Enhancing English Learning with Authentic Internet Resources

Using Authentic Internet Resources in teaching English to NAF School Students Andrejs Vasilenko NAF Language School, Riga, Latvia

Definition of Authentic Materials The material which has not been especially designed for language teaching, but produced for purposes other than to teach language (Nunan cited in Blagojevic 2013) Materials that have been produced to fulfill some social purpose in the language community (Peacock cited in Berardo 2006)

Disadvantages Complex vocabulary Mixed grammar structures Too long/short Too culturally biased Time-consuming Levels at which authentic materials can be used

Advantages Content which is appropriate or interesting to the learners Exposure to real language (unscripted, natural) Opportunity to internalise vocabulary and grammar patterns in context Good for improving learners skills Same material can be used for a variety of activities

Criteria for Selection Suitability of Content Exploitability Readability Presentation (Berardo 2006)

Authentic Material Types that can be used for Military Students Army Field Manuals (i.e. FM 3-21.8 (The Infantry rifle Platoon and Squad)) Military magazines (i. e. Tactical Weapons) Articles on military topics in regular magazines (i. e. The Economist, Time etc.) Radio programs Podcasts (professional and amateur) YouTube videos (professional and amateur)

Adaptation Expertise Technical Recording and editing audio files (i. e. using the Audacity software) Text and picture formatting Linguistic Cutting/merging texts Designing language-based tasks Producing recording scripts manually Pedagogic Coherence (organisation of texts and tasks that is geared to the development of learners skills) Testing what has been learnt

Case Study: Design of a teaching material on the topic of Armed Conflict for Advanced Students Goals 1. Learn new vocabulary 2. Improve reading comprehension 3. Improve listening comprehension 4. Practice speaking on the given topic in formal context

Preliminary Activity Defining Types of Armed Conflict (based on Human Security Brief 2006) followed by Speaking Practice Why: to provide the learners with the necessary background information (the eternal question of form vs. content)

Pre-reading Activities Vocabulary list for the text Think Again: War. World peace could be closer than you think by Joshua S. Goldstein in Foreign Policy, August 15, 2011. Vocabulary Exercises Changing words with similar meanings in sentences (various sources) Gap-filling sentences in a connected text on the Sri Lanka Civil War (various sources) Speaking practice Asking and answering questions using new words

Reading Reading for specific details (multiple choice task) Follow-up Speaking Practice Post-reading discussion based on the questions to the text

Listening 1 Listening to Interview with Robert Muggah on Armed Conflict and Security (by Francesco Mancini) at Global Observatory (International Peace Institute) Task: filling gaps in sentences. Learners rely on the general information about armed conflict they have previously learned.

Listening 2 Pre-listening Activity Matching the potentially difficult words with the definitions Listening to an interview with Joshua Goldstein (Winning The War On War, The Conversation, KUOW 09/02/2011) Task: Filling gaps in the sentences in a summary of the conversation. The conversation is about the article which the students have already read, so their comprehension will increase.

Test Assignments Vocabulary Test Students fill gaps in sentences using the words from the vocabulary list. Goal: to test their comprehension of new vocabulary in context Individual Presentations Students prepare PowerPoint presentations on major armed conflicts in which they are required to use new vocabulary. Goals: to use new vocabulary in formal context to put to practice all the knowledge they have gained in the previous activities

Sources Consulted Al Azri, Rashid Hamed and Al-Rashdi, Majid Hilal. (2014) The Effect of Using Authentic Materials In Teaching . International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, Volume 3, Issue 10. Berardo, Sacha Anthony. (2006) The Use of Authentic Materials in the Teaching of Reading. The Reading Matrix. 6 (2): 60-69. Blagojevi , Savka. Original Texts as Authentic ESP Teaching Material The Case of Philosophy , In: Nadezda Sila ki (ed.) ESP today Journal of English for Specific Purposes at Tertiary Level , Vol.1, Issue 1. pg. 113-126. Howard, Jocelyn and Major, Jae. Guidelines for Designing Effective English Language teaching Materials. Seoul, South Korea: PAAL9, Oct 2004. In Proceedings of the 9th Conference of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics: 101-109. Kilickaya, F. (2004). Authentic materials and cultural content in EFL classrooms . The Internet TESL Journal, 10(7), 1 6. Rahman, Rubina.(2014) A Case for Authentic Materials in Language Teaching . The Dialogue, Volume IX, Number 2. Wu, et al., (2011) The Effect of Aural Authentic Materials on the Motivation of Language Learners: A Process-Oriented Conceptualization . The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol. 7, Num. 2.