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25Once we have mentioned the main reasons for the adaptation of authentic written material, we will deal with the different ways whereby we can adapt this material to suit the needs of our students: adding, deleting, modifying, simplifying and reordering.
• Adding: Whenever we want our students to practise certain grammatical structures, items of vocabulary or minimal pairs that are not found in their L1, and the authentic material we want to use does not provide enough examples, we can supply the text with further examples of any of these linguistic exponents.
• Deleting: Textbooks are prepared for an international public with various needs. We must not feel guilty if we have to omit two or three exercises in one unit, if we feel that they are not relevant, or even the whole unit, if our students will not learn anything from it.
• Modifying: There are two main techniques to modify a text: rewrite it and restructure it. Furthermore, we can also adapt a text for our students to read aloud or for us to dictate it to the students, if we want them to practice certain features.
• Simplifying: This technique is also useful, but can lead to a distortion of natural speech or written English if we are not especially careful when we simplify grammar or certain features of speech. In many cases it would be worthwhile keeping those grammatical points which will certainly require further practice rather than simplifying them.
Breen and Candlin cited in Rutherford contend that, "In the past, it has seemed easier to somehow separate the learner from the knowledge to be learned - to 'objectify' the target language as something completely unfamiliar to the learner. [2. P, 149] This objectification of the language in relation to the learner has perhaps been encouraged by a narrow definition of what the object of learning actually is, and by an incomplete view of what the learner has to offer. We have tended to see the target only in terms of 'linguistic competence' or textual knowledge, and we have limited such knowledge to the level of syntax without reference to structure above the sentence. Thus, ideational and interpersonal knowledge, which textual knowledge and from which textual knowledge evolves, have tended to be overlooked or neutralized."
However, the use of authentic text in the classroom may bring the learner and the knowledge together because the learner is lifted from the confinements of traditional and more recent methodologies to become an intricate part of the language learning process.
References
1. Valdeon Garcia R.A. "A Redefinition of Authentic Material and its Use in the Teaching of
English". Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses. Universidad de La Laguna: Tenerife.
Volume 30/31. P. 227-239, 1995.
2. Rutherford W.E. Second Language Grammar: Learning and Teaching. Longman, 1987.
ELABORATION OF TASK (READING AND SPEAKING) WITHIN AUTHENTIC MATERIAL Fayazova D.S.
Fayazova Dilfuza Sadullayevna - teacher of English language, DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, BUKHARA ENGINEERING-TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, BUKHARA CITY, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: this article focuses on the use of supplementary authentic reading texts in teaching English as a foreign language. How to improve the reading skills and strategies of adult learners in a conventional classroom setting and in a computerized learning environment. Keywords: communicative, criteria, mother-tongue, faulty reading habits.
The use of authentic materials is an important principle of communicative language learning and it contributes to the development of an individual learning style and learner autonomy.
Developing reading skills is an important part of foreign language teaching. Foreign language textbooks offer a variety of reading texts but there is usually a one-size-fits-all approach to the way the texts are presented and to the choice of reading comprehension exercises. When that is the case, foreign language teachers try to find supplementary texts and design their own exercises. In order to achieve better results, certain issues have to be taken into account. These
are the similarities and differences between reading in one's first language and reading in a foreign language, the reasons for reading and the aims of a reading programme, the advantages and disadvantages of using authentic texts at all levels of language proficiency and the criteria we use to choose appropriate texts from various sources.
The following terms will be used in the article:
reading - an activity that has as its main purpose "the extraction of meaning from writing"
reading comprehension - "Understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible" [1, p. 3].
authentic texts - "those which are designed for native speakers" (Harmer, 1991:185), e.g. the articles in a newspaper or a magazine;
non-authentic texts - those which have been "written especially for language students" (Harmer, 1991:185), in other words, they have been changed, most often simplified, to suit the requirements of a foreign language curriculum.
Let us discuss what reading in a foreign language is, how it differs from reading in one's mother-tongue. If the foreign language learners are poor readers in their mother-tongue, we can't expect them to read efficiently in the foreign language. But if they are good readers in their mother-tongue, we expect them to transfer their reading strategies to the foreign language automatically. Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen. Automatic transfer of reading strategies from L1 to L2 is difficult or never occurs. Good readers use top-down and bottom-up strategies to make predictions about the meaning of the text and check them. They vary their reading speed and strategies according to the purpose for their reading and the type of the text. When the same students read a text in the foreign language, they tend to use bottom-up strategies, i.e. their linguistic knowledge, but they rarely dare to use top-down strategies, i.e. their knowledge about the world. Appropriate reading strategies are rarely used and even some faulty reading habits, e.g. sub vocalizing, regressive eye movements, etc., can be observed. So, foreign language students usually need more reading practice in order to become efficient readers in the foreign language.
The use of authentic materials is an important principle of Communicative Language Teaching. In real life we read because we are interested in the communicative purpose of the text, in the ideas that the writer has expressed or the effect that the text is supposed to produce on the reader. The language in an authentic text is varied, whereas in a non-authentic one there is often one single structure that is repeated. The use of truly authentic texts is an important means of teaching students to communicate effectively.
Unfortunately, most textbooks make use of non-authentic texts. They are supposed to be easier than authentic ones and to be better suited to the students' language proficiency level. However, this is not true because:
• non-authentic texts are usually over-explicit: they say too much because they lack the natural redundancy of authentic ones, they abound with details, so, the students are not given the chance to make any inferences;
• textbook reading materials usually deal with over-familiar topics. This can hardly be avoided at beginner level but at the higher levels the reading texts can be more informative, enjoyable and interesting;
• there is often a noticeable emphasis on the product of the activity, i.e. on the answers to the comprehension questions, over the process, i.e. the appropriate use of reading skills and strategies in order to understand the text.
We can overcome these shortcomings quite successfully if we provide supplementary authentic texts. Thus the language learners will become better readers, confident in their ability to cope with reading in real life situations.
So, why do we read? In our daily lives we read for two basic reasons: for pleasure and for information [2, P. 4]. We read for information because we want to find out something, to learn something from the text, or for instruction, in order to do something with the information we get, to find out how to act. These reasons for reading are authentic.
References
1. Willis J.D. A Lexical Approach in Bygate et al (eds.) Grammar and the Language Teacher.
Prentice Hall International, 1994.
2. Gower Roger Philips Diane et ali. Teaching Practice Handbook (New Edition). Oxford:
Heinemann English Language Teaching, 1995.
