Slide 1.
Authentic materials in teaching
Compiled by
Svitlana Tkach
A teacher of Englich
Zolotonosha district
Cherkassy-2011
Slide 2.
Quotations about authentic texts
“It has been traditionally supposed that the language presented to learners should
be simplified
in some way for easy access and acquisition. Nowadays there are
recommendations that the
language presented should be authentic” (Widdowson 1990:67).
“Authentic texts can be motivating because they are proof that the language is
used for real-life
purposes by real people.” (Nuttall 1996:172)
“…real-life texts, not written for pedagogic purposes” (Wallace 1992:145)
“…materials that have been produced to fulfil some social purpose in the
language community.” (Peacock (1997),
Slide 3
Sources
When people first think of authentic materials they usually assume that we are
talking about newspaper and magazine articles. However, the term can also
encompass such things as songs, web pages, radio & TV broadcasts, TV programs,
films, leaflets, flyers, posters, literature, indeed anything written and said in the
target language and used unedited in the classroom. One of the most useful is the
Internet. Whereas newspapers and any other printed material date very quickly, the
Internet is continuously updated, more visually stimulating as well as being
interactive, therefore promoting a more active approach to reading rather than a
passive one. From a more practical point of view, the Internet is a modern day
reality, most students use it and for teachers, there is easier access to endless
amounts
of
many
different
types
of
material
Slide 4.
What is the authentic material for
- increasing students' motivation for learning (authentic materials are a part of a
motivating and effective course. Extracting real information from a real text in a
new/different language can be extremely motivating, therefore increasing students'
motivation for learning by exposing them to 'real' language (Guariento & Morley
2001)
- improving students' general skills (using authentic materials is a relatively
easy and convenient way of improving not only your students' general skills, but
also their confidence in a real situation. Developing their confidence at coping with
the unknown is an important element in their development as independent
learners.)
- giving the reader the opportunity to gain real information.
- enabling learners to interact with the real language.
- rewarding and stimulating both teacher and students.
- reflecting the changes in language use,(again something that does not occur in
textbooks, which become very dated, very quickly) as well as giving the learner the
proof that the language is real and not only studied in the classroom.
- enabling learners to interact with the real language content rather than the
form. Learners feel that they are learning a target language as it is used outside the
classroom. When choosing materials from the various sources, it is therefore worth
taking into consideration that the aim should be to understand meaning and not
form, especially when using literary texts with the emphasis being on what is being
said and not necessarily on the literary form or stylistics.
Slide 5.
Choosing an authentic text
The materials used, will of course, depend on the 'usual' factors:
• topic
 target language area
 skills
 students needs and interests
Slide 6.
The question of levels
Naturally certain texts will lend themselves more easily to certain levels.
At lower levels some possibilities include leaflets, timetables, menus, short
headline type reports, audio and video advertising, or short news broadcasts. The
task should be simple and relatively undemanding, and it is important to pre-teach
key vocabulary so as to prevent panic.
At more intermediate levels this list could be expanded to include longer articles,
four or five minute TV or radio news reports, a higher quantity of shorter items, or
even whole TV programmes, if your copyright agreements allow it. Again preteaching is important, although your students should be able to deal with unknown
vocabulary to some extent.
At higher levels it's a case of anything goes. At an advanced level students should
have some tactics for dealing with new vocabulary without panicking, but it's still
useful to have a few quick definitions to hand for some of the trickier stuff!
Slide 6.
The purpose of use
When bringing authentic materials into the classroom, it should always be done
with a purpose, as highlighted by Senior “…we need to have a clear pedagogic
goal in mind: what precisely we want our students to learn from these materials.”
(Senior 2005:71).
Students feel more confident, more secure when handling authentic materials as
long as the teacher gives them with pedagogical support. Authentic materials
should be used in accordance with students' ability, with suitable tasks being given
in which total understanding is not important. In order to overcome the problems
created by difficult authentic texts, one solution is to simplify them according to
the level of the learner. This can be done by removing any difficult words or
structures but this can also remove basic discourse qualities, making the text “less”
authentic.
Slide 7.
How can we choose?
We could argue the same for a newspaper article selected by the teacher,
photocopied and brought to the class as raw material for reading and discussion, or
vocabulary work, or whatever emerges in the not always predictable classroom.
Nevertheless, the task of reading something from a newspaper or magazine would
carry greater authenticity if the student brought the newspaper of his/her choice
and skimmed it to find an article of particular personal interest, as opposed to
reading something chosen by the teacher.
Important Factors in Choosing Authentic Material
Suitability of Content Does the text interest the student?
Is it relevant to the student’s needs?
Does it represent the type of material that the student will use outside of the
classroom?
Exploitability Can the text be exploited for teaching purposes?
For what purpose should the text be exploited?
What skills/strategies can be developed by exploiting the text?
Readability/listenability Is the text too easy/difficult for the student?
Is it structurally too complex?
How much new vocabulary does it contain? Is it relevant?
Presentation Does it “look” authentic?
Is it “attractive”?
Does it grab the student’s attention?
Does it make him want to read/listen more?
Slide 8
The main advantages of using authentic materials in the
classroom therefore include:
- having a positive effect on student motivation;
- giving authentic cultural information;
- exposing students to real language;
- relating more closely to students’ needs;
- supporting a more creative approach to teaching.
Slide 9
Some disadvantages of using authentic materials
• Often too culturally biased, difficult to understand outside the language
community
• Vocabulary might not be relevant to the student's immediate needs
• Too many structures are mixed so lower levels have problems decoding the texts
• Special preparation is necessary, can be time consuming
• Can become outdated easily, e.g. news stories, articles.
Slide 10
What does an authentic textbook look like?
The material in it should be intrinsically interesting and therefore motivating.
Ideally a good textbook should reflect life, not just language. A course should be
interesting in its own right — its content stimulating and informative. Not only
that, if textbook writers could somehow convince learners that by using the course,
they would learn some English, but also in a wider sense improve their overall
communication skills, and be entertained at the same time, then the students' wish
list would be met.
Slide 11
What does a non- authentic textbook look like?
The language in non-authentic texts is artificial and
unvaried, concentrating on something that has to be taught and often containing a
series of
“false-text indicators” that include:
- perfectly formed sentences (all the time);
- a question using a grammatical structure, gets a full answer;
- repetition of structures;
- very often does not “read” well.
Slide 12-14
Comparison of the textbooks’ pages
Slide 15
References
1. www.teachingenglish.org.uk
2. www.cambridge.org.uk
3. www.esl-lesson-plan.com
4. www.elsbase.com
5. «Новые технологии обучения в контексте современной концепции
образования в области иностранных языков»,-Иностранные языки в
школе.