The problem of authentic materials used in teaching foreign languages causes a lot of controversy in itself. The very concept of authentic materials appeared in the methodology not so long ago, which is associated with modern production learning objectives foreign language. In modern foreign and domestic methods, the term “authentic materials” has practically replaced the term “original materials”, which was used previously. At the same time, the degree of authenticity of educational materials is a serious methodological problem.

From diversity existing approaches To understand authenticity in the methodology of teaching a foreign language, we will use the traditional interpretation (Zhoglina; Scarcella; Harmer, ; Nosonovich, etc.), when authentic is usually understood as materials that were created by native speakers, but later “without any cuts or processing” ( Zhoglin) have found application in the educational process, focused on a communicative approach to teaching a foreign language outside the language environment.

Currently, there are several classifications of authentic materials; let’s look at some of them.

Krichevskaya K. S. defines authentic as genuine literary, folklore, visual, musical works, objects of reality, such as clothing, furniture, dishes and their illustrative images.

Krichevskaya K. S. identifies materials from everyday and everyday life into an independent group of pragmatic materials (ads, questionnaires, signs, labels, menus and bills, maps, advertising brochures on tourism, recreation, goods, job vacancies, etc.), which in terms of accessibility and everyday nature of use, they seem to be quite significant for creating the illusion of familiarization with native speakers and believes that their role is an order of magnitude higher than authentic texts from a textbook, although they may be inferior to them in volume.

We believe that the concept of “pragmatic materials” should also include audio and audiovisual materials, such as informational radio and television programs, news reports, weather forecasts, radio announcements at airports and railway stations. The use of such materials seems to us extremely important, since they are an example of a modern foreign language and create the illusion of participation in everyday life countries, which serves as an additional incentive to increase student motivation.

Krichevskaya K.S. gives the following classification of pragmatic materials depending on their use in a particular area:

1. Educational and professional sphere of communication;
2. Social and cultural environment of communication;
3. Household sphere of communication;
4. Trade and commercial sphere of communication;
5. Family and everyday sphere of communication;
6. Sports and recreational communication;

The classification of E. S. Krichevskaya is in many ways identical to the definition of authentic materials given by G. I. Voronina, who defines them as authentic texts borrowed from the communicative practice of native speakers. She identified two types of authentic texts, represented by different genre forms:

1. Functional texts of everyday use that perform an instructing, explanatory, advertising or warning function: signs, road signs, signs, diagrams, diagrams, drawings, theatrical programs, etc.;
2. Informative texts that perform an information function and contain constantly updated information: articles, interviews, opinion polls, letters from readers printed publications, current sensational information, announcements, explanations of statistics, graphics, advertising, commentary, reporting, etc.

The classifications of E. S. Krichevskaya and G. I. Voronina were considered by us for general coverage of the problem raised, since, in our opinion, they do not cover the entire spectrum of authentic materials.

Gebhard J.G. offers the following classification:

1. Authentic audiovisual materials - television advertising, artistic and documentaries, TV shows, cartoons, videos, news, etc.
2. Authentic audio materials - audio books, songs, advertising and radio broadcasts, etc.
3. Authentic visual materials - paintings, photographs, slides, road signs, illustrations, stamps, postcards, etc.
4. Authentic printed materials - newspaper articles, sports columns, song lyrics, programs, telephone directories, tourist brochures, comics, receipts, tickets, etc.
5. Realities (objects) - coins, cash, masks, toys, etc.

The advantages of authentic materials as a teaching tool are obvious; they have received wide coverage in methodological literature, both domestic and foreign authors(Milrud R.P.; Nosonovich E.V.; Zhoglina G.G.; Scarcella R.C., etc.):

1. The language presented in authentic materials acts as a means of real communication, reflects the real linguistic reality, the peculiarities of the functioning of language as a means of communication and the natural environment.
2. With the use of authentic materials, the danger of distortion of foreign language reality is reduced: being evidence modern civilization in the country of the target language, they reflect ideas and judgments common in at the moment in society.
3. Due to the lack of didactic orientation, information presented using authentic materials in a non-linguistic environment has high level authority; naturalness causes great cognitive activity, while educational materials perform a purely educational function and reflect fictitious situations that do not exist outside of class, thereby reducing motivation and the reliability of the information presented, their use may subsequently complicate the transition to understanding materials taken from “ real life».

However, despite the many advantages of authentic materials, there is no consensus on their preferential use. The use of authentic materials in foreign language teaching outside the language environment is limited by the level of language proficiency of students and the serious sociocultural difficulties that students experience when working with them. Elukhina N.V. , Nosonovich E.V. and other authors note that the obstacles to the use of authentic materials in teaching are:

1) excessive abundance of various visual, verbal and audio information, which is difficult to cope with within the lesson;
2) thematic diversity, which makes it difficult to coordinate materials with the lexical topic currently being studied.

Considering these obstacles, some authors allow methodological processing of text that was created for non-educational purposes, without violating its authenticity, as well as compiling the text in educational purposes taking into account all the parameters of authentic educational production. In the works of foreign and domestic researchers we find a variety of terms to refer to such texts:

· semi-authentic texts;
· edited authentic texts;
· adapted authentic texts - roughly-turned authentic texts;
· texts close to authentic - near-authentic texts;
· educational-authentic texts;

Thus, we can conclude that in domestic and foreign methods there is no uniform definition authentic materials, their classification, as well as opinions regarding their primary use in teaching a foreign language.

For our research, the use of authentic audiovisual materials (in particular films) in the educational process is of greatest interest.

Introduction

The current level of development of society requires high quality teaching a foreign language in secondary school, which, in turn, requires a careful search for effective methods of teaching the language. Analysis of domestic and foreign methodological literature revealed great potential for using authentic materials as a teaching tool English language. This fact determines the relevance of the chosen research topic.

The object of the study is teaching English in secondary school.

The subject of the research is authentic in the process of learning a foreign language in secondary school.

We put forward the following hypothesis: correct and systemic use authentic material can become effective means improving the quality of English language teaching.

The purpose of this work is to identify the effectiveness of using authentic material in English classes.

To achieve the goal, the following tasks were set:

1. Study pedagogical and methodological literature on this problem;

2. Determine the essence of authentic material;

3. Identify criteria for selecting authentic video material for the educational process;

4. Conduct an experiment to confirm the hypothesis.

When conducting the study, we used theoretical (analysis, synthesis) and practical (testing) research methods.

When writing the work, we relied on the works of both domestic (Ya.M. Kolker, Milrud R.P.) and foreign authors (Susan Stempleski, Barry Tomalin), and also used electronic sources of information.

The results of the study can be used in a course on methods of teaching a foreign language, as well as when teaching English in secondary school.

Coursework consists of introduction, theoretical and practical chapters, conclusion, list of sources used.

The Introduction reveals the relevance of the problem and the definition of the conceptual and categorical apparatus of the study.

The first chapter discusses the use of authentic materials in the process of learning a foreign language, the second chapter presents the results of a pedagogical experiment on the use of authentic materials when teaching 7th grade students English.

In conclusion, generalizations made during the work are given. The list of used literature consists of 27 sources.

Authentic materials in teaching methods

The concept of authentic materials

The problem of authentic materials used in teaching foreign languages causes a lot of controversy in itself. The very concept of authentic materials appeared in the methodology not so long ago, which is associated with the modern setting of goals for teaching a foreign language. In modern foreign and domestic methods, the term “authentic materials” has practically replaced the term “original materials”, which was used previously. At the same time, the degree of authenticity of educational materials is a serious methodological problem.

There are different approaches to describing all aspects of authenticity. Let's look at some of these approaches. Widdowson considers authenticity not so much as a property inherent in a speech work, but as a characteristic of the educational process. He distinguishes between the concepts of “authenticity” and “authenticity”. All uses of the language for non-educational purposes are considered genuine. Authenticity is considered as a property of educational interaction. Therefore, it is not enough to bring a clipping from a foreign newspaper to class; you need to make the process of working on it authentic. By teaching children to perceive work on a text not as an exercise, but as an authentic communicative activity, the teacher stimulates natural interaction in the lesson. In other words, authenticity in methodologically is not something brought from outside in the form of a text intended by the author for native speakers, and not for foreigners. Authenticity is created in the learning process, through students' interactions with the text, with the teacher, and with each other. Thus, the traditional opposition between the language used in the lesson and the “real” language is removed. "Academic" does not necessarily mean "inauthentic"; it all depends on how the training material will be used.

L. Lier develops a system of conditions necessary for an authentic educational process and identifies three types of authenticity: authenticity of materials, pragmatic authenticity and personal authenticity.

The authenticity of materials does not exclude the use of texts specially created by methodologists with a focus on language learners, but takes into account their preservation of the properties of an authentic text (such as coherence, informative and emotional richness, taking into account the needs and interests of the intended reader, the use of natural language, etc.) , as well as the authenticity of the use of educational materials in the lesson.

Pragmatic authenticity includes the following aspects: the authenticity of the context in which the language is used, i.e. the adequacy of certain linguistic means in specific situation, authenticity of the goal, i.e. the expected result of speech interaction, authenticity of this interaction.

The authenticity of interaction (or interactive authenticity) is not always compatible with the authenticity of the goal, if we mean pedagogical goals. When interacting with students, a teacher often reacts not to the content of statements, but to the mistakes made and focuses on correcting them, thus violating the authenticity of the interaction. Some conventionality of educational interaction is apparently inevitable: it is explained by the peculiarities of the school environment, where educational goals are put at the forefront, while with authentic communication the goal is the process of natural communication itself. However, the process of speech correction can also be carried out in the form of casual communication, for example, asking again (Did you mean to say that...) or support with reformulation of the student’s thoughts in the correct form (Yes, you mean certainly to say that...) It is also recommended to record the student’s errors in writing for subsequent correction.

As for personal authenticity, it is associated with individual characteristics students A person characterized by personal authenticity, according to linguist researcher L. Lier, clearly understands what he is doing and why, is aware of responsibility for his actions, is able to make choices, and adjust his behavior (including speech) depending on the situation. Researcher M. Brin identifies 4 types of authenticity: 1) authenticity of texts used in the learning process; 2) the authenticity of students’ perception of these texts; 3) authenticity of educational tasks, 4) authenticity of the social situation in the lesson.

From the variety of existing approaches to understanding authenticity in the methodology of teaching a foreign language, we will use the traditional interpretation (Zhoglina; Scarcella; Harmer; Nosonovich, etc.), when authentic is usually understood as materials that were created by native speakers, but in the future “without any cuts or processing" (Zhoglina) have found application in the educational process, focused on a communicative approach to teaching a foreign language outside the language environment.

Currently, there are several classifications of authentic materials; let’s look at some of them.

Krichevskaya K.S. gives the definition of authentic to genuine literary, folklore, visual, musical works, objects of reality, such as clothing, furniture, dishes and their illustrative images.

Krichevskaya K.S. distinguishes materials from everyday and everyday life into an independent group of pragmatic materials (ads, questionnaires, signs, labels, menus and bills, maps, advertising brochures for tourism, recreation, goods, job vacancies, etc.), which are accessible and everyday in nature applications seem to be quite significant for creating the illusion of familiarization with the environment of native speakers and believes that their role is an order of magnitude higher than authentic texts from a textbook, although they may be inferior to them in volume.

We believe that the concept of “pragmatic materials” should also include audio and audiovisual materials, such as informational radio and television programs, news reports, weather forecasts, radio announcements at airports and railway stations. The use of such materials seems to us to be extremely important, since they are an example of a modern foreign language and create the illusion of participation in the everyday life of the country, which serves as an additional incentive to increase student motivation.

Krichevskaya K.S. gives the following classification of pragmatic materials depending on their use in a particular area:

1. Educational and professional sphere of communication;

2. Social and cultural environment of communication;

3. Household sphere of communication;

4. Trade and commercial sphere of communication;

5. Family and everyday sphere of communication;

6. Sports and recreational communication;

Classification by E.S. Krichevskaya is in many ways identical to the definition of authentic materials given by G.I. Voronina. , which defines them as authentic texts borrowed from the communicative practice of native speakers. She identified two types of authentic texts, represented by different genre forms:

1. Functional texts of everyday use that perform an instructing, explanatory, advertising or warning function: signs, road signs, signs, diagrams, diagrams, drawings, theater programs, etc.;

2. Informative texts that perform an information function and contain constantly updated information: articles, interviews, opinion polls, letters from readers to printed publications, current sensational information, announcements, explanations of statistics, graphics, advertising, commentary, reportage, etc.

Classifications by Krichevskaya E.S. and Voronina G.I., were considered by us for general coverage of the problem raised, since, in our opinion, they do not cover the entire spectrum of authentic materials.

Gebhard J.G. offers the following classification:

1. Authentic audiovisual materials - television advertising, feature films and documentaries, TV shows, cartoons, clips, news, etc.

2. Authentic audio materials - audio books, songs, advertising and radio broadcasts, etc.

3. Authentic visual materials - paintings, photographs, slides, road signs, illustrations, stamps, postcards, etc.

4. Authentic printed materials - newspaper articles, sports columns, song lyrics, programs, telephone directories, tourist brochures, comics, receipts, tickets, etc.

5. Realities (objects) - coins, cash, masks, toys, etc.

The advantages of authentic materials as a teaching tool are obvious; they have received wide coverage in the methodological literature of both domestic and foreign authors (Milrud R.P.; Nosonovich E.V.; Zhoglina G.G.; Scarcella R.C., etc.):

1. The language presented in authentic materials acts as a means of real communication, reflects the real linguistic reality, the peculiarities of the functioning of language as a means of communication and the natural environment.

2. With the use of authentic materials, the danger of distorting foreign language reality is reduced: being evidence of modern civilization in the country of the language being studied, they reflect ideas and judgments currently widespread in society.

3. Due to the lack of didactic orientation, information presented using authentic materials in a non-linguistic environment has a high level of authority; naturalness causes greater cognitive activity, while educational materials perform a purely educational function and reflect fictitious situations that do not exist outside of class, thereby reducing motivation, the reliability of the information presented, their use can subsequently complicate the transition to understanding materials taken from “real life” ".

In his work “Criteria for the content authenticity of an educational text,” Nosonovich E.V. and Milrud R.P. believe that it is preferable to teach a language using authentic materials, that is, materials taken from original sources and not intended for educational purposes. On the other hand, they point out that such materials are sometimes too complex to use. linguistic aspect and they don't always answer specific tasks and learning conditions, while simultaneously highlighting separately methodological or educationally authentic texts. The latter refers to texts compiled by the authors of the teaching materials, taking into account all the parameters of authentic educational production.

The authors developed the following parameters for an authentic educational text. They consider the totality of structural features of such a text that meets the norms accepted by native speakers. According to their opinion, such a text is an authentic discourse (a text taken in the event aspect), which is characterized by the naturalness of lexical content and grammatical forms, the situational adequacy of the linguistic means used, and illustrates cases of authentic word usage.

It is advisable to present the above parameters and criteria in summary tables.

Authentic parameters educational material

Functional authenticity	A concept that implies the natural selection of linguistic means to solve a speech problem, work on a functionally authentic educational text brings the student closer to the real conditions of language use, introduces him to a variety of linguistic means and prepares him for independent functionally authentic use of these means in speech.
Lexical and phraseological authenticity	The authenticity of an educational text is largely determined by the correct selection of vocabulary and phraseology. The most important selection criteria are the authenticity of a particular unit, its frequency, and its use in natural English speech.
Grammar authenticity	This concept is associated with oral and writing grammatical structures characteristic of a given language.
Structural authenticity	A concept associated with the peculiarities of text construction, its logic, content and formal integrity. Signs of the structural authenticity of a text are content and formal integrity, strong logical and grammatical connections between its components.
Statistical characteristics authentic text	This means identifying a number of patterns and quantitative characteristics inherent in a speech work. Statistical characteristics in combination with other aspects of text authenticity make it possible to develop an optimal model of an authentic text created for methodological purposes.

registration	Necessary to create the impression of "real" material. In audio texts, the sound range is important: traffic noise, conversations of passers-by, telephone calls, music. This helps to better understand the nature of the proposed circumstances and develops the skill of perceiving foreign language life. Working with authentic materials should have the properties of real communication, which always occurs in specific circumstances between specific people. Authentic design makes it easier to understand the communicative purpose of the material and establish its connections with reality.
Aspect of the learning task	The authenticity of learning assignments to the material is very important. These include tasks that stimulate interaction with text, based on operations that are performed in the extracurricular environment when working with sources of information. You should focus on tasks that develop guessing, since it is an authentic communicative action that students resort to in everyday communication; it also stimulates mental activity, serves as a further basis for subsequent authentic interaction within the lesson
Informative aspect	One of the determining factors in the selection of educational material. The presence in any educational material (text, video and audio recording) of any new information, which may be of interest to its intended recipient. Materials must be selected in accordance with age characteristics and the interests of students, information should be assessed in terms of its relevance and accessibility. But we should not forget that in a foreign language lesson, information is not an end in itself, but a means to increase students’ motivation and arouse interest in understanding the content of this material.
Situational aspect	It assumes the naturalness of the situation offered as educational material and the presence of a certain emotional charge. Situational authenticity helps generate interest and response. emotional reaction students, which, in turn, forms positive attitude to the subject.
Aspect of national mentality	When organizing the educational process in Russia, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of our mentality and the existing way of life. Authentic material should not be too specific and contain information that would be incomprehensible due to the deep differences in national cultures
Cultural aspect

The authors include authentic materials: personal letters, anecdotes, articles, excerpts from teenagers’ diaries, advertising, culinary recipes, fairy tales, interviews, popular science and regional studies texts. They also emphasize the importance of preserving the authenticity of the genre and the fact that genre-compositional diversity makes it possible to introduce students to speech clichés, phraseology, and vocabulary associated with the most various areas life and belonging to different styles.

1) excessive abundance of various visual, verbal and audio information, which is difficult to cope with within the lesson;

2) thematic diversity, which makes it difficult to coordinate materials with the lexical topic currently being studied.

Taking into account these obstacles, some authors allow methodological processing of text that was created for non-educational purposes without violating its authenticity, as well as the compilation of text for educational purposes, taking into account all the parameters of authentic educational production. In the works of foreign and domestic researchers we find a variety of terms to refer to such texts:

· semi-authentic texts;

· edited authentic texts;

· adapted authentic texts - roughly-turned authentic texts;

· texts close to authentic - near-authentic texts;

· educational-authentic texts;

Thus, we can conclude that in domestic and foreign methods there is no single definition of authentic materials, their classification, as well as opinions regarding their primary use in teaching a foreign language.

It must be especially emphasized that teaching a natural, modern foreign language is possible only if you use materials taken from the life of native speakers or compiled taking into account the characteristics of their culture and mentality in accordance with accepted and used speech norms. The use of such authentic and educational-authentic materials, which represent a natural speech work created for methodological purposes, will make it possible to more effectively carry out training in all types speech activity simulate immersion in a natural speech environment in foreign language lessons.

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Authentic VS inauthentic materials

Authentic materials - these are those that were originally created for some other purpose, NOT for language teaching. These are the materials that quietly existed in the English-speaking culture before us with our insatiable desire)) These are the materials that were not adapted or simplified for non-native speakers, that is, foreigners learning the language.

These are texts and audio materials that were invented, written or recorded and voiced (in the case of audio) for the purpose of teaching English. Yes, they try to imitate reading texts and audio in textbooks from real life, but these are NOT authentic materials. And the key word is “imitate”)))

Want examples of authentic and non-authentic materials? I have them!))) Let's first look at the texts for reading, and then at the listening.

Reading

Authentic texts

Examples of texts for reading and subsequent work with them (they don’t read them just like that, without purpose, reason, or in class!))):

announcement on the board
restaurant menu
from a scientific and educational magazine in English
boarding pass for the plane (yes, this is also text!)
city guide in English

(Lesson plan and example of how you can work with an authentic guidebook in an English lesson -.)

Inauthentic texts

All the same genres and texts/printed materials mentioned above migrated to English textbooks, while being slightly (or a lot!) modified.

They were simplified in terms of language, but at the same time they tried to preserve some of the features of the genre so that the materials still reminded of the original. The difference between true (from the word true) and artificially created materials is especially noticeable on. The higher the level, the more complex the materials become, and the more similar they are to authentic texts.

Let's compare authentic texts with inauthentic materials from English textbooks? We bet you can immediately guess xy from xy))) Try to figure out which of the texts in each example is from real life (translation: from real life = authentic) and which is from the textbook.

Example 1 City guide

(Pictures enlarge)

Example 2 Article from a scientific and educational magazine

Example 3 Menu in a restaurant

Example 4 Boarding pass

Did you guess where the sent Cossack guy is in each example? Write your guesses in the comments and we’ll discuss them!

Listening

Authentic materials

By analogy with texts and printed materials, authentic audio is one that was originally created for some purpose other than language teaching. For example:

video blog with film reviews for the English-speaking audience (and others who have joined them)))

presentations and lectures, for example, where professionals from different areas share ideas. Note that it was only later that TED presentations began to be used for teaching English. Initially, no one thought about it.
announcement at the airport recorded on a voice recorder
TV quiz shows, talk shows
news on the radio

...etc.

There are countless examples of authentic listening materials. Even the chatter of friends is an authentic text. The only problem is how to write it down.

Inauthentic audio, on the other hand, was written and then dubbed using professional speakers/actors solely for educational purposes. These include:

all kinds of audio from English textbooks: at least, at least, at least. With some exceptions, since all these textbooks contain inserts of authentic material. For example:

English File and Speakout have clips of journalists interviewing passers-by

in Speakout and Outcomes there is educational programs/ National Geographic or BBC documentaries, etc.

audio from specialized ones, where the principle of selection of materials and tasks are for the most part the same as in all these textbooks

Here, as in the case of printed materials, inauthentic audio is misrepresented as imitating genres from real life.

Let's compare authentic and inauthentic materials? Let's conduct another investigative experiment, so to speak)) For the purity of which I will leave only the audio, and remove the video so as not to distract. In the end, do we have listening here, or visualization?)))

Listen to both examples and guess which audio is authentic in each example and which is not.

Example 1 Announcement at the airport

Example 2 Game show

Example 3 Cooking program

Example 4 Presentation

Can you guess which audio is real and which is an imitation?

Let's discuss in the comments! What does audio from textbooks show? What produces authentic audio?

Well, in conclusion. I will not say that authentic materials are exclusively good, and inauthentic texts and listening are necessarily bad. Moreover, in the next post I will talk about the advantages of listening from textbooks. But they exist, and there are many of them!

The conclusion is rather this. Educational materials can be either authentic or created “in laboratories”) and imitate the corresponding genres of real life. The most sensible approach is to use a combination of both. Surely, most teachers do this - colleagues, respond!))

What is more important is that it is advisable to USE any materials authentically (that is, exactly as we would use them in life. For example, we need a boarding pass solely to find out specific information. This means that when working with it in class it would be good to practice this is exactly the skill.)

And in addition to authentic USE, any materials should ideally evoke an authentic response, that is, a REACTION (what we will then do with the information received!).

What is the ratio of authentic and inauthentic materials in your lessons/in training?

What other examples of authentic texts and audio can you remember? Which ones do you use in your lessons?

Well, let’s figure out where in the examples above were real and where were artificial texts and audio))