46th IATEFL Conference, Glasgow

Out of the media and into the classroom

March  2012  Heather  Buchanan  

Definition  

• “Authentic”  materials  are  usually  defined  as  those  which  have  been  produced  for  purposes  other  than  to  teach  language”  (Nunan,  1988,  p.99)  

Using  TV  and  radio  broadcasts  -­‐  benefits  

•  Gives  exposure  to  real  language  in  use  

•  Natural  pronunciation  and  exposure  to  different  accents  

•  Should  help  to  equip  students  to  cope  with  language  in  use  outside  the  classroom.  

•  Gives  students  a  sense  of  satisfaction  

•  Topical  and  up  to  date  

•  Can  be  culturally  rich  

•  Visual  clues  may  help  students  to  understand  the  audio  

However….  

•  Unknown/  infrequent/  inappropriate  lexis  &  grammar  

•  Lower  level  students  

•  Natural  pronunciation  &  speed  –  difficult  to  decode  

•  Cultural  references  can  be  obscure  

•  Content  not  necessarily  interesting  or  appropriate  

•  Visual  can  distract  from  audio  

What  can  we  use  broadcasts  for?  

Develop  students’  

listening  skills  –  top  down  and  bottom  up  

Develop  students’  listening  strategies  

Language  awareness  (systems)  

Classroom  or  independent  

study  

Current  affairs  

•  News  

•  Programmes  about  the  news  

•  Features  on  radio  programmes  

•  Documentaries  

•  Interviews/  chat  shows  

How  to  select  your  broadcast  

•  Relevance  (to  syllabus,  to  learners’  needs)  

•  Intrinsic  interest  of  topic/  theme  

•  Cultural  appropriateness  

•  Linguistic  demands  

•  Cognitive  demands  

•  Logistical  considerations  (e.g.  length,  legibility/audibility)  

•  Quality  (as  a  model  or  as  a  representative  token  of  a  text  type)  

•  Exploitability    

(McGrath,  2002,  p.  106)  

Using  standard  exercises  for  listening/  audiovisual  texts  

Saves  time  for  T  Provides  structure  Suggests  activities  

Classroom  use  Learners  choose  texts  Personalised  Differentiated      

Independent  learning  

Using  standard  exercises  for  listening/  audiovisual  texts  

Saves  time  for  T  Provides  structure  Suggests  activities  

Classroom  use  Learners  choose  texts  Personalised  Differentiated      

Independent  learning  

How  standardised  can  you  make  your  tasks?  

Authenticity  of  tasks  

•  Authentic  task:  one  “which  replicate[s]  or  rehearse[s]  the  communicative  behaviours  which  will  be  required  of  them  in  the  real  world”  (Nunan  ,cited  in  McGrath,  2002,  p.114)  

•  or  

•  Pedagogic  task:  “one  which  focuses  on  the  development  of  accuracy  rather  than  language  using”  (McGrath,  2002,  p.114)  

Basic  framework  for  receptive  skills  lessons  •  Introduce  topic/  generate  interest/  predict  content  

•  Task  1:  focus  on  gist  

•  (Task  2:  focus  on  detail)  

•  (Task  3:  focus  on  language)  

•  Follow-­‐up/  development  task/  personal  response  

•  (Self-­‐evaluation  of  difficulties)  

 

Framework  1:  the  news  

•  TV  or  radio  news  

• Possible  to  use  that  day’s  news  

• Adapt  for  news  with  or  without  headlines  at  the  beginning  

Framework  2:  Documentary  

• Documentaries  where  people  experience  something  different.  

• Human  interest  

•  Informative  (topical  issues,  history,  etc.)  

Framework  3:  Question  time/  debate  programmes  

• Panel  discussions  or  audience  discussions  based  on  questions  

• Questions  usually  relevant  to  week’s  news  items  or  general  human  interest  stories  

Framework  4:    Dragons’  Den  

• Repetitive  format  

•  Entertaining,  interesting,  inspiring  

•  Encourages  critical  thinking  and  creativity  

Further  task  possibilities  

• Media  transfer  

•  Comparison/  contrast  

•  Reformulation  

•  Creating  text  

•  Analysis  

•  Project  work  

Selected  from  Maley’s  (1998)  typology  for  generalised  procedures  (in  McGrath,  2004,  p.  113).    

 References  and  Further  

Reading    •  Breen,  M.P.  (1985)  Authenticity  in  the  language  classroom  Applied  Linguistics  6:  60–70.  

•  Gilmore,  A.    (2007).  Authentic  materials  and  authenticity  in  foreign  language  learning.    Language  Teaching  40:  97-­‐118  

•  Guariento,  W.,  and  Morley  J.  (2001)  Text  and  task  authenticity.    ELT  Journal  55/4:  339–347.  

•  McGrath,  I  (2004)  Materials  Evaluation  and  Design  for  Language  Teaching,  Edinburgh  University  Press  

•  Mishan,  F.  (2005)  Designing  authenticity  into  language  teaching  materials.    Bristol:  Intellect  

•  Nunan,  D.  (1988)  The  Learner  Centred  Curriculum,  Cambridge,  CUP  

•  Sherman,  J  (2003)  Using  Authentic  Video  in  the  Language  Classroom,  Cambridge,  CUP  

•  Tomlinson,  B  (2012)  State-­‐of-­‐the-­‐art  article:Materials  development  for  langauge  learning  and  teaching,  Language  teaching,  45/2,  pp.  143-­‐179  

•  Widdowson,  H.  (1996)  Authenticity  and  autonomy  in  ELT.    ELT  Journal  50/1:  67–68.  

•  Yuk-­‐Chun  Lee,  W.    (1995)  Authenticity  revisited.    ELT  Journal    49/4:  323–328.