Vol. 4 Issue 34 – Research Paper: ‘The Use of Media Sources and Authentic Materials for Language Teaching in ESL Classrooms’ by Dr. Tungesh G.M.

 ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#34 | August 20, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036

This paper is submitted by Dr. Tungesh G.M., Associate Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Manipal-577547.

Introduction

This paper is an attempt to highlight the importance of using Media Sources and authentic materials in the ESL classrooms. These teaching materials, if they are used judiciously, will become useful teaching aids for developing language competency among the learners of English as a second language at various levels. The paper, however, focuses particularly on the use of three types of authentic materials which are available plenty in Indian Society – namely, pamphlets, brochures, itineraries, timetables, magazines and newspapers. This paper also briefly explains the benefits, the selection of authentic materials and the approach for language teaching.

Definition

Authentic materials can be defined as “real texts not written for language teaching purposes” (Julian 1997:27).These can include brochures ,circulars, pamphlets, notices, menus, instructional manuals, posters, advertisements, various kinds of magazines, newspapers as well as video clips, radio broadcasts and internet materials. These materials have been produced for some social or intellectual, and for business purposes in the community. Therefore, the language used is -‘real’ or authentic.

Approach

For using authentic materials for language teaching, a communicative approach (CLT) will be ideal as it opens up wider perspectives on language teaching. In particular, it makes us consider language not only in terms of structures but also in terms of the communicative functions that it performs.

A communicative approach to the content of a course need not involve abandoning the use of structural criteria for selection and sequencing. Mastery of the structural system is still the basic requirement for using language to communicate one’s meaning. However, a communicative approach encourages us to go beyond structures and take account of other aspects of communication.

Criteria

The criteria for using Communicative Approach are its features. They are:

1. The focus is on meaning
2. Contextualization is basic
3. Effective communication is sought
4. The process of struggling to communicate is stressed
5. Trial and error are accepted as natural and normal
6. Fluency is primary and accuracy is secondary
7. Students’ interaction and involvement are essential
8. Teacher acts as a motivator and facilitator
9. Judicious use of the mother tongue

Teachers’ role

This is very significant to notice in the ESL context that: “Teachers can no longer be regarded as possessing sacrosanct knowledge which they dispense in daily doses to their docile flock” (Maley:1986). Instead, we need to set up tasks and activities for students. It is very important that we need to subordinate our teaching behavior to the learning needs of students. The problems of the learners such as individual differences’ their ‘cognitive styles and strategies’ their ‘autonomy in the learning process’ will have to be taken care of , to the extent possible in the communicative classroom.

Students Role

Students ‘ initiative and interaction rather than teachers’ control is emphasized in CLT. The teachers role changes from freedom to responsibility. The communicative needs of the learners are analysed before designing a course for them. The materials aim at maximum efficiency and economy in the student’s learning. The students are exposed to a large number of situations and wide range of possible activities that are as real as possible.

Benefits

In ESL context, both the teacher and the learner can make use of these authentic materials as the sources for language teaching / learning. The teachers can benefit the use of authentic materials which can help to break the routine of using the textbooks or workbooks in the classrooms. And, for the learners, they serve to be their sources for language development, and collection of such materials and doing work with them will be a sound habit. They provide a welcomed variety if chosen and used appropriately and judiciously. These materials also provide opportunities for the learners to be exposed to ‘real ‘ language in use , thereby helping them to use ‘real’ language in meaningful contexts. The issues contained in these materials are more current, fresh, and relate more to learner’s needs. Students are, therefore, generally more motivated to use the materials. The nature of the materials can also support a more creative and critical approach to the teaching- learning approach. When students are interested in the topics , this can encourage them to read further. Hence, they can provide a valuable source of materials for language learning.

Selection

Care should to be taken by the teachers as they are the facilitators; and, the facilitating competence of the teacher is highly required as ‘authentic materials’ often contain difficult language with complex language structures and a vast range of vocabulary items that can present numerous difficulties for the ESL learners, especially those at lower proficiency levels. A careful selection of these materials for use in the class rooms is, therefore, very important .The teacher must select materials that are approximately pitched to the proficiency level of the class. As a general guide, select shorter texts or articles with simpler, less complex language. Use extracts from longer articles. Select topics that are likely to be of interest to the learners, too. Most of these materials contain a lot of visuals that can be used as interesting stimuli to generate language. Particularly, brochures, magazines and newspapers are readily available and teachers should look out for these and collect and compile them for use in the classrooms.

Tasks / activities

The tasks or activities using these authentic materials will certainly develop to a greater extent the learners’ language skills ( LSRW), communicative activities, and they also provide practice for grammar and vocabulary development. Some of the tasks can be adapted to suit the different target groups or proficiency levels. As a general guide, easier tasks can be developed for more difficult texts and more challenging tasks can be developed for easier texts. Some of the tasks or activities can be used for ESL learners ranging from Pre-University level to graduate level. While designing tasks, the teachers need to allow flexibility so as to make the task interesting and beneficial. For example, using the same picture stimulus, students of lower proficiency level are only required to write two or three sentences to describe the picture while those at higher proficiency can write more. Whenever possible, we need to make use of the coloured visuals found in these materials.

Approach

Meaningful language learning very often involves interaction among students. Therefore , the tasks or activities will best be carried out in pairs or small groups. In this way, more support is provided for the learners as they help one another to complete the given task. This will also reduce the time taken to complete the task, and the task becomes livelier as the learners interact with one another. It provides a real audience as some of these tasks have to be presented to the other groups. Students also gain confidence as they contribute their ideas and to speak to their peers in English. To enable the students to carry out the task or activity effectively, clear, precise instructions should be given. It is advisable that the teacher should not ‘over-correct’ or interfere too much when the students are in the process of doing the required task or activity. The teacher should go around facilitating the pair or group work and taking note of relevant points that can be given as feedback after the session.

Travel brochure

Using travel brochures for language activities is beneficial as they are easily obtainable. They are colourful and relevant to students’ interests. Maps and pictures of interest and their descriptions can be meaningfully exploited for language use. Careful selection of the suitable ones and using them for the language class is will be very interesting. Students can also be asked to collect these brochures.
Tasks / activities using travel brochures

1. Compare and choose one itinerary

Select two itineraries to the same place from a travel brochure ( e.g. 5 days Delhi / 6 days Sikkim). Read the itineraries and choose one, stating the rationale for your choice.

2. Design an itinerary for a day tour.

Identify a brochure. Then use the map, pictures and descriptions of places of interest to enable students to work in small groups to plan an itinerary for a day tour. Take into account the estimated travelling time and include opportunities to do some shopping and visits to nearby famous places.( e.g. A travel brochure of Delhi).

3. Complete tasks based on an extract read from a travel brochure.

Students read an extract in pairs. They can discuss and complete the tasks.

Examples: Identify words and phrases ( synonyms) from the extract.
List the activities mentioned in a mind map.
Design a page to advertise the place. ( pair/ group work)

4. ‘Places of interest’ card

Choose and read a brochure about a place you would like to visit or have visited. Select a few cut out pictures of places of interest. Write 2-3 sentences about each place / picture. Organize the information and the pictures in a card (A4 size) and fold the card in the middle.

5. Can you tell me?

Show various brochures of different places of interest. Learners work in small groups to formulate questions ( oral or written) that they would like to know about the place selected.

Example: Brochure of a National Park.
What can we do there?
What are the types of accommodation provided ?

Magazines

There are many types of magazines and they are usually available periodically, usually once a week / month. So the older issues can therefore be cut out and used in the classrooms. Magazines provide valuable sources of attractive, colourful pictures and these can be used as stimuli to generate language. The varied topics in the articles can also cater to the different interests of the students. Besides, collecting these articles and pictures , the teacher can encourage the students to have a collection of pictures and articles that are of interest to them.

Tasks/ Activities using magazines

1. Writing advertisement for a product.

Select an advertisement of a product from any magazine/ newspaper. Cut out the picture and rewrite phrases and sentences to advertise the product. This can be done in small groups and students can write and advertise several products.

2. Recommend a product advertised.

Select a product that you like (food, household item ,etc.) advertised in any magazine. Say why you like the product and recommend it to your group members.

3. Rationale for choice of vacation.

Find the location of the places mentioned in an article ( e.g. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands),
Using a relevant map, read the information in the article and then select one island that you would like to go for your vacation. State your rationale ( oral or written).

4. Read and talk about an article.

Use several one- page articles. Have two pairs in a group. Each pair is given an article to read. Jot down the main points / ideas. One person from each pair then takes turns to talk about what they have read in a few sentences to the other pair.

5. Information in graphic organizers.

Distribute an article to each group. Discuss and identify main information. Organise the information into graphic organizers.

6. Creative writing.

Identify some words from an article that the students have read. Discuss and create another piece of writing using the words selected. This can be in the form of a short paragraph or a poem.

Newspapers

Newspapers are the most easily available source of authentic material. If the necessity arises, multiple copies ( photocopied) of the same newspaper can be more easily obtained. The different sections of the newspaper – the headlines, the pictures, the cartoon strips, the advertisements, letters to the editor as well as the news article, or the reports can be exploited differently for language use. Numerous pictures can be coloured and some of the pictures with no colour can also provide interesting. Some unusual pictures may be used for generating language.

Tasks / Activities using newspapers

1. Write about a famous person

Select a picture of a famous person( e.g., Dr. Abdul Kalam).Write 2-3 sentences about him or her, and also write 2-3 questions you would like to ask to find out more about him/ her of your choice. ( e.g. what do you do during your leisure time?).

2. Creating a story based on a picture.

Select and cut out a picture. Study the picture and work in small groups. List down words to describe the picture. Give a title, and compare the ‘created’ story with the original story from the article.

Variation: chain story

Each group writes 1-2 sentence/s about the picture. The next group continues the story till all the groups have done so. The last group writes a conclusion to the story. Then compare with the original text.

3. Faces and feelings

Work in groups of 4-5. Cut out pictures of people showing different feelings ( e.g. happy, cheerful, angry, sad, distress, etc.). Select 1-2 pictures and describe how they feel and why they feel this way to the other groups ( e.g. The girl in the picture looks happy. She is laughing. I think she is having some fun with her friends. She is probably laughing at some humours remarks made, etc.)

4. Writing a short summary

Select an article that is likely to be of interest to the students. Work in small groups, read and identify keywords / phrases. Then write a 2-4 sentence summary about the article.

5. Headlines

Read a short news article and write a suitable headline. This can also be simplified by providing options for the headlines and students are required to choose the correct one. They may also be asked to read various articles of the same category (e.g. accidents) and match the various headlines to the correct articles.

6. Contextual clues from the headlines

Identify certain words from the headlines. Write a sentence based on the word selected.

Example: Headline-Four families made homeless after squatter houses demolished

Sentence- The old houses were demolished to make way for development.

7. Categorize words to form sentences

Each group is given a page from a newspaper. Identify, cut out and classify the verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc. from the headlines. Then, construct sentences from the selected words. Use the selected word only once. Set a time limit.

8. What‘s in the news?

Work in pairs and identify 5 headlines from today’s newspaper. Skim and scan these articles. Then write 2 sentences about each of the headlines selected.
……………………………………………..
………………………………………………
Variation: Instead of writing, students can talk about the news in a group.

9. Cartoon strips

Work in pairs to rearrange jumbled cartoon strips.
Then write a sentence or two about each cartoon strip.

10. Compile a scrap work

Collect articles and pictures about an event ( e.g. Tsunami) or according to themes ( e. g. famous people, weird stories etc.)

Conclusion

The tasks and activities above are just some practical examples of how authentic materials can be used for language development in the classrooms. Not only can they be used to develop reading and writing skills but also other skills as in listening, speaking as well as developing the learner’s grammar and vocabulary. As learners interact with real language content, learning is made more lively and meaningful. In this way, students learn to use the target language more effectively. As teachers gain confidence in using these materials, it is hoped that they, too, can come up with other activities and tasks that can make learning effective in their respective ESL classrooms. Nothing seems to be wrong in introducing communicative elements as one of the components in the present second language syllabus.

Appendix

An extract from a travel brochure of Mysore

Tasks

1. Locate words and phrases to describe Mysore.

2. Identify activities one can do in Mysore.
For each of the tasks above, present the information in a graphic organizer / mind map.

3. Locate synonyms from the article for the following words.
a) island
b) numerous
c) vacation

4. Give synonyms for the following words :

a) savour
b) purchase
c) interiors
d) located
e) venues

5. Work in small groups . Design a page to advertise a product. Cut out various pictures from brochures and write various phrases or sentences to include in the page.

References

1. Brumfit, C.J. 1979. The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching(ed) C.J.Brumfit and K. Johnson . O.U.P. London.

2. Carrol , B.J.1971. English for Colleges. Madras: Macmillan.

3. Grundy, P. Newspapers. Oxford University Press: New York, 1993.

4. Kelly et al. Effective Ways to Use Authentic Materials with ESL / EFL Students.2002.Retrived April 4, 2005 from< http: / / iteslj.org / Techniques / Kelly-Authentic.html.> .

5. Kagan,S.1995. Cooperative learning. Los Angeles: Kagan Publishing.

6. Maley, Alan.1999. Short and Sweet :Short Texts and How to Use Them.Penguin: London.

7. Skehan , p. 1997. ‘Task-based instruction’. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics.18: 268-86.