*If you’re already a pro at #AuthRes definitions, scroll on down to Language Tasks for the meat and potatoes of this post!*
#AuthRes
You might be asking yourself, “what is it and why do I care?” Authentic texts are “written by members of a language and culture group for members of the same language and culture group” (Galloway, 1998, p. 133, as cited in Glisan). You might say that #AuthRes are the ingredients in a language teacher’s pantry. There are two camps of interpretation of what exactly makes a text authentic: 1) the only texts written in the target language by native speakers and for native speakers camp and 2) the any texts written in the target language by any speaker for any learner camp. These two groups conjure heated debates defending their opinions. My stance? WHO CARES WHAT CAMP YOU’RE IN AS LONG AS YOU ARE CONVEYING COMPREHENDED MESSAGES?! That means I use a heavy dose of both. It’s a simple, 2-ingredient recipe. Texts written by native speakers are more complex and rich in their nature. Everyone agrees students need access to rich and complex language. Leveled texts written for targeted proficiency levels are more naturally understood by a language learner. Everyone also agrees that students need access to understandable language. (More information on authentic texts). I don’t know of many one-ingredient recipes. In fact, I don’t know of any. For the bread to rise you need yeast, for the onions to caramelize you need butter, for the cookies to bake properly you need sugar. For language acquisition to occur, you need understandable language in rich and complex contexts.
Texts are Anything at all the conveys a message!
- images
- news articles
- interviews
- songs
- food
- TV series
- movies
- menus
- commercials
- radio
- news
- newspapers
- websites
- blogs
- infographics
For me, the larger question is what kinds of tasks is a teacher providing for students? Are they asking novices to understand and communicate about every message in a movie? That is unrealistic. BUT, it doesn’t mean the teacher can’t share all or part of the movie in class in the target language.
Language Tasks
It’s not enough to just introduce structures to students. They need to DO something with the structures. Examples: novice low students can draw an image, novice high students can write a basic sentence, intermediate students can understand main ideas and communicate basic information and share an opinion. Keep in mind, however, that intermediate students are still novices at complex language. Use the appropriate task for the proficiency level. This means you don’t ask students to use complex language at the introduction. They will need to be able to recognize it before they can sort it, parrot it before using it in a survey, and be offered other highly scaffolded supports (chat mats?) before producing it. This means our job as teachers is to simplify the text in a way that learners can access it.
Intermediate students are still novices at complex language. Use the appropriate task for the proficiency level.
JJ Epperson
#AuthRes as a rich and complex text
My level 4 students are crazy into ¡Go! Vive a tu manera by Netflix right now. This is #AuthRes in and of itself. First my students begged to watch it every week. Then they “negotiated” watching it twice each week. Recently they “convinced” me to make it our curriculum. I will happily do this extra work – I’m riding this wave of engagement as long as it lasts. The is the first real sign of learning/school being important to students I’ve experienced in a looooonnnggg time.
Simplifying/leveling #AuthRes for comprehensibility
I could, and have in the past, stopped at making the show comprehensible. (For this series, I purchased comprehensible lessons from TPT that I altered for my students’ proficiency). This is one example of implementing my 2-ingredient recipe. However, since my students want MORE, I am adding more #AuthRes to make my #AuthRes more comprehensible!
Using #AuthRes to make #AuthRes more comprehensible
In ¡Go! there is a serious teenage boy power struggle that we are all familiar with as humans: Juanma and Álvaro both want to be the captain of the basketball team. I want to explore this theme of leadership and go deeper by providing more rich and complex language for my students. I’m keeping in mind that while they are at intermediate proficiency, they are novices in regards to the advanced language of this additional #AuthRes.
Here are the steps to my #AuthRes recipe:
- I found a short L2 video that describes what a leader is.
- To make that video more accessible to my students, as a previewing activity they will be identifying and sorting the characteristics mentioned in the video and giving personal opinions (yes/no) about real people and fictional characters as leaders.
- Students will answer questions about the video.
- Next, students fill in a chart, rating Juanma, Álvaro, and themselves using a variety of traits, write some simple sentences, and list their own leadership traits.
- Now that students have a little more access to the vocabulary, they will answer a handful of “why” and “how” questions using simple sentences.
- To inject a little fun, I found a “What kind of leader are you?” T/F quiz online. (Even more #AuthRes!) Students will answer the questions and tally their points. Their scores tell them if they are potential leaders.
- Lastly, students will go back to the text of the first three episodes of the show and cite scenes where Juanma and Álvaro demonstrate good/bad leadership traits.
I anticipate this will take up to 4 class periods to complete. Yay! A couple hours of work is going to keep my students in their L2 for days in a context they are enjoying. Not only are they reading leveled materials that are at their proficiency level, but they are also being exposed to rich and complex language. That’s what I call a smorgasbord of compelling cultural input!
There you have it, how I’m using authentic side texts to make my main authentic text more comprehensible.
