Exploring how authentic materials help contextualize teaching practices in the EFL classroom

The following study aims to explore the use of authentic materials as a way of contextualizing EFL teaching practices in Chilean classrooms within the Bío-Bío region. The research investigates teachers’ understanding of traditional, authentic, and contextualized materials, as well as their implementation in EFL classrooms. It seeks to identify the challenges educators may face before, during, and after the use of authentic materials, along with their beliefs about these resources. The sample consisted of three teachers from private and private-subsidized schools. The study followed a qualitative research design with a narrative approach. In addition, data triangulation and constant comparative methods were used to code and analyze recurring elements from semi-structured interviews and classroom observation field notes. The results indicate that teachers lacked knowledge of authentic and contextualized materials due to a variety of challenges. Overall, the study recommends that future research examine classroom materials in greater depth to gain more robust insights into the implementation of authentic materials.