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Список литературы:
1. Русский язык: учеб. пособие / Л.К. Жаналина, Н.Н. Шманова. - Алматы: «Мектеп», 2007. - 165 с.
THE ROLE OF USING AUTHENTIC TEXTS AT THE ENGLISH LESSON FOR NON-LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
© Зорина А.В.*
Набережночелнинский государственный торгово-технологический институт, г. Набережные Челны
The article is devoted to the method of using authentic texts at the English lessons for university students of non-linguistic universities. According to the author, authentic texts (articles, menus, advertisements, etc.) are highly motivating and boost students’ interest since they are very similar to real life and their language is the language used by native speakers. In her article the author also offers the activities created for an authentic text and gives an explanation how they can be used at different stages of the lesson.
Key words: communicative language teaching, authentic text, students, activity.
It is undoubtedly the case that we live in an age when employees are admired for speaking foreign languages. No one would dispute the fact that the ability to communicate with the help of at least one European language gives people outstanding opportunities to develop as professionals in their field, to work in a more dynamic environment or to gain a valuable experience of working abroad.
In this connection nowadays there is a tendency to teach children English as early as possible since it is widely believed that the earlier a child is into the process of learning, the easier he or she starts using the language as a means of communication. It is true to some extend that children pick up a language quite quickly and they do not usually ask such questions as «How long will it take me to learn English? When will I start talking fluently?». They are just happy being into the process of learning. This is, however, the case with the majority of adults who have come up with the idea to learn English or they have been offered a better position which requires talking English to customers or colleagues. They are eager to see positive results as soon as possible since they are either pressed for time or desperate to talk in English while travelling or communicating to a for-
* Кафедра Гуманитарных наук, информационных технологий и сервиса, кандидат педагогических наук.
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eign friend. People’s ambitions are clear and understanding but perfection needs practice and time. It cannot be denied that adults find it more difficult to learn a foreign language but, clearly, it would be absolutely wrong to assume that it might end up in failure for them just because they have missed out on learning it in their childhood. Definitely, much depends on people’s abilities, motivation and the amount of time they spend learning but it is difficult to accept the idea that these three components are enough for achieving good results.
It is our firm belief that, firstly, it is a teacher, his / her attitude towards the process of learning, students and the preparation for the classes that are essential. It goes without saying that responsibilities for a positive learning atmosphere in the classroom lie with a teacher. No one will remain highly motivated in learning if classes are boring, the activities are all the same and the teacher talks all the time cracking jokes and practicing his / her own English.
Secondly, methods of teaching English are of great importance. All the evidence suggest that using the method of translation we would never teach anyone to speak a foreign language. Classes based on such an approach will definitely come as a disappointment to a student who has an ambition to use English as a means of communication. By contrast, modern methodology focused on communicative language teaching (CLT) helps students of different ages learn the English language effectively and benefit from the effects of the activities offered by a teacher.
According to CLT, classes are based on further principles:
1. An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.
2. The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
3. The provision of opportunities for students to focus, not only on language but also on the learning process itself.
4. An enhancement of the student’s own personal experience as an important contributing element to classroom learning.
5. An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom [2].
It is generally agreed among supporters of CLT approach that to help students become successful in language learning, teachers should follow these features mentioned above. All these principles are worth being described in detail but in our article we will only pay the readers’ attention towards the necessity of introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
Authentic texts are of great value for students as they have to deal with real life language which is used by native speakers. According to Scrivener, «If a text is used in class in ways that are reasonably similar to real life, it is likely that the task will be effective» [3, p. 186]. The author explicitly agrees with this view. Nevertheless, there are some difficulties that teachers might come across while
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preparing their reading lesson. Here are some tips which may help teachers, especially young teachers with no experience, avoid unnecessary mistakes.
The use of an authentic text at the lesson requires a lot of preparation and it cannot be denied that not only is it time consuming, but also difficult. The first point to bear in mind is that there have to be a balance between real English and students’ capabilities. Teachers should know what type of authentic text to offer their students so that the lesson did not meet a failure. It would be a wrong idea to give a scientific article which contains 90 % of unknown vocabulary to beginner students. It is more likely to be effective if it is written material that students of that level can understand to some degree - a menu, an advertisement or an instruction.
A further point is that much depends on students’ interests and hobbies. Teachers should know the preferences of their students quite well to be sure the text they have chosen will not be boring and will meet students’ needs and interests. Such texts make the process of studying much more fascinating and give opportunities for improving students’ knowledge, and as Harmer says, «if the reading text is especially interesting and engaging, acquisition is likely to be even more successful» [1, p. 68].
Finally, an authentic text is not followed by exercises as a text in a course book. It is the teachers’ task to think over what activities they will offer their students and what type of reading they are going to teach them - skimming, scanning, reading for detail or a combination of some of these types.
During the English classes we paid much attention towards our students’ answers towards different topics to learn more about their interests, hobbies, lifestyle and what they all have in common. Eventually, we found out that many first-year-old university students, who studied in the same group, liked doing sports and followed a healthy way of living. During one of the lessons devoted to food and restaurants, we paid attention to the students’ answers - nearly all of them said that they tried to cut down on chocolate and cakes so that they could keep fit so we came up to the conclusion that an authentic article about the reasons not to eat lunch at work might be interesting to them.
We found an authentic article ‘Five Surprising Reasons to Stop Eating Lunch at Your Desk’ on the Internet, created our own tasks and tried and saw how Elementary level students would cope with it.
The reading part of the lesson is divided into four stages - lead-in, prereading, while-reading and post-reading. Here is the procedure.
Lead-in. Pictures are of great use. They help students understand what the topic of the lesson is about. The teacher puts some pictures on the board. They show different ways of having lunch - at work, at home, and in a cafe. The teacher asks students, «What do these people look like? Use adjectives that describe feelings». The answers can be: happy/unhappy, tired, sad, healthy/unhealthy, etc.
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The teacher writes down the words on the board, and asks students, «Where do you like having your lunch? Why?». Students’ possible answers: «At work. It’s quick» or «At home. I live not far from work», etc.
Aim: to generate students’ interest in the topic and to elicit the vocabulary students may be unaware of. Materials: pictures on the topic. Rationale: Lead-in is considered to be of great importance for both the teacher and students because, on the on hand it makes «an explicit link between the topic of the text and students’ own lives and experience» [3, p. 187], and on the other hand personalized questions allow students to express their feelings about the topic.
Pre-reading. The teacher divides students into groups of four or five. He/she writes down the headline of the article on the board and asks students why it is not a good idea to have lunch in an office. Students work in groups, discuss their ideas and then share them with the whole class. Students can offer such ideas as: «You don’t move», «It’s boring to have lunch alone», etc. The aim of the next step is to pre-teach the vocabulary from the text. Students work individually. The task is to match the phrases with the pictures that show their meanings.
Here are the phrases students will come across while reading the text: suffer from depression, feel refreshed, stuck on a problem, feel satisfied, come up with an idea, become blah. While students are busy doing their tasks, the teacher monitors. She does not interfere with students. Then the teacher asks students to work in pairs and discuss their answers.
Aim: to predict what the topic is about and to pre-teach the new vocabulary (phrases describing feelings). Materials: different pictures which show emotions and feelings and which can be described by the phrases offered by the teacher. Rationale: Prediction of the topic plays an important role in reading as it makes the students «better and more engaged readers» [1, p. 70]. Pre-teaching of the new vocabulary is a necessary part of the lesson as students will find the text extremely complicated without being provided with the target language.
While-reading. Task 1. The teacher asks students to work in pairs and find headings for paragraphs 1-5.One of the headings is an odd one out.
The teacher monitors while students are working. Then the teacher can ask a quick finisher to write down the answers on the board and all students discuss them with the teacher. Task 2. The teacher reorganizes pairs and asks students to read the text and find the words and phrases that mean: «a lot of» (Reason 2), «talk to somebody» (Reason 3), «come back» (Reason 4), etc.
Students may have some difficulties with doing Task 1. The phrase ‘become blah’ can cause problems. To describe the phrase «become blah» the teacher can use a gesture (the hand drops down) saying; «Something became worse. It was this level (the hand up), and then it became that one (the hand down)».
Aim: to focus on skimming and intensive reading. Materials: a handout. Rationale: Students need to be taught different reading techniques because in real
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life we do not always read for detail. We use skimming when we look through the paper headlines to get the general meaning while reading menus, timetables, etc. Being a very natural way of reading, skimming and is considered to be a very important reading sub-skill. In this respect to become successful readers, students should be provided with reading strategies that «help them to read fast; not worrying about understanding every word; not, perhaps, even understanding most words, but still achieving a specific and useful goal» [3, p. 184].
The aim of intensive reading is «reading texts closely and carefully ... making sure that the words have been correctly interpreted» [3, p. 186]. On the one hand this kind of reading gives an opportunity to gain «as much detail as possible» [3, p. 186]. On the other hand students’ attention is also focused on new lexis which intends to enlarge their vocabulary.
Post-reading. Procedure: Students work in pairs. The task is to discuss peoples’ lifestyles, their problems and to give them a piece of advice. One student tells his / her partner about Sam’s problems, the other one tells his / her partner about Karen. Students should describe how people look and explain why using the prompts. In pairs the two students think about a piece of advice for both Sam and Karen. The prompts might be the following ones: Sam, 26 years old, an economist. 1) No satisfaction with life. 2) A lot of stress! 3) No sport activities. 4) No new ideas at work. 5) No friends at work. 6) Lunch at work: coffee and crisps, etc.
Aim: to activate the target language, to promote fluency. Materials: a set of cards showing two people at their working desks. Rationale: Only speaking activities can develop students’ speaking skills. Practice makes perfect! Besides, «speaking activities can give them enormous confidence and satisfaction, and with a sensitive teacher guiding them it can encourage them into further study» [1, p. 88].
To try and increase students’ motivation and interest in language learning, it is recommended that teachers should use authentic texts in their classes. As it has already mentioned, it will take a great deal of time to do some kind of group research, find an appropriate text and invent exercises and activities, but teachers will definitely have a feedback from their students who always appreciate when teachers either find out or create something new and entertaining for them. For students it means that the lesson they have come to attend is of great value both for them and for their teacher.
Список литературы:
1. Harmer J. How to Teach English, Pearson. - 2001. - 198 p.
2. Nunan D. Language Teaching Methodology: A Textbook For Teachers. -Prentice Hall, 1991. - 264 p.
3. Scrivener J. Learning Teaching. - 2nd. ed. - Macmillan, 2005. - 431 p.
