Authenticity in Language Learning

Authenticity in Languaje Learning

Terms Authentic and Authenticity

In language learning context they are essentialy symbiotic

Their application to language leaning have been the subject of great controversy over the past three decades

The 'ideal' effective authonomous learner must utilize variety of authentic sources in his/her learning

The controversy about these terms is related to the appearance of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the 1970s

Authenticity

In the learning of languages, its appearance occurs from the predominant currents from three areas:

SLA (Second Language Acquisition) Research

Language Pedagogy

Sociological Area

Related to authentic texts that provide linguistically rich, culturally faithful and potentially emotional imput

In communicative and autonomous modes of learning, from the emphasis on 'real' language use, and from which the question of what is real, authentic, arises

Through ICT and the possibility they offer of an independent language learning

Historical Background

Some of the authentic text characteristics determined through discussion are: original communicative purpose, socio-cultural function and context, and activity or interactivity

The socio-cultural aspects of learning a language

According to Breen its application can concern to:

Authenticity of texts that we may use as input data for our students

Authenticity of the learner's own interpretations of such texts

Authenticity of tasks conducive to language learning

Authenticity of the acutal social situation of the language classroom

Authenticity of language use, is related to the RESPONSE OF THE LANGUAGE USER, and has a more universally agreed application that than of what constitutes an authentic text

Communicative Approaches

Materials-focused Approaches

Humanistic Approaches

Communication is both, the objective of language learning and the means through which the language is taught

Learning is centered principally around the text

Which address the whole learner and emphasizes the value of individual development

Communicative approaches were used in the earliest colonial contexts

Evidence shows that second language teaching took place among the Sumerians from around 2700 BC, when Arkkadian Semites conquered them and wanted to adopt the local language

Much of this early learning can be considered authentic in spirit, since it was no learned in academic situations with classrooms and specific materials for it

Roman education was bilingual from infancy

In the 16th century the pedagogical principle is given through an authentically communicative approach in the education of Michel de Montaigne

The current notion of the concept of communication in education, emerged in 1970

During the las hundred years, there has been a transformation of academic approaches, through the so-called 'natural', the 'direct' methodologies and the use of new technologies for learning

At 9th century in England, Latin was the international (European) language of communication, and authentic texts for language learning was used

There were attempts to imrpove the education of the common people by translating books to the vernaculars Old English and Anglo-Saxon.

Both, texts and methods of learning, may be defined as authentic

During Medieval times, the teaching method was the 'Scholastic Method', which sonsisted on breaking down words into their constituent parts.

There were not specially written texts for children, but were authentic texts, basic prayer books

In the mid-16th century, Roger Ascham developed a 'Double Translation' Method, in which learners translated the target language into the mother tongue, and then re-tralated their versions into the target language, using authentic texts like those of Cicero, in the process

In 1899, Henry Sweet talked about the 'Inductive Approach', in which, teachers should illustrate grammar with appropriate paradigmatic texts, that must be 'connected texts' or 'grammatically sequenced'

The 20th century was dominated by materials-focused approaches as the 'New Method' (1950), and methods that followed it, as: 'Oral Method', 'Situational Approach', the 'Direct Method' or the 'Audiolingual Method'

It can be considered as a reaction to the practice of rote-learning which pervaded the learning of Latin and Greek during the 16th century

During the 16th century, its main representative was Comenius, who advocated an ' Intuitive Approach', which used sensory experience as the starting point for language learning

These ideas influenced several 20th century approaches as:

Suggestoedia (Lozanov 1978): it's based on the assertion that the human brain can most easily process large quantities of new information when in a state of relaxation

Total Physical Response (TPR) (Asher 1977): as suggestopedia approach, is based on the belief that the brain processes information better in a state of relaxation

The Silent Way (Gateggno 1972): based on problem-solving and discovery learning.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Bandler and Grinder 1975): it's an approach for expanding self-awareness, fulfilment and communication capacity in all spheres of life

Learning Authonomy or Self-directed Learning: it's not an approach but a condition that involves the learner's psychological capacity self-direction, and which emphasizes resptect for the individualism of the learner