Are there (m)any actual
textbooks that present 100% genuine, extended*, conversations?
The only currently available book that I can think of off the top of my head right now is
Exploring Spoken English** (Carter & McCarthy, CUP), but that struck me as more of an "interim report" from their CANCODE research project, FAO teachers rather than as a student textbook (and then, for all but the most advanced students); some of the grammar that they focus on is IMHO functionally redundant, and would probably be beyond most students to ever fully master productively*** (however, I do think that their recent
Cambridge Grammar of English is of value to teachers at least, especially those who aren't at all familiar with findings from Discourse or Conversation Analysis, and
Exploring Grammar in Context might also be of interest).
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/sear ... ode=208593
But in general answer to your first two questions, I think native-speaker data is very useful for identifying notions and functions (which may differ somewhat between languages, for a start), and should generally form the basis or a template for whatever constructions are to be studied in whatever syllabus, but I wouldn't get too caught up on hanging on every last word coming out of some tinny speaker when I could be modelling things for my students myself, and helping generate some real communication and learning in the process (all the while being adaptable to the students' needs and interests, which is something no fixed text can ever fully do); and this all ties in to creativity, not just native, but also non-native too. To be(come) creative themselves, I believe students need to see the language come alive in front of and for them, and this is where a skilled teacher can involve cognitive processes probably much moreso than what's playing on a 2-D screen; that being said, if you can find short and very memorable video excerpts to illustrate point after point, then why not! Me, I reckon it's probably easier (and better, more thorough - certainly, more interesting for me as teacher) to contextualize things myself, with my students in mind, than leaving things to input from whatever random sources, but obviously, there will come a point where the students are ready and able to tackle whatever English the world throws at them. (NB: Do a search for 'Dogme' for just some of my hazy thoughts on methodology).
Ultimately, there is a tension between following in someone else's verbal steps and wanting (and needing!) to tell your own stories; and between native and other native, and native and non-native, norms for achieving all this, and concentrating too much on the "real" version may make us forget that there are several ways to skin a cat. (For example, is using that there idiom really necessary?). This is partly why I mentioned functional-notional criteria above: one needs to be aware of the
range that exists and is available (and not just in native-speaker usage), so as to be able to not only provide a corresponding range of choices (to be made as appropriate for teaching and then their future use), but also and at the same time to fill the gaps that undoubtedly exist in many if not most (all?) courses, and therefore provide more stimulating and useful lessons. NB: Where possible, I like functional exponents to be transparent constructionally, rather than too idiomatic, but that's not to say that an idiom isn't at all revealing (regarding the words it contains at the very least) even when it's not really required (i.e. when alternative ways to express the proposition exist).
Regarding your third question (the popularity of authentic materials with students), it seems that oriental students at least prefer stuff to be less challenging; of course, the more advanced ones come to want the real deal (see above 'ready to tackle' bit), but as the majority never get far enough, this tends to dictate what is and isn't "available".
Anyway, Widdowson has quite a bit to say about students needing to 'authenticate' input i.e. if something appeals to them, it can become more real to and in their mind than stacks of genuine input (even when the "real" would seem contrived, to a native speaker):
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... 1827#21827
However, the way Widdowson talks, it's as though authentic examples that are lively, interesting, "vital" and yes, "complex" (not necessarily
complicated, though), would not be of any interest or relevance to students (in helping them acquire "English"****), which is ultimately a bit of a silly position to take; yes, learning should not be "driven" by simply dumping raw data into the classroom, but pedagogy that fails to take account of real communication is usually the more sterile and arid (and like I was suggesting above, it can often help if it's the teacher contextualizing things and engaging the students, rather than leaving everything to texts - and what about texts based on the interaction that the students paricipated in and helped produce? Practising
that a few times could really help cement things in their minds; there will however still be quite a few contexts unsuited to "classrooms", that is, more suited to the realm of roleplay (or indeed, the study of model authentic texts).
The second chapter in Seidlhofer's
Controversies in AL is well worth reading with regard to the whole 'Real English' debate:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... 0102#30102 (the link at its end is to the aforementioned Widdowson excerpt, to spare you from clicking on it again); as before, a search here on Dave's for this author ('Seidlhofe*' (a "wildcard" search term that will cover both 'Seidlhofer' and 'Seidlhofer's)) will turn up some extra stuff.
One last thing, there are "Eavesdropping" sections in Jorden's
Japanese:The Spoken Language. I found the concept interesting - just listen, no need to get productively involved, and if I recall correctly, the comprehension questions were in English (in the first volume at least). Listening is certainly very important, as are noticing etc (as Lewis for one recommends in his
The Lexical Approach).
Just a few more links that you may find interesting:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=31699 (arguing for more authentic English in Japanese high schools)
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... 1221#31221 (a link to Jenkins and the ideas that informed her
The Phonology of English as an International Language).
*It's possible to learn a fair bit about conversational processes from less extensive text excerpts (or indeed actual short conversations), as shown by relatively isolated sentences or short exchanges in learner dictionaries and corpus-based practice materials or, indeed, from a fair bit of the content of books on Conversation, and Discourse, Analysis. The Jorden book that I mention has often very short dialogues, sometimes consisting of only a line or two of one or two words for both speaker A and B.
**I recall there being a recording of the spoken texts available, but I don't know how much of it is actually 100% authentic or re-recorded by actors later (as is the case with what seems like ALL the example sentences on the CD-ROM that accompanies the
CGE - not that the actors are bad, far from it!): 'The accompanying cassette contains all the extracts, some re-recorded for the purposes of clarity.' The earlier
COBUILD English Course (a proper textbook this time) took things a "remove" further perhaps (if you're very "authentically-minded") by directing people/actors to talk about certain things (guided, sort of "task-based" conversations were the result) - which could be just the thing for students hoping to themselves speak, with such text as a possible basis (certainly, it would seem to nicely complement the task-based methodology that Willis suggests for the students' own tasks, and it all must be better than hearing natives talking
too "aimlessly"!).
***Do a search for my comments about 'tails', as opposed to the more interesting category of 'heads', here on Dave's.
****Surely there's a common core of usage among competent users, regardless of their nationality.