The importance of authentic material in teaching speaking to B2 level students
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The importance of authentic material in teaching speaking to B2 level students tayyor
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The questions were as follows:
Do you and your sister do ballet in a team or individually? While practicing the sport/dance, what do you do differently than your sister? What do you personally prefer? Performing ballet in the chorus or as a soloist? When taking part in ballet competitions, what does your ballet teacher tell you topay attention to? Is a ballet competition stressful, and if so, why according to your opinion or experience? Having, first, been given time to prepare and answer the questions at her own pace, with the incorporation of the appropriate vocabulary, she was able to narrate her experiences and share her thoughts. For example, she could say: ”When practicing individually, you pay more attention to details, and you coordinate your movements in a more controlled fashion because you are completely exposed to the judge’s eyes, they scrutinize your every move”. This method of providing the student with useful vocabulary proved somewhat helpful when, later on, she was asked to compare two team sports depicted in the speaking page, parkour, and golf, in terms of fun and popularity. At this stage, I gave her a guideline of necessary phrases in order for her to compare and contrast, the key factor being that she had already explored useful vocabulary through the personalised questions. The book also included many extension activities for speaking practice. I am going to refer to such an extension question and how I processed composing an answer, with the same student, Christianna (B1 level). The question was about determining which sports could be deemed more suitable for boys and which for girls. In this case, once more, I relied on the personalizing technique. I asked my student to make a catalogue of appropriate sports for the members of her family, like her mom, dad, grandpa, uncles or aunts, etc., and explain her reasoning. Once this initial stage was completed, I asked her to narrow down the adjectives that could describe her relatives. For example, ”My grandpa is witty and sophisticated, more of an introvert, so he did not prefer to practice sports when younger. So, I would choose golf for him because, as a sport, it matches more an analytical personality, and physical strength is not a primary requirement. My mom, on the other hand, who is an avid gym-goer, slim and flexible, could respond well to extreme sports like kayaking. Following the completion of this task, you can ask the students to tell you what they have concluded. Are some sports more suitable for boys than for girls? The provision of examples that have helped them express their opinion will, in turn, help them share their opinion with the rest of the class. It is essential to keep in mind that most probably, their answers will depend on their personal experience. In conclusion, the questions in Speaking Tasks should not be applied in a rigorous way that does not allow flexibility. Instead, teachers should try to activate the students’ minds, stir their imagination, encourage them to share their experiences or views of the world on different topics in a structured, yet, not overly complicated manner, so as to prevent any fear of embarrassment or reluctance on the students’ part. Following such an inspired path and designing the order of the given speaking questions in a spirit of versatility will bring out the best learning results, and most importantly, it will bring out the best in each student. Conclusion These materials can be used both in classes and for the practice of oral speech, both for classroom work and for homework and independent work of students, given the openness of access to them, the possibility of organizing and participating in online discussions, as well as the existence of many other forms of control tasks. The use of authentic materials attracts interest to the subject, contributes to the development of all types of speech activity in the lesson, students express their opinion, discuss what they see, and discuss on one topic or another. In addition, they get acquainted with the peculiarities of the country of the studied language, listen to the speech of native speakers. The informational teaching function of authentic materials is expressed in the fact that they create a speech pattern (pronunciation, intonation, lexical and grammatical), recreate the conditions of natural speech communication, displaying any spatial and temporal situations, both real and imaginary in any sequence, transmit information about the country of the language being studied, which makes it possible to more clearly present the situation described in the text. The organizing and controlling function is manifested in the fact that authentic materials provide "Presence effect" or "participation effect" to stimulate speech activity, contain an enormous motivational power. The integrative function is expressed in the fact that authentic materials can serve as a bundle between the parts of the lesson and contribute to streamlining and systematization of the training stages. Illustrative visual function is manifested in the fact that authentic materials are a synthesis of all types of visualization (visual, auditory, motor, mixed, language, situational-model, subject, figurative, etc.), serve as a means of distant immersion in the natural environment at all stages learning, thereby partially compensating for its absence. The developmental function is more expressed in enhancing students' cognitive activity, increasing the role of the independence factor, developing personality traits such as observation, imagination, attention, thinking, language memory, development of skills in all types of speech activity, creative activity of students, which is characterized by knowledge transfer and skills in a new situation. The educational-heuristic function is realized in nurturing a sense of respect for the people and culture of the country of the language being studied, the awareness of anyone unusual, alien, stereotypes arising from the perception of another culture, the urge to compare the characteristics of the culture of the country of the studied language and native culture. References Gilmore A. Authentic materials and authenticity in foreign language learning. Language teaching. vol. 40, no. 02, 2007. Marc Prensky «Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants», «On the Horizon» MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001. Nunan D. Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. - Cambridge University Press, 1989. Jordan, R. R (1997). English for Academic Purposes: A Guide and Resource for Teachers. Camxbridge. Cambridge University Press. Lonergan, Jack. (1992). Video in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McKay, S. L. (2000). Teaching English as an international language: Implications for cultural materials in the classroom. TESOL Journal, 9(4), 7-11. Omaggio-Hadley, A. (1993). Teaching language in context. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers. Richard, J.C. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seelye, H. N. (1993). Teaching culture: Strategies for intercultural communication (2nd ed.). Lincolnwood, Ill: National Textbook Company. Tomlinson, Brian (ed.) (2008). English Language Learning Materials. A Critical Review. London: Continuum. Krichevskaya K.S. Pragmatic materials acquainting pupils with the culture and habitat of the inhabitants of the country of the language being studied // Foreign Languages at School .1996. №1. Gebhard J.G. Teaching Self-Development and Methodology Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1996. Galskov N.D., Gez N.I. Theory of Teaching Foreign Languages: Linguodidactics and Methods. - 2nd ed., - M .: Academy, 2005. Nosonovich E.V., Milrud R.P. Parameters of authentic educational text // Foreign languages at school. 1999. №1 p. 18-23. Buck, G. (2000). Assessing listening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Burely-Allen, M. (1995). The teaching of academic listening comprehension and thequestion of authenticity. In English for Specific Purposes, 16 (1):27-46. Flowerdew, J. & Miller, L. In press. Second Language Listening Comprehension: Theory topractice. New York: Cambridge University Press. Mendelson, D., & J. Rubin. (1995). A Guide for the Teaching of Second Language Listening. SanDiego, CA: Dominic Press. Nunan, D., & L. Miller, eds. (1995). New Ways in Teaching Listening: Alexandria, VA:TESOL. Rost, M. (2002). Teaching and Researching Listening. London: Pearson. This article first appeared in the March/April 2003 issue of ESL Magazine. Retrieved frominternet, 10/20/2010, www.elthillside.com/up/files/article4.do 1 President.uz [] Download 45.37 Kb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
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