The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Carol A. Chapelle

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Название The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics
Автор произведения Carol A. Chapelle
Жанр Языкознание
Серия
Издательство Языкознание
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781119147374



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situation itself may not be authentic, but the language used during the task resembles the kind of discussion and negotiation that happens in real‐life interactions.

      Reasons for Using Authentic Materials

      A common assumption among language educators is that authentic materials can be an important source of motivation because learners perceive their real‐world purpose and cultural relevance. For example, Matsumoto (2007) documented that authentic Japanese learning materials (e.g., movies, animation/anime, songs) constituted a “peak learning experience” for many American learners of Japanese (p. 200). Nevertheless, the relationship between authenticity and motivation is not straightforward. Authentic texts that are too difficult for the students, especially if presented without sufficient pedagogical support, can result in frustration rather than enhanced motivation. In fact, some studies have found that learners prefer non‐authentic materials. Kmiecik and Barkhuizen (2006) reported that learners of English favored nonauthentic listening texts because they were easier to comprehend; they felt overwhelmed by the speed of delivery and unknown vocabulary in the authentic listening materials. Thus, authentic texts are not inherently motivating. As Gilmore (2007) explained,

      the success of any particular set of authentic materials in motivating a specific group of learners will depend on how appropriate they are for the subjects in question, how they are exploited in class (the tasks) and how effectively the teacher is able to mediate between the materials and the students. (p. 107)

      An important curricular reason to use authentic materials is that they provide a vehicle for integrating language and content. As mentioned previously, many foreign‐language programs aim to integrate more varied and richer content in lower‐level courses. For example, this may involve students watching portions of a cooking show (an authentic television program) within a lesson on food vocabulary. Grammatical structures can also be taught through authentic materials with a story‐based approach called PACE (Adair‐Huck & Donato, 2002). Crucially, authentic materials can provide opportunities for students to think critically about the social, cultural, and political issues affecting the country or countries where the language is spoken.

      Critiques

      There have been various objections to the use of authentic materials for language teaching purposes. Richards (2006) writes about the “myth of authenticity” (p. 16) and highlights the difficulty of finding authentic texts that are appropriate for low‐proficiency college‐aged readers. Similarly, Long (2007) argues that authentic texts “present too dense a linguistic target” (p. 130) and thus, are appropriate only for very advanced levels. It is important to note that Long's objection to authentic texts is framed in terms of curricular design: He believes that tasks, not texts, should be the foundation of language courses. A more far‐reaching criticism of authentic materials is found in Widdowson (1998), who argued that a text needs to be localized to serve a meaningful communicative intent. What makes a text real or authentic is that it is “appropriate to a particular set of contextual conditions” (1998, p. 712), which cannot be replicated in the classroom.

      SEE ALSO: History of Language‐Teaching Methods; Materials Development; Task‐Based Language Assessment

      1 Adair‐Huck, B., & Donato, R. (2002). The PACE model: A story‐based approach to meaning and form for standards‐based language learning. The French Review, 76, 265–96.

      2 Adair‐Huck, B., Glisan, E., & Troyan, F. (2013). Implementing integrated performance assessment. Alexandria, VA: ACTFL.

      3 Ellis, R. (2017). Position paper: