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“Young Scientist” . # 8 (112) . April 2016 Education «objectify» the target language as something completely un- familiar to the learner. This objectification of the language in relation to the learner has perhaps been encouraged by a narrow definition of what the object of learning actually is, and by an incomplete view of what the learner has to offer. We have tended to see the target only in terms of «linguistic competence» or textual knowledge, and we have limited such knowledge to the level of syntax without reference to structure above the sentence. Thus, ideational and interper- sonal knowledge, which textual knowledge and from which textual knowledge evolves, have tended to be overlooked or neutralised.» However, the use of authentic text in the classroom may bring the learner and the knowledge together because the learner is lifted from the confinements of traditional and more recent methodologies to become an intricate part of the lan- guage learning process. Authentic text also appears to supply the essential input needed to increase learner awareness of language usage in written and spoken mediums and decrease reliance on ped- agogic language rules, which may be viewed as inadequate since they are simplifications of language usage. Likewise, authentic text may provide an alternative to outdated text- books, which may not meet the needs of learners, and pro- vide learners with the various genuine texts they need to aid and improve reading comprehension. Traditional teaching mainly consisted of teaching patterns and excluded the learner from being involved in the learning process. The Classical Method had a «focus on grammat- ical rules, memorization of vocabulary and of various declen- sion and conjugations, [as well as] translation of texts, [and] doing written exercises,» (Brown,1994: 16) which was adapted from the teaching of Latin grammar. Eventually, the Classical Method became known as the Grammar Transla- tion Method. The only difference was a «focus on grammat- ical rules as the basis for translating from the second to the native language.» (Brown, 1994: 16) Eventually, the Au- diolingualism Method came into practice. It stressed «the mechanistic aspects of language learning and language use» (Richards and Rodgers, 1986: 61) by utilizing pattern prac- tice and structural drilling. While all these methods may be beneficial to lower-level learners, the teaching of patterns ex- cludes the learner from taking an active role in the learning process. It also excludes learners from learning about all the other grammatical uses of words or language not considered in the lesson and seeing familiar grammatical forms with new usage. To sum up, we could state that both extremes are obvi- ously not useful for our purposes. What we need, there- fore, are texts which students can understand the general meaning of, whether they are truly authentic or not. But texts -whether authentic or not- must be realistic models of written or spoken English. If teachers can find genuinely authentic material which their students can cope with, that will be ad- vantageous; if not, they should be using material which sim- ulates authentic English. According to Ur (1996: 150), «the use of «authentic» texts with less proficient learners is often frustrating and counter-productive». As a result, from this statement we can infer that the use of simplified texts is usu- ally more effective at earlier stages of learning. Therefore, we should always make the text appropriate to the level of the learners. Ultimately we should encourage our students to be able to deal with authentic reading material that any native speaker would find in real life. However, this is not always possible; as a consequence, what we should do is make some attempts to select tasks that approximate to those we might do in real life. Finally, we will present the main points that can be in- ferred from our presentation on the use of authentic written material: 1. Authentic material should be used in the teaching of English so that our students get used to real English. 2. Teachers must be extremely careful when selecting this material since students might feel disappointed if the text is too difficult to understand. We must bear in mind that students will expect to understand as much as possible, no matter how strongly we insist on the fact that this is not nec- essary. 3. Therefore, we might need to adapt this material to suit the needs of our students, which can be of various types, as indicated before. 4. Adapting material does not mean to falsify its con- tents or structure. It means to use it to the advantage of our students and to focus on certain features of the language. References: 1. Brown H. Douglas. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Prentice Hall Regents 1994 2. Carter R. A. Vocabulary: Applied Linguistic Perspectives. Routledge 1987 3. Chalker S. «Pedagogical Grammar: Principles and Problems» in Bygate et al (eds.) Grammar and the Language Teacher. Prentice Hall International 1994 4. Ellis R. and Hedge «Second Language Acquisition research: how does it help teachers? An interview with Rod Ellis.» ELT Journal 47 / 1 1993 |