To be authentic or not to be authentic

To be authentic or not to be authentic? That is the question. A pragmatic approach to using ‘authentic’ materials to enhance course book provision in a themed or topic-based English language lesson MEL 020 2008 Group Presentation by Clare Wardman, Wendy Vanamburgh and Xiaohong Yan ©

materials themes in action “There is now a general consensus in language teaching that the use of authentic materials in the classroom is beneficial to the learning process. ” (Guariento and Morley, 2001: 347)

materials themes course books & existing materials in action “authentic” materials choices for the EFL teacher own “inauthentic” materials

materials themes in action “authentic” materials defining authenticity. . . many have tried: “Essentially an authentic text is a text that was created to fulfil some social purpose in the language community in which it was produced. ” (Little et al, 1989: 25) “The term ‘authentic’ has been used as a reaction against the prefabricated language of textbooks and instructional dialogues; it refers to the way language is used in non-pedagogic, natural communication. ” (Kramsch, 1993: 177)

materials themes course books easy authentic materials + considered more motivating + (Chavez, Little et al) unthreatening - structuring graded “real” language (Guariento and Morley) culturally interesting modernising culturally inappropriate boring “unrealistic and unattainable” (Gilmore, 2004: 368) in action time consuming frustrating (Guariento and Morley) tasks may not be “authentic” culturally inappropriate

materials themes in action literature as a theme for a lesson or series of lessons

materials themes in action literature can include: classical literature songs greetings cards tv adverts graffiti 20/21 st century prose stories talking books plays graded readers (Woodward, 2001: 99)

materials themes in action why use literature? linguistically cultural knowledge learner involvement vocabulary settings imagination/creativity syntax patterns situations personal discovery cohesion and coherence characters perspective (Duff, 2007)

materials themes in action exploring the possibilities of literature as a theme in the classroom

materials themes acting out translation into L 1 discussion to raise cultural awareness re-writing endings classroom activities for working with literature debates in action gap fills – scripts and lyrics plot summary writing listening/ reading for specific information

materials themes jigsaw reading adapted from www. shakespeare. com music brainstorming quotes Shakespeare on film in action acting out rewriting ending in action with Shakespeare debates role play Shakespeare’s life www. stratford-upon-avon. co. uk planning a one-day tour script writing

Any questions?

References Duff, A. & Maley, A. (2007) Literature. Oxford: OUP. Gilmore, A. (2004) ‘A comparison of textbook and authentic interactions’, ELT Journal, 58 (4) 363 -374. Guariento, W. & J. Morley (2001) ‘Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom’, ELT Journal, 55 (4) 347 -353. Hedge, T. (2000) Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford: OUP. Koprowski, M. (2005) ‘Investigating the usefulness of lexical phrases in contemporary course books’, ELT Journal, 59 (4) 322 -332. Kramsch, C. (1993) Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: OUP. Lee, W. Y. (1995) ‘Authenticity revisited: text authenticity and learner authenticity’, ELT Journal, 49 (4) 323 -328. Little, D. , S. Devitt & D. Singleton (1989) Learning Foreign Languages from Authentic Texts: Theory and Practice. Authentik: Dublin. Sanderson, P. (1999) Using newspapers in the classroom. Cambridge: CUP. Taylor, D. (1994) ‘Inauthentic Authenticity or Authentic Inauthenticity? ’ TESL-EJ, 1 (2) 1 -9. Woodward, T. (2001) Planning Lessons and Courses. Cambridge: CUP.