Ways of preparing self-directed tasks based on Authentic Materials
Ø What is Authentic Materials?
According to V.J. Cook, “Authentic materials are examples of language produced by people for some real purpose of their own, rather than the language produced and designed solely for the classroom”.
To create a realistic
communicative classroom environment, authentic materials are useful because the
language that these materials use is used for some real purpose. In this way,
authentic materials expose the learners to real life situations. Authentic
materials expose the learners to the language that is used by the native
speakers of the language in different situations. The learners are motivated
when they come to know that they are trying to learn real language, a language
that is used for communication in real life. The language of a novel or a poem
that they learn in the classroom cannot be used for communication. Therefore,
they feel motivation when they come across such communicative language as in
authentic materials. But it must be accepted that the language of authentic
materials is not always communicative. Therefore the teacher or the material
producers must be very careful in the selection of authentic materials.
Material producers can change the language a little bit, if the language is too
difficult for the students, and the students cannot communicate using that
language. Material producers can make major changes if necessary.
Ø Kinds of Authentic Materials
There are different kinds of authentic materials. They are as under:
· Wrappers
· Cartoons
· Advertisements
· Graphics
· Tickets
· Notices
· Time-tables (Railway,
School, Airlines, Bus)
· Postal and bank stationary
· Minutes of meetings
· Stocks and shares
applications, annual reports of various companies
· Cards (Wedding, Greetings,
Visiting, Menu, Birth, Announcements, Invitations, Identity etc.)
· Pictures
· Articles
· Pamphlets
· Currency notes
· Letters
Ø Sources of Authentic
Materials
The sources from where one
can find authentic materials are newspapers, magazines, post-office, bank etc.
From newspapers one can find short news items, advertisements, graphics,
cartoons and letters to editors. From magazines one can find short articles,
illustrations, graphics and advertisements. Wrappers of all commodities can also
be used as authentic materials. Various kinds of forms of banks and post-office
can be used as authentic materials.
Ø
Kinds of Exercises
Based on selected authentic
materials, different kinds of exercises can be prepared to teach the students.
One can prepare blank filling exercises to teach the students language points
such as articles, prepositions, tenses, etc.; jumbled sentences to teach word
order and completion exercises to check the students’ memory. Questions with
multiple choice and questions without choices can be given to the learners. The
teacher can give true or false sentences and also matching exercises. Cloze
paragraph also can be given to the students.
Ø
Ways of preparing self-directed tasks
To prepare a self-directed worksheet
on a wrapper, the teacher can give fill in blank exercises, true or false
sentences. The students can be asked to rewrite the sentences written on the
wrappers in their own words. They can be given jumbled sentences to teach them
word order. If the instructions for use are given in the wrapper, the teacher
can jumble up those sentences and ask the students to arrange them in order.
The teacher can ask questions about the name, weight, price etc. of the
product.
If the teacher wants to
prepare a worksheet using a currency note, he can ask questions about the
serial number, emblem, and pictures of the note. If the teacher uses a railway
ticket, he can ask about the name of the train, number of people traveled,
their age, sex, money paid etc.
To use an identity card for
self-directed learning, the teacher can give all the necessary information
along with unnecessary information in a passage. The learner will be asked to
fill in the blank identity card after reading the passage. In the same way, various
forms of bank or post office can be used. Another way of using an identity card
is that the teacher gives an identity card with all the information filled up
and then asks the students questions about the person whose information is
given in the identity card.
For a wedding card, the
teacher can ask such questions as whose son is getting married, whose daughter
is getting married, when is the wedding, which is the place etc. The teacher
can select a picture from magazines or newspapers and ask the students to write
a composition. The learners can be asked to make a pair and talk about the
picture.
To use an article, for
self-directed worksheet, the teacher can ask multiple choice questions or
questions without choices. The teacher can give vocabulary exercises also. For
this, one word should be given and under that word four options should be
given. The teacher can ask the students to complete a table or sentences.
Ø
Advantages of Authentic Materials
Authentic materials will
give the learners an experience of real language, i.e. communicative language.
It is the kind of language that foreigners use to speak in their daily
life. When the students come to know about it, they will try to use authentic
materials as much as they can because they want to use their target language in
their daily life. In addition, authentic materials will give the learners a
chance to exploit the available materials in the self-resource centre.
Authentic materials give the learner hidden practice of language points. It
doesn’t directly tell what it teaches. Therefore the students learn
unconsciously.
The most important point is
that authentic materials are easily available. So the material producers can
produce self-directed learning worksheets very easily and the students can use
it easily.
Ø
Criteria for Selection and Use of Authentic Materials
Authentic materials can be
used for the students of various levels: beginners, intermediate and advanced
level. Authentic materials are selected according to the language of the materials,
and the needs interests and age of the students. The tasks of authentic
materials should be learner centered. The materials should give clear and
simple instructions so that the learners do not get confused and they can
understand what they are supposed to do.
The teacher should select
such materials that give more learning and need less effort. The teacher should
select such materials that have variety of subjects. The teacher may need to
transform the materials and change it according to the culture of the learners.
Thus the materials should be culturally appropriate for the learners. Apart
from these, the materials should be error free. If there is an error in the
authentic materials, it must not be selected for self-directed learning.
Otherwise, it will give wrong exposure to the learners.
Bibliography
¯ Fun with Letters and Words.
(V.V.
Nagar: Gurjar: 1999)
o
Nusrat
Kadri
¯ Self Instruction in Language
Learning
(Calcutta:
Cambridge: 1987)
o
Leslie
Dickinson