Reality and Authenticity: A critical look at modern ELT materials

The purpose of this article is to take a critical look at the notions of authenticity and realism in the context of ELT materials. This is worth doing because many modern textbooks are written under the influence of communicative approaches 2, which, among other things advocate an emphasis on authentic materials and tasks. While there can be little doubt that authenticity and realism have an important role to play in ELT materials, we should perhaps be cautious in identifying this role. As a first step, it would be helpful to analyze the concept of authenticity and consider in what ways exactly textbooks can incorporate authentic elements.