Socio-economic changes that have occurred and are occurring in our country have led to a decisive revision of the place and role of a foreign language in the life of society. The change in the status of a foreign language in the school system has influenced the rearrangement of priorities in the work of foreign language teachers. The problem of teaching foreign language at school is currently relevant. It is known that the purpose of teaching a foreign language is the formation of communicative competence, which includes both linguistic and sociocultural competence. Learning a foreign language is intended to form a person who is able and willing to participate in intercultural communication.
In accordance with the new objectives, the task of a foreign language teacher is to provide conditions for familiarizing the student’s personality with a foreign language culture and preparing it for effective participation in the dialogue of cultures. Therefore, in a foreign language lesson, a special place should be given to such forms of employment that ensure active participation in the lesson of each student, stimulate verbal communication, and contribute to the formation of interest and desire to learn a foreign language.
One of the ways to solve these problems is to use authentic materials. Studies by a number of authors, like Voronina G.I., Krichevskaya K.S., Nosovich E.V., Milrud O.P., they say that working with various types of authentic materials contributes to the increase in communicative-cognitive motivation, forms linguistic-cultural and intercultural competence, has a positive effect on students' personal-emotional state, provides the possibility of simultaneous access to language and culture.
In recent years, much attention has been paid to the problem of authenticity in the methodology of teaching a foreign language. Translated from English, "authentic" means "natural." This term is most often used to describe texts and other materials used in the lesson. However, the problem of authentic materials used in teaching foreign languages causes a lot of controversy.
The concept of "authentic materials" has recently appeared in the methodology of teaching a foreign language. The term “authentic materials” almost completely replaced the term “original materials” in modern domestic and foreign methods.
There are a number of approaches to the interpretation of authenticity in the method of teaching a foreign language, but the traditional interpretation is considered to be the authentic materials that are materials created by native speakers and found their use in the educational process oriented to communicative approach to learning a foreign language outside the native language environment [1].
Authentic materials are materials taken from original sources, which are characterized by natural lexical content and grammatical forms, situational adequacy of the language tools used, illustrates authentic word usage cases, and which, although not intended specifically for educational purposes, can be used in teaching foreign language.
Authentic materials are classified as follows:
− Authentic printed materials - programs, telephone directories, books, comics, lyrics, newspaper articles, notes, tourist brochures, checks, tickets, etc.
− Authentic audio - advertising and broadcasts on radio, audio books, songs, etc.
− Authentic audiovisual materials - TV commercials, television shows, clips, feature films and documentaries, animated films, news programs, etc.
− Authentic visual materials - paintings, slides, stamps, illustrations, road signs, photographs, postcards, labels, etc.
− Realities (objects) - coins, cash, masks, toys, etc.
E.V. Nosovich and R.P. Milrud distinguish the following criteria of authenticity:
− cultural authenticity - implies familiarity with the culture countries of the language being studied, with the peculiarities of life and mentality of their citizens;
− information authenticity - suggests the presence of a new information that should interest the recipient;
− situational authenticity - suggests the naturalness of the situation, the interest of native speakers to the stated topic, the naturalness of its discussion;
− authenticity of the national mentality - reflects the national the specifics of the country for which the material is intended;
− reactive authenticity is the ability of a text to trigger authentic emotions, mental, verbal response. To reactive authenticity include various means: interjections, exclamation sentences, rhetorical questions, reinforcement structures;
− the authenticity of the design - in audio text is a sound series: noise transport, conversations of passers-by, phone calls, without this work with text loses the properties of real communication.
So, Krichevskaya K.S. refers to authentic materials authentic literary, folklore, pictorial, musical works, objects of reality, such as clothes, furniture, dishes and their illustrative images.
Materials of everyday life in an independent group: pragmatic materials (ads, questionnaire questionnaires, signs, labels, menus and bills, maps, advertising brochures on tourism, recreation, goods, work vacancies, etc.), which are accessible and every day the applications appear to be quite significant for creating the illusion of familiarizing the native speakers with the habitat and their role an order of magnitude higher than the authentic textbook texts, although they may be inferior in volume.
The concept of “authentic materials” also includes audio- and audiovisual materials, such as informational radio- and television programs, news reports, weather forecasts, informational announcements by radio at airports and railway stations. The use of such materials seems to us extremely important, as they are an example of a modern foreign language and create the illusion of participation in the daily life of the country of the language being studied, which serves as an additional incentive to increase student motivation.
Authentic materials can belong to different areas depending on their use:
1) Educational and professional communication.
2) Socio-cultural communication environment.
3) Household communication.
4) Commercial and commercial communication.
5) Family household communication.
6) Sports and fitness communication.
The informational teaching function of authentic materials is expressed in the fact that they create a speech pattern (pronunciation, intonation, lexical and grammatical), recreate the conditions of natural speech communication, displaying any spatial and temporal situations, both real and imaginary in any sequence, transmit information about the country of the language being studied, which makes it possible to more clearly present the situation described in the text. The organizing and controlling function is manifested in the fact that authentic materials provide "Presence effect" or "participation effect" to stimulate speech activity, contain an enormous motivational power. The integrative function is expressed in the fact that authentic materials can serve as a bundle between the parts of the lesson and contribute to streamlining and systematization of the training stages. Illustrative visual function is manifested in the fact that authentic materials are a synthesis of all types of visualization (visual, auditory, motor, mixed, language, situational-model, subject, figurative, etc.), serve as a means of distant immersion in the natural environment at all stages learning, thereby partially compensating for its absence. The developmental function is more expressed in enhancing students' cognitive activity, increasing the role of the independence factor, developing personality traits such as observation, imagination, attention, thinking, language memory, development of skills in all types of speech activity, creative activity of students, which is characterized by knowledge transfer and skills in a new situation. The educational-heuristic function is realized in nurturing a sense of respect for the people and culture of the country of the language being studied, the awareness of anyone unusual, alien, stereotypes arising from the perception of another culture, the urge to compare the characteristics of the culture of the country of the studied language and native culture.
References:
- Krichevskaya K.S. Pragmatic materials acquainting pupils with the culture and habitat of the inhabitants of the country of the language being studied // Foreign Languages at School .1996. №1.
- Gebhard J.G. Teaching Self-Development and Methodology Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1996.
- Galskov N.D., Gez N.I. Theory of Teaching Foreign Languages: Linguodidactics and Methods. - 2nd ed., - M .: Academy, 2005.
- Nosonovich E.V., Milrud R.P. Parameters of authentic educational text // Foreign languages at school. 1999. №1 p. 18-23.
