, translation, word meaning and different writing exercises. Furthermore, both books are equipped with sections in the end of the books where the students can practice their skills in speaking and writing or work with the literature found in the books. Therefore, we decided to treat the textbooks as the same type of teaching material.

3.2 Questionnaire

We handed the questionnaire to 43 students in upper secondary school, second year. As it turned out, no students in the two classes were absent and thereby the level of participation was 100%. The questionnaire was divided into three sections; “texts”, learning situations” and “work with the text”. In the first section we wanted to find out about the topics that students preferred reading about and if they believed that these were reflected in their textbook. In the second section we were interested in finding out how the topic influenced the students in an actual learning situation and in the third section we hoped to see to what extent students participated in the selection of texts and which factors influenced them in the selection process. We asked the students their opinions on and attitudes towards these texts. Furthermore, we asked them questions relating to the theories concerning authentic and adapted texts. The survey was done in English and the results were analyzed. The students we chose were level B students and doing their second year in upper secondary school.

3.3 Interviews

The second method was to conduct several interviews involving two English teacher and two students; all interviews were taped. The purpose of the student interview was to get a student perspective on the material taught in class. The students were all asked the same questions, but were at the same time allowed to talk freely. These interviews were conducted in English since we were interested in the students' thoughts and opinions, not their language skills.

In order to contrast the student interviews and the questionnaires we decided to conduct an interview with a teachers as well. We wanted to get a teacher's point of view on the use of authentic texts and textbooks. We asked them questions similar to the questions we asked to the students but with a slightly different approach. We asked the teachers questions about the reasons for their choice of texts; whether or not they used the texts available in the textbooks; their thoughts on choosing between texts; their general opinion on authentic texts etc. We also wanted see which factors influence a teacher's choice of a text and if the teacher's considerations matched the students' wishes. Furthermore, we were interested in seeing to what degree the teachers used authentic texts in the classroom and what pros and cons the teacher had experienced with the different types of text. We decided to perform the interview in English with the same motivation as with the student interviews.

We knew that we could not hope to achieve results which may be applied to the teaching and the learning of English in general. This, however, was not our intention. We aimed to find out how the average student respond to the texts used in the classroom; to see if and why the teacher we interviewed made use of adapted and authentic texts. Since no students were absent when we conducted the interviews it was possible to make rather precise assumptions concerning these particular two classes. But it should be underlined that we were interested in attitudes, opinions and perhaps discovering certain trends - not truths.

4. Results of questionnaires and interviews

4.1 Results of questionnaires

When the students were asked to give their opinion on the importance of reading texts in the classroom, 27 students (63%) answered that it was important to read texts while learning English. This in itself is not surprising. What might be of interest is that 10 students (23%) found the use of texts of little or no relevance at all. Of these, we know of at least two dyslexics in the group and we can assume that these are a part of the latterт group. Moreover, through a survey conducted earlier, we have established that the students at one of the schools favour the communicative approach to learning English. Since the question was “do you think it is important to read texts when you learn English?” some students may not have taken the communicative aspect of text-reading into consideration. However, 10 students showed a negative attitude towards the reading of text and this should be taken into consideration as this could have a serious effect on student motivation

These are works of my students at school Kirova 8th form.

Bashtykbaeva A.(15y.old) Akylbek k Aikuma(15 years old)

Murzaliev Sultan (15 y.o) Saryeva Nakinai(16 y.o.)

Student topic preferences

I also asked the students which kind of texts they prefer and what they, if given the choice, would like to read about. It was very clear that the students preferred novels, short stories and newspaper articles. When i compared this to the topics the students preferred I saw a high coherence. 22 students (51%) preferred to read about current events in the world. Other topics high on the students' list were music, English speaking cultures and history. It is interesting to see how these topics correspond with the fact that students favoured newspaper and magazine articles as well as the more classic novel. Typical novel and short story topics are music, movies, history and sports - topics that were also high on the students' list. The results were not too surprising since both classes have chosen humanities as their main study focus which means that their natural interest lay in the study of language, culture and history.

Topic

Student study preferences

Since I was interested in the students' attitudes towards their textbook and authentic texts, I asked them which they preferred. The result was that 34 (80%) choose authentiс texts instead of the textbook. But since 39 of the students (90%) answered that these authentic texts never, rarely or sometimes appeared in the textbook, this is not a surprising result. Since the textbook does not contain the topics the students would like to work with, they naturally choose other options - here authentic texts.

When the students were asked to state their opinions on the textbook, frequently used words were “boring”, “lack of meaning”, and “too easy”. Since the students do not think that the topics they want to discuss are in their textbook and they prefer novels and newspaper articles it is not surprising that they are not positive when describing their textbook. As a result only 14 students of the 43 (32%) have been inspired to follow up on what they have learned in class. Most of these liked the writer and wanted to read more; the others had read an extract and wanted to read the rest.

Student attitudes towards the questions in textbooks

When I asked the students about the questions following the text, the same attitude showed itself. Most of the students answered that they did in fact work with the questions following the text, but at the same time they did not find these very relevant. 25 of the students (58%) found that the questions were of minor relevance to the text and only 1 found the questions very relevant.

Student democracy

I wanted to find out the students' attitudes towards how texts are chosen and how the different factors concerning the texts, e.g. the author and the length influence them.

29 of the students (67%) answered that their teacher decides what they are to read; 10 students (23%) answered that they are presented with different texts and then allowed to choose. What is interesting is that when we asked the students which method they preferred 31 (72%) preferred the latter alternative. It is not surprising that most of the students chose the alternative where they are presented with options; when you are given a choice it is easier to find something that appeals to you and at the same time you take an active part in your own learning. What is surprising is that most of the students are not presented with this possibility.

When the students are in fact able to choose between texts, we found that the topic is of the utmost importance for the students. 33 students (75%) answered that the topic is very important for the choice of text. Other important factors are the genre (25 students) and language (24 students). On the other hand, the length and the author matter to some extend to the students while the year of publication does not matter at all.

To what degree is the following important to you when you choose a text?

How to work with the texts

Since I suspected that the topic might play an important role when it comes to texts read in the classroom I decided to include questions about how the topic influenced the students in different work situations. I asked them to what extent they were influenced by the choice of topic in pair/group and whole class discussions and writing about the topic. The overall impression was that the students were not especially concerned about the topic in any of the mentioned situations - except when it comes to writing about the text; here students were divided between being very much influenced and not being influenced at all. Furthermore, in the cases where the students seemed to be influenced it depended mainly on the pair/group/class in which they were placed. The topic in itself was not to be avoided but rather the specific combination of co-workers. Writing is especially interesting since this turned out to be the working method the students preferred. It is possible that students feel more comfortable with working with a text when they have time and perhaps dictionaries to help them. It provides them with a certain sense of security and control which is often lost in a classroom situation. On top of this, it enables everybody to take part in a discussion. Even the students who might need some extra time to think a statement through are able to participate. When the students were asked how they would prefer to work with a text, writing also played an important part. 22 of the students (51%) would like write a summary and 19 (44%) saw writing an essay as a good option. At the same time 19 students (44%) wanted to identify the themes and discuss them. It might come as a small surprise that most of the students, namely 28 (65%), would like to translate words found in the text by using a dictionary. The reason for choosing this otherwise quite monotonous exercise could be that it is at the same time fairly easy and secure task.

4.2 Results of the student interviews

To get the interview started I asked the students' which topics they wanted to read about in their English studies. All students agreed that articles about current events such as terrorism were more interesting than e.g. texts about the Berlin wall; the students wanted to read about things that they could relate to. They did not find these themes in their textbook but were given articles from e.g. the internet and different English newspapers by their teacher. The students preferred the authentic texts because they seemed more real to them. The texts contained modern expressions, slang and different dialects such as Cockney; they commented that it seemed like the kind of texts that you might read in England “with your morning tea”. Furthermore, they were enthusiastic about novels. According to the students, the novels presented them with a good story as well as challenging language; this made them focus mainly on the content rather than on the formal structure. They did not feel the need to look up every single word they did not understand - they were able to deduct the meaning of words through contents. The views on their textbook were mixed. Although they clearly preferred authentic texts, they maintained a positive attitude towards the texts in their textbook. Some of the students stated that if you are able to see the purpose of the text or exercise, the text itself became interesting. It depended very much on how the teacher presented and worked with the text. According to one of the students the textbook presented valuable strategies about how to read a text; at the same time they admitted that grammar is an important factor when you learn the English language and that the textbook can be a good guide.This was not a view shared by all the students. One of the students thought, that she often found the texts from the textbook meaningless because she felt that she wasn't challenged. If she felt a text was tedious she lost the will to learn and more often than not, she just read the text without actually taking it in. When it came to working with the texts, the students were again a bit divided. Two of the students thought that the questions following the texts were satisfying. They said that the questions might not be the most inspiring, but they saw the purpose of the assignments.

Taken from the student interviews

To them, it made sense to read a text, adapted or authentic, which might not be a “perfect” text but where you could see the purpose. The other two students(Saryeva N,Mamadinov K.) were less forgiving. They argued that how the teacher dealt with the text was extremely important. If the questions following a text were too specific or “no-brainers” they did not feel any motivation and only completed the tasks out of duty - not out of interest. According to them, you should be able to see the red thread when working with the text. The students all concurred that they were better learners if they were motivated.

However, they had different views on what was needed to motivate them. For two of them, it was sufficient motivation if they understood the purpose of the text or exercise; they could overcome a boring text or a text directed at a more specific audience. They saw a higher goal, namely to improve their English. The other two(Aidaraliev B.,Alymbekov B) stated that “boring” books could become interesting if they were dealt with correctly; that is not to cling to “irrelevant” details, but to have more open and general topic discussions. Via the open questions they were able to see the book in a different light and to bring forth the positive aspects. What they could all agree on was that a very high motivating factor was their grade.

4.3 Results of the teacher interview

When the teacher (Pitaeva N.M.,55years old) was asked if she used the textbook a lot in his teaching, she answered rarely. During this semester she had only used texts from the book two or three times. The reason for this, she explained, was that the texts seemed “fixed” to her and she knows from experience that articles and novels are more appreciated by the students she teaches. She made it clear that she found nothing wrong in using the textbook; she just preferred using other texts and activities. Her explanation for this was that students have a tendency to find the textbook boring and dreary and even though the text is graded according to level of difficulty, students need challenges that authentic texts provide them with; they feel that they are reading “the real thing”. She underlined that this factor was more evident if you were teaching a class where the linguistic level is higher.

This was closely linked to her choice of topic. She experienced that if students found that they could relate to the topic their motivation increased. This was easier to achieve with authentic material. This really encouraged students to participate - especially if it the topic corresponds with their choice of school program. If the topic centres on students' everyday environment it is easier to embrace it.

Another type of text that students found easy to embrace was music lyrics. For many teenagers music plays a very important role and as a teacher you can find an abundance of topics in the song texts. However, there are certain obstacles when using these kinds of texts; e.g. most of them are protected by copyright laws and therefore the teacher has to be selective and careful when using this material in the classroom. When I asked the teacher whether or not it was possible to exclude the textbook altogether and only use authentic material, his answer was quite clear. She argued that it was definitely possible, but not preferable. She saw advantages and disadvantages with both types of text. In regard to the texts from the textbook, she saw them as “labour saving”. If a teacher is short of time it is easier to present the class with a text from the textbook; here everything is already taken care of. Furthermore, the teacher can choose a small part of a section and pick out what he or she finds most important; you do not have to teach the whole book. The textbook could also prove valuable when it comes to text comprehension and even though the questions could be perceived as “tedious” and onesided it is a skill students should master. When authentic texts were concerned, she pointed out that even though students are often very positive towards these, preparing these texts for teaching is very time-consuming. In addition to this, more often than not the texts cannot be used more than once, since the main point of them is their up to date perspective. Moreover, when choosing an authentic text you have to take the linguistic level into consideration. The teacher needs to decide what the appropriate level for the class is. She mentioned that she tried to use Jane Austen's Pride and prejudice and that it turned out to be far too difficult for the students.

Here the authentic text missed its purpose. But the next teacher of English language(Haliullina I.R.35years old) she was agree for using Authentic texts during teaching process. She said it is easy to teach an English using authentic materials, said that the English presented in the classroom should be authentic, not produced for instructional purposes. Generally, what this means is materials which involve language naturally occurring as communication in native-speaker contexts of use, or rather those selected contexts where standard English is the norm: real newspaper reports, for example, real magazine articles, real advertisements, cooking recipes, horoscopes, etc. She agrees that authentic texts or materials are beneficial to the language learning process.

5. Discussion of the questionnaires and interviews results

When I discussed theories concerning the importance of motivation we mentioned that one motivational factor was that students should read texts that they find relevant. They should deal with topics they find interesting and familiar. If we accept this statement it is very interesting to see that almost all of the students rarely found their favourite topics in the textbook. This is a serious flaw, but, at the same time, also a flaw which is almost impossible to remedy. When we asked the students what they would like to read about, they preferred topics like current events and social issues that they could relate to. The student interviews confirmed this. If a textbook is supposed to supply this kind of topics it would require a new textbook every month. Therefore, it is not surprising that we saw a very positive attitude towards the use of authentic texts in the questionnaire and in the interviews with the students; most students would rather read authentic texts than the textbook. This coincides with what the teacher told us when he was asked the question of what generated the “best” response from students; he found them more interested and active when they dealt with texts that they could relate to. But he was also realistic in his response and made it clear that as a teacher You do not always have the time to prepare suitable authentic texts. Sometimes you need To use the textbook, and as he pointed out, it is not a bad thing. The textbook certainly has Its uses. It should be made clear that the students, especially in the interviews, stated that the textbook was not all bad and that they saw the purpose of the book; but at the same time, they underlined that they preferred authentic texts.

Problems with authentic texts

One problem with the use of authentic texts, which the teacher pointed out, is that they are not graded and sometimes can be too difficult for the students. On the other hand they should not be too easy either. Collie and Slater argue that the teacher has to be aware of the linguistic level of both text and class. Collie and Slater only highlight the problem but do not present a solution -except that the teacher should take the choice of texts extremely seriously. By contrast, Krashen offers actual guidelines and states that a text should always be just above a student's comprehension capability. This is obviously something a teacher should strive for, but at the same time, it is almost impossible for the teacher to manage. There might be 26 different levels of comprehension in the same classroom and, as the teacher I interviewed correctly stated, preparing authentic texts is a very time-consuming effort.

Language

One thing the interviews revealed was that the language of the texts was very important to the students; this was also shown in the questionnaire. In the interviews, the students made it very clear that they wanted to read “real” English language; they wanted to read texts where slang, idioms, and dialects were present. In the textbook language is often simplified in order to make it more accessible to students. This not only presents a danger of making the text inconsistent but it also excludes valuable cultural and lexical items; items which the students themselves found useful to learn. According to Swaffar, Arens and Byrnes, slang, idioms, and technical terms are useful in understanding the target culture of the target language and by excluding these the students misses this opportunity. Furthermore, the adapted language found in textbooks hinders the learner in his or her acquisition of new words since the exclusion of difficult words may limit a learner's vocabulary. Another disadvantage with adapted language you find in textbooks, as Alderson and Urquhart point out, is that the reader may miss out on the actual plot of a story since key phrases and events may have been left out from the original story. In the interviews the students pointed out that it was extremely important that they were presented with a text that made sense. If presented with a story, they preferred the original version and they wanted to deal with the plot of the story - not with specific details. They would rather read a text which might be a little above their comprehension level instead of reading an adapted version.

Reading and understanding texts

When it comes to ways of reading a text and making sense of it Lundahl presents the bottom-up and the top-down models; both models were discussed above. The teacher interviewed preferred the latter model claiming that it was more stimulating for students as well as for the teachers. On the other hand, he admitted that sometimes he used the bottom-up model simply because he found reading and basic text comprehension exercises a valuable method. As far as the students were concerned, they were divided as well. In the interviews all of the students favoured the top-down model even though some saw the purpose of the bottom-up method; they stated that dealing with a text should evolve around discussion about the content and not about specific details. They believed that they were better learners if they could draw their own conclusions when dealing with the text. In the questionnaire, however, the students were split between the two; they wanted both to find the themes of the text and discuss them in class but at the same time most answered that they were interested in translating words from the text and explaining them in English.

Selection of texts

If students are to choose between authentic texts and the textbook, they must be taken into the decision making process. In addition to the choice of which types of texts to use, there is also the matter of how to decide what to read. It was important to find out if the students were allowed to choose for themselves or if the teacher decided which texts to be used. When discussing the theories we mentioned that Verhoven and Snow considered student choice to be an important motivational factor. They emphasized that it is important for the students to be part of the selection of texts since this provides them with some sense of responsibility and this enables them to learn more actively. In the questionnaire however, we discovered that most of the times, the teacher simply decides what is to be read. When I asked the students what they preferred the answer was clear; they wanted to take part in the selection of texts. However, this might not always be a realistic possibility. First of all it can complicate the teaching if too many different texts are used at the same time. It is a very time-consuming process to choose these and it is very hard for the teacher to be updated with all the texts. Also, due to his or her training the teacher is better suited than the students to make an appropriate choice concerning which texts to use. This does not mean that the teacher should not pay attention to what the students suggest but use the student suggestions in the planning of the lesson. Furthermore, as the teacher states in the interview, there might also be practical limitations. In his case the language department has a limited numbers of texts in sufficient copies for the whole class; and more often that not these books are classics and have been used over and over again. In the interviews, one of the students described the books as being old and worn, filled with scribbling and in general boring to look at; not exactly raising motivation. Even though there are plenty of reasons for letting the students take part in the decision-making, it is clear that there are many restrictions, both practical and theoretical.

Conclusion

When we read the articles that were mentioned in the introduction to this paper I understood that the use of texts in the classroom was a much debated issue. How to make language-teaching more relevant to students was and still is constantly discussed by teachers and scholars. What stands out when reading the articles is that none of the writers seems to have considered what the students might think. Both writers argued their views on authentic material and textbooks used in class. But the students were not part of that discussion. At the same time, both writers argue for the use of one material and the exclusion of the other. According to them, there is no middle road.

The questionnaires and interviews we conducted with students showed that they were very interested in taking part in the selection of texts. The text was important in keeping them motivated for further reading and class discussions. Authentic texts proved to be more appreciated by the students because language seemed to be more “real” English; they were able to relate to the texts. At the same time they believed that it was through these kinds of texts they would be able to read about topics they were interested in. However, they did not dismiss the textbook altogether and wanted to it - especially as a guideline for reading and writing. They saw the usefulness of the textbook when dealing with grammar and the structure of language.

The teacher had a similar view when textbooks and authentic material were concerned. He also believed that through authentic material students could read about topics they could relate to, but at the same time he used the textbook in his teaching. Even though he had to find additional material, the textbook saved him time since he did not have to prepare everything himself. It is important to point out, that he did not see the use of the textbook as a compromise in his teaching; he believed that the questions and grammatical problems presented in the books were perfectly fine and it saved him from having to invent the wheel before every lesson. But when texts were concerned he usually went elsewhere.

In this work with questions surrounding the use of authentic texts and the textbook we have discovered that we cannot find a one-side solution. Based on the interviews and the questionnaires we have discovered that students and teachers appreciate the textbook, but at the same time need authentic texts as additional material.

I agree with Lundahl when he states that students are better learners if they are motivated and take part in the learning process. Furthermore, we accept that one motivating factor for students is the topic; reading about things that interest you will heighten you learning ability and increase class participation. What we found when examining the questionnaires and when checking the textbooks was that the topics the students want to read about and the topics found in the textbooks did not correspond. However, the topics can be incorporated by using authentic texts such as novels and newspapers. What is important to remember is that there are more motivating factors than the topic. A teacher might very well be able to motivate the class by using only the textbook - it depends on the class and the teacher. What we did find out is that both teachers and students appreciate authentic material and we think that the goals stated in the curriculum can best be achieved by using both textbook texts and authentic text Both types have advantages and both have shortcomings so to us, a combination is preferable.

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