Prof Widdowson’s insightful coinage „communicative incompetence’ refers to the adequacy of schematic representations required by readers to make sense of texts of varied focus. His argument is that even the proficient users of a language may fail to adequately deduce the pragmatic meaning of texts even if they are written in ‘simple’ language. This position has significant pedagogical implications especially in the context of ESP. ESP contexts give importance to communicative context and purpose of communication, and construct texts that generally follow the conventions of discourse communities. Often the readers are forced to learn the conventions of communication to be part of the communities. These communicative conventions when practiced consistently by communities to fulfil certain purposes generally become authentic materials for pedagogues. The questions are whether these texts qualify to be pedagogic models of instruction; if so how best can we make use of them? This paper in the light of current discussion, critiques the views proposed by various experts in the field, both for and against ‘authentic materials’, and aims to suggest waysthat can help ESP teachers design effective materials. © Research India Publications.