For the past 4 years, I have been teaching an intermediate-level IEP listening and speaking course based entirely on authentic materials gleaned from the Web. Here I report on a presentation given at the 2012 TESOL convention, on selecting and using such materials for ESL instruction. The materials include university lectures, public talks, and documentary videos. An annotated bibliography of some of my favorite sources is included at the end of this report.

There are many definitions of authentic materials, but this presentation focused on text authenticity. Thus, authentic academic listening materials are audio and video recordings that are produced for the purpose of communicating meaning in an academic setting, not for the purpose of language instruction.

Although selecting materials and using them formed the two parts of the presentation, in fact the two processes are symbiotic. The intended use is the most important consideration in any materials search, and it places constraints on the recording’s length, topic, accent, presence or absence of closed captions, and recording quality. At the same time, excellent materials inspire the creation of activities.

Probably the most common use of listening materials in upper-level IEP courses is to have students take notes. These notes can be guided by a template, discussion, or set of key words, or they can be made freely by the students. Regardless of how students take notes, it is essential that these notes have a purpose. Will students refer to them while taking a test on the content of the recording? Will students use them while participating in a discussion, to back up their assertions with evidence from the video? Will students work in pairs to compare and complete their notes, and then write (or speak about) a summary of the video’s content? Students should know their purpose before taking notes.

Authentic academic listening materials can also be used for pronunciation and vocabulary instruction. After studying a given aspect of pronunciation, students can listen for it in authentic academic speech, possibly marking a transcript according to what they hear. Students can shadow speak, trying to apply a certain pronunciation lesson, or just to sound like the speaker. Vocabulary instruction through listening emphasizes correct pronunciation of the word. Vocabulary words can be selected by the teacher (on the basis of importance to the lecture, or frequency in general academic English), or by the students (on the basis of interest and need).

Finally, listening materials gleaned from the Internet can inspire instruction in subskills of both listening and speaking. Short clips can be used to practice aural decoding (of phonemes, words, phrases, etc.), comprehension of stress and emphasis, and various listening strategies. They can also be used to inspire a variety of academically themed discussion, interviews, and impromptu speaking activities.

The wealth of authentic academic listening materials currently available online represents a great resource for IEP listening and speaking instructors. Each instructor’s challenge is to select the most appropriate materials and put them to the best possible use.

A few favorite sources for authentic academic listening materials

http://www.uctv.tv/ - Videos from all campuses. Mostly public lectures. Not captioned.

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/ - A great many course lectures and public lectures are gathered here, but most are also available via YouTube and/or iTunesU, where they can be downloaded. Not captioned.

http://video.mit.edu/ - This is a portal to MIT courseware, public talks, and others. Mostly captioned. Not easily downloadable.

http://oyc.yale.edu/ - Easy-to-stream audio or video, with options for resolution and closed captioning. Downloadable as mp3 or mov. Transcripts and notes also posted.

http://bigthink.com/ - Video section has brief speeches in response to interview questions. Often transcribed below the video window. Hard to search. Not downloadable.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AtGoogleTalks,http://www.ted.com/ -A wide variety of topics. All downloadable. TED videos are mostly captioned, with interactive transcripts. Some Google videos are captioned but many are not.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/archive/index.html - Short-format science and tech documentaries. Transcripts are posted.

Beth Sheppard is an ESL instructor at the University of Oregon, where she currently teaches intermediate listening and speaking classes and online teacher training in listening and speaking pedagogy.