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Українська
uses. Thus I feel that one valuable kind of exercise, unnatural as it may be, is to get the students to become aware of style by directing their attention to it. Take number 8, the instructions on the petrol pump; they are told where these instructions occurred and informed that the kind of English used is typical of that found in public instructions; then they are given tasks such as 'Now pretend you have to tell a friend how to work the petrol pump' or 'A character in a short story gets petrol from an automatic pump; how would the writer describe this?' They are changing one style into, another. Finally one may ask the student to transfer this knowledge to production; to write an equivalent passage to the one they have seen; write down some headlines you might see in tomorrow's newspapers; write some instructions for working a coffee machine. Myself, I feel that this kind of exercise is optional: many of the types of authentic text that one uses are not used by the majority of native speakers productively; I have never myself written a newspaper headline or designed a railway ticket. So it seems to me that one has to be very cautious with many types of authentic material in expecting the student to do more than understand the material, use it for information, and recognise what kind of language style is involved.
Arguments for & against the Use of Authentic Materials:
Arguments for Using Authentic Materials:
Authentic materials have a positive effect on learner motivation.
They provide authentic cultural information.
They provide exposure to real language.
They relate more closely to learners needs arid interests.
They support a more creative approach to teaching.
They provide a wide variety of text types, language styles not easily found in conventional teaching materials.
Unlike traditional teaching materials, authentic materials are continuously updated.
They have a positive effect on comprehension and learner satisfaction.
(Kilickaya, 2004; Mcknight, 1995; Wong, Kwok, & Choi, 1995; Berado, 2006)
Arguments against using Authentic Materials:
Authentic materials often contain difficult language, unneeded vocabulary items and complex language structures, which causes a burden for the teacher in lower-level classes and demotivate low icvei students.
Authentic materials may be too culturally biased.
Many structures are mixed in such materials: causing lower levels have a hard time decoding the texts.
The use of authentic materials is time consuming for the teachers.
Authentic materials may not expose students to comprehensible input at the earliest stages of acquisition.
(Guariento & Morley, 2001; Martinez, 2002; Kim, 2000)
What Can Be Done to Overcome the Difficulties we Face in Integrating Authentic Material's in the Language Classroom?
Simplification of the texts.
Design tasks for partial comprehension.
(Berardo, 2006; Guariento & Morley, 2001)
Authentic text
When the text is authentic and not grammatically sequenced, it exposes the learner to several tenses at the same time, which reflects a real life situation where the learner will have to find meaning through image and context, building on learning strategies.
Original text which has not been specially adapted for the foreign language learner will contain idiomatic language which can be taught in chunks which often takes the learner beyond the conventional curriculum.
Coursebooks and graded readers simplify the text, illustration and print style with their priority being clarity. However, an authentic storybook author and illustrator will play about with print styles, artistic mediums and genre, for example the author Lauren Child and John Burningham mix photo graphics with drawings and enmesh text into the images creating 'text drawings'. These characteristics add to the holistic and affective entity for the child when learning with storybooks.
The learner becomes more open minded about text with fewer preconceptions about what text should look like and be more likely to take creative risks in their own work and developing their understanding of genre type.
Story books to use
I look for books with attractive, artistic and original illustrations which will capture the children's interest.
The conceptual and linguistic level needs to correspond with their age and developmental level. This is important because if the child can not engage with the story, they become demotivated, loose interest as well as confidence.
For lower levels it's good to have repeating structures, rhyme or cumulative text. If the story is right for their developmental level and their interests, children soon know the story by heart and can repeat it with pride - something that doesn't happen so easily with language in a text book unless it is a song or rhyme.
I like books which contain a strong message, be it social or environmental. Children seem to have a sharp sense of justice which can be captured and developed with story books.
In preparation for a course a teacher needs to reflect on the learning objectives:
•Identify grammatical structures and functions.
•Group the lexical themes.
•Identify rhyme and spelling patterns.
•Idiomatic language.
Also when choosing a story it's good to consider the potential for cross-curricular work. For example the all-famous story 'The Hungry Caterpillar', by Eric Carle, provides a context for a project on the life cycle of the butterfly.
“The Five Little Fiends”, by Sarah Dyer, a story about sharing and protecting the environment, can lead to a science project about natural and man-made elements and recycling.
The British Council recently published a preview of David Graddol's updated research on the position of English learning worldwide. According to Graddol, English is being repositioned as a 'basic skill' to be learned by Primary School children, in preparation for learning other subjects in English at Secondary. Cross-curricular work can help fit in the English language exposure they need, for a busy school timetable.
Methodology
A story-based approach to teaching English is acquisition based, working on the learner's pre-knowledge and taking meaning from context and image.
A learning cycle can be applied to each lesson as well as approaching the book as a whole;
•pre-story.
•while.
•after activities.
That's to say the language is presented, used and then reviewed. Activities and games, such as guessing, matching, sequencing, labelling, classifying, songs, chants, TPR, role play.(See references to teacher's guide books for activities, at the end of this article).
At the same time working on the four skills; reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Having a concrete outcome such as a book-making project or a board game gives the children an enormous sense of achievement at the end of studying a story.
Why use story books?
My experience of teaching with story books has been very positive in that my general perception has been that children become highly motivated learners within this approach.
Working with illustrations provides a creative and artistic learning environment which children respond to.
A story book provides a child-centred universe where abstract concepts are symbolised within the text and images.
It provides an ideal context for literacy practice as well as linguistic acquisition.
Supporting visual literacy is important in order to help children take meaning from text as well as develop aesthetic understanding.
Providing information through pictures is an important and fast developing method of communication in the global world.
Conclusion
I have tried to explore some of the implications of using authentic materials in the classroom. The conclusion is that authentic materials are indeed a valuable part of the teacher's stock in trade, and can do some things that other materials are not capable of. However, inevitably they have to be used in small doses, must be carefully selected and controlled, and need well-thought out teaching exercises to be fully exploited.
A story-based outcome in terms cf affective levels shows that the socially situated child literature (Shamin, 1996) accommodates affectivity and contributes to the child's holistic development:
•Self-confidence as a learner.
•Enjoyment of learning.
•Creative thinking.
•Metacognition.
Both the learner and the teacher are involved with the material. A teacher needs to invest time in preparing the lessons but by appropriating the material they become more engaged. It is a satisfying way of teaching not only for language objectives but also for the socio-cultural and cross-curricular input.
References:
1.Abbs, S., Cook & M. Underwood, Authentic English for Reading 1, OUP, 1980.
2.Adams, Т. (1995). What Makes Materials Authentic? (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 391389).
3.Baird, K., & Redmond, M, (Eds.). (2004). The use of authentic materials in the K-12 french program. Winston-Salem, NC: Wake Forest University, Department of Education.
4.Berardo, S. (2006). The use of authentic materials in the teaching of reading. The Reading Matrix, 6 (2), 60-69.
5.Breen, M. (1985). Authenticity in the language classroom. Applied Linguistics 6, 60-70.
6.Davies, A. Textbook situations and idealised language, Work in Progress, Department of Linguistics (Edinburgh), 11, 1978.
7.Guariento, W., & Morley. (2001). Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom. ELT Journal, 55 (4), 347 - 353.
8.Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the language Classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
9.Kilickaya. F. (2004). Authentic materials and cultural content in EFL classrooms. The Internet TEST Journal, 10 (7). Retrieved November 1, 2006 from http://itesij.org,/,rechniques/Kilickaya-AurenticMaterial.html.
10.McNeill, A. (1994). What Makes Authentic Materials Different? The Case of English Language Materials for Educational Television.
11.Mourao, Sandie (2003) Jet: Realbooks! In the Primary Classroom Mary Glasgow Magazines an imprint of Scholastic Inc.
12.Widdowson, H. Teaching Language as Communication, OUP, 1978.
13.Wright, Andrew (1995/1997). Storytelling with Children, Creating Stories with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press.