Authenticity and autonomy in language learning

In this article we propose to look at the use of authentic materials in terms of learning rather than teaching. The shift in practice at the CRAPEL centre for applied language research since the early 1970s concerning the use of authentic materials can serve to illustrate this change in the way we consider the relation between learners and authentic materials. The history of the use of authentic materials is characterised by an evolution towards total responsibility by learners for both the choice of materials and the type of use they put them to (accompanied by a shift in meaning whereby authenticity comes to apply more to what the learner does than to the origin of materials). The strategy of using exercises ready-prepared by teachers, whilst still in existence, can be brought into question, at least in part, according to the types of learner and the technological possibilities available, including Internet. We consider that the use of authentic materials can lead to the development not only of linguistic but also methodological autonomisation in learning.