As noted above, the reasons for using a text in class can be many and varied:

• for its information content as part of a topic-based sequence of lessons;
• as a source of general reading practice with authentic L2 texts;
• as a means of extending students' vocabulary;
• as a way to illustrate aspects of grammar;
• a combination of these reasons.

In what follows we shall assume the overriding purposes are to explore the content of the text and to practise reading skills and that while other purposes are subsidiary, they will nevertheless follow naturally from these.

In selecting a particular text to use in their teaching, teachers are likely to be guided by a range of factors.

ACTIVITY 1

But in all this, one of the principal considerations must be the text's interest for the students. No matter how accessible the text and no matter how well it fits the needs of the teaching programme, if it is not one that students want to read, it is unlikely to be an appropriate pedagogical vehicle. Not only should a text have points of linguistic interest, it must also have some strong content to which students are able to respond and feel challenged or stimulated by.

At the same time, having gone to the trouble of finding a suitable text, teachers often feel they need to exploit it fully, come what may. This is a temptation we should resist: although a text may only lend itself to extensive exploitation and a brief emotional response, or to simple classification of factual information, if it succeeds in provoking or informing students, it will have served its purpose well enough. Texts must not become straitjackets; both teachers and students need to accept that not all texts are worth working on intensively.

One of the problems with a resource-based approach to language teaching is that materials need constant updating. Therefore, it almost goes without saying that another key consideration when looking for texts is how quickly they will date. If time and effort are to be invested in a detailed exploitation, you will want to ensure you can get three or four years' worth of teaching out of it. Less intensively exploited material can have a shorter turnover period.