Authentic video materials in teaching a foreign language

This article refers the necessity of knowledge of a foreign language, as well as knowledge about the country of the language being studied, dictated by the requirements of modern society, is emphasized. Creating a real situation in foreign language classes is an absolute necessity today. Article shows the solution to this problem in the use of authentic video materials. This article based on the analysis of the researchers` views on the problem of authenticity of the material, the author substantiates the idea that the emphasis should be placed on the authenticity of the material, immersion in the environment in which communication takes place.

Key words: authentic materials, video materials, teaching, motivation.

The current level of development of society requires a high quality of teaching a foreign language in school, which, in turn, requires a thorough search for effective methods of teaching a foreign language. New technologies in the education system open up new opportunities to improve the quality of education, but at the same time they impose increased requirements on the professional competence of the teacher. The task of education and upbringing of a student who is comprehensively developed and prepared for life and interaction in the modern society can be solved only by a teacher who can use modern educational technologies and methods of teaching. The analysis of methodological problems of teaching a foreign language revealed a great potential for attracting authentic materials as a means of teaching English. This fact determines the relevance of the chosen research topic. It took more than a decade for the phrase “language training” to be replaced by another definition of “teaching a foreign language speech”, and then- “teaching a foreign language communication”. The end of XX century with its powerful computerization, satellite television and the rapid development of electronic means of communication, it gradually began to turn the Earth into “a communicative and multicultural communal apartment” in which all countries are highly dependent on each other and without their ability to cooperate with each other and find joint solutions to global problems, the prospects for human development are very problematic. That is why, on the threshold of the new millennium, ideas about teaching intercultural communication as one of the necessary goals of learning a foreign language arose quite quickly.

Learning a foreign language is understood not as mastering certain “skills”, not only as gaining knowledge about language structures and the rules of their use, but as students` perception of the relationship of the content side of the language with the country and the people who speak this language. The study of a language together with the knowledge of the culture of the people speaking it is considered an integral component of effective teaching of foreign languages, since it is impossible to master a language without reference to the subject and social world of another culture. This is the importance of learning a foreign language using authentic materials that include background information, which subsequently contributes to such a successful and adequate formation of communicative competence.

Currently, there are several approaches to determining the essence of authentic materials. Herrington & Oliver (2000) give the definition for authentic materials like “this term is directly related to the students` real life and prepares them face and deal with real world situations”. At the same time, Ferit Kilickaya (2004) described authentic materials “authentic materials are exposure to real language and its use in its own community”. Also, he said that a lot of teachers argued about that English presented in the lessons should be authentic, not created for instructional purposes. It is means that authentic materials are materials that involve language naturally occurring as communication in native speaker context of use or maybe selected contexts where standard English is the norm: everyday newspaper reports, articles, recipes and advertisement and etc. J.Harmer (1999) explained that “authentic materials as materials which are designed for native speakers of the language”. According to Carter & Nunan (2001) suggested that authentic materials “are ordinary texts and they are not produced specifically teaching purposes”.

Richard West defined reasons why it is worth using authentic materials in teaching a foreign language:

1. Authentic materials are more convincing than invented ones;
2. They are more interesting, because they bring the real world to the class;
3. They provide an environment for practice, research and use of target language;
4. Authentic materials do not require isolated skills but their combination and integration;
5. They are written in an uncomplicated language they give samples of original language;
6. They present the learner with a whole language and not pieces selected in accordance with the program;
7. Authentic audio materials show that native speakers do not always speak grammatically perfectly;
8. Authentic materials allow students to compare their language skills and the requirements of real life;
9. They take students outside the textbook and require independent work;
10. They contain information about the society using the target language and its cultural and historical heritage;

J. G. Gebhard offers the following classification of authentic materials:

1. Authentic audiovisual materials-television advertising, feature films and documentaries, TV shows, cartoons, music videos, news;
2. Authentic audio materials-audiobooks, songs, radio broadcasts and etc;
3. Authentic visual materials-paintings, photographs, slides, signs, stamps and illustrations;
4. Authentic printed materials- newspaper articles, song lyrics, brochures and receipts, tickets and etc;
5. Realities (objects)-coins, masks, toys, etc;

Video technologies first became available in the late 1970s and only few years later, video materials began to be developed specifically for teaching a foreign language. After another 20 years or so, video became more widely used as teaching tool. Nowadays, we have access to satellite and cable television programs, many of which are broadcast in a foreign language, which provides excellent opportunities for the development and improvement of various skills. However, many students and even teachers have no idea how to use these resources to improve their language proficiency. Therefore, the possibilities that audiovisual means have should be used correct, which requires an appropriate methodological system.

First of all, the materials must pass a strict selection in accordance with the existing criteria. One of the most important advantages of video materials their authentic, lively, unprepared speech, as well as their informative nature (video materials can be diverse: from texts of regional studies and feature films to special technical video materials on the studied specialties). The most important criteria when choosing a video material are the duration and completeness of the video fragment, language content, as well as the quality of the video material. Next, we will formulate the goals of using the video materials. The functional purpose of this type of “pragmatic materials” can be different. They can be used:

— To acquire regional knowledge;

— For the development of semantic and linguistic guesswork and comparative skills, value judgments and for social orientation;

To achieve these goals, the following system of work is proposed, which is divided into 3 stages: preparatory, film viewing and final. At the first stage, grammatical, lexical and phonetic difficulties are removed, new language material contained in the video material is introduced, as well as other language forms that can be used in this situation. For example, if the title of the video material is not given from the beginning, then after watching the episode before the title, students can be asked to guess about the genre of this video material and its name. The second stage is watching the video material. At this stage, viewing using a freeze frame is applied. It is recommended to view a fragment without an image- the perception of authentic material by ear in order to predict where and under what conditions this situation occurs. In groups with a low level of language proficiency, it is possible to suggest the use of a text with omissions for this task, in order to remove language difficulties. The third stage is control of the understanding of the speech information of the video material- answers to questions, drawing up tables and tests (students with a low level of proficiency are offered Right/False tasks), drawing up a plan and filling in gaps, retelling of the contents, a comment on what they saw, a discussion, a role-playing game based on unprepared speeches and the ability to conduct an independent dialogue. Also at this stage, it is important to establish common features and differences. Discussion of these differences in order to form a benevolent or tolerant attitude to a different culture and understanding of the mentality.

The analysis of educational and methodological literature and our own practice have shown that authentic video materials have great potential for solving educational tasks. The reliance on authentic video materials creates favorable conditions for the learner to master new country-specific information, the speech behavior of native speakers, contributes to the acquaintance of students with the life of the people, its culture. The “presence effect” and “participation effect” are born, which contributes to increasing the interests of students in the perceived material, which undoubtedly affects the quality of their speech, emotional coloring. In addition, this is the way to bring the training sessions as close as possible to the natural communication and these are the conditions where memorization goes involuntarily, without exerting any pressure. Their advantage is also that they stimulate almost genuine communication: students seem to live through all the events, play certain roles, solve problems, satisfy their cognitive interests. Thus, their role is an order of magnitude higher than authentic texts from textbooks, although they may be inferior to texts in terms of the volume of country-specific material. This significantly increases the motivation of students and language training for international professional communication, develops listening skills, allows you to increase the volume and level of educational material in the time allotted for classes.

References:

1. Gebhard J. G. Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1966.-p53–54
2. Stempleski.S. Short takes: Using Authentic Videos in the English Classes. 1987. p23.
3. Зимняя И. А. Психологическая характеристика студента и ее учет в обучении иностранному языку. Изд-во Моск. Унвр-та, 1987. — № 5. — ст 70–74.