Post by Admin on Nov 19, 2019 23:44:52 GMT
We have skills now, what we need to find a text to suit the skills we wish to develop with students.
What is an authentic text?
In linguistics and education, an “authentic text” is a text written for any purpose other than teaching/learning about language.
The word “authentic” doesn’t have its usual meaning in this context, nor its pejorative opposite “inauthentic”. It’s not a value-judgement.
The opposite of an authentic text is a text written for the purpose of language-teaching. This is a valid reason to write a text.
Authentic texts thus aren’t superior to language-teaching texts, they just serve a different purpose.
Authentic texts in language teaching
Authentic texts became an Important Thing in English language-teaching (and probably the teaching of other languages) because people who had learnt English from textbooks were arriving in English-speaking countries expecting taxi drivers to say, “What is your destination, please?” only to find they said alarming things like, “I’ll just whack your stuff in the back and then we can hit the frog and toad, where to?” Understandably, learners complained that their teachers had not taught them enough about how English is really used by native speakers.
Introducing authentic texts to the classroom was one way to bridge this divide, and make sure learners didn’t assume that being able to conjugate English verbs, name household objects and ask “where is the train station?” made them top-notch English-speakers.
Exercise: What kind of authentic text will best help your students learn the skill you have chosen for your listening exercise?
What is an authentic text?
In linguistics and education, an “authentic text” is a text written for any purpose other than teaching/learning about language.
The word “authentic” doesn’t have its usual meaning in this context, nor its pejorative opposite “inauthentic”. It’s not a value-judgement.
The opposite of an authentic text is a text written for the purpose of language-teaching. This is a valid reason to write a text.
Authentic texts thus aren’t superior to language-teaching texts, they just serve a different purpose.
Authentic texts in language teaching
Authentic texts became an Important Thing in English language-teaching (and probably the teaching of other languages) because people who had learnt English from textbooks were arriving in English-speaking countries expecting taxi drivers to say, “What is your destination, please?” only to find they said alarming things like, “I’ll just whack your stuff in the back and then we can hit the frog and toad, where to?” Understandably, learners complained that their teachers had not taught them enough about how English is really used by native speakers.
Introducing authentic texts to the classroom was one way to bridge this divide, and make sure learners didn’t assume that being able to conjugate English verbs, name household objects and ask “where is the train station?” made them top-notch English-speakers.
Exercise: What kind of authentic text will best help your students learn the skill you have chosen for your listening exercise?