The role of authentic materials in teaching RCT: from literary texts to media resources

Gao Syueman' Lecturer, Department of Translation, Heihe University 95 Park Street, Heihe, Heilongjiang Republic, China, 164300 radik84@mail.ru

In the modern methodology of teaching Russian as a foreign language (RCT), interest in the use of authentic materials has always been high. The peculiarity of such materials lies in their direct orientation to native speakers, which makes them an invaluable tool for immersing the student in the natural language environment.

The formation of communicative competence is a key aspect of modern language teaching methods. This competence is not just limited to knowledge of language structures, but also includes the ability to process information, adapt it to your vision of the world and express your point of view in relation to the received data in the process of communication.

In addition, one of the tasks of learning a foreign language is the formation of an active position of the individual in understanding the universe. This aspect also implies an understanding of the cultural characteristics of the country of the language being studied and familiarization with its literature. Authentic materials can serve as a tool for the development of this communicative ability, taking into account the above aspects. And although the concept of using authentic materials is not new, its relevance is only increasing every year due to the rapid development of media technologies and globalization.

Authenticity in teaching RCT

In this article, we will consider the concepts of "authenticity", "authentic material", as well as various aspects of the use of authentic materials in teaching RCT, starting with classical literary texts and ending with modern media resources.

Within the framework of modern linguodidactics, the term "authentic learning" ("authentic learning") it began to gain popularity in European scientific circles in the late 1990s. Authenticity in this case is understood as one of the teaching methods that allows foreign students to interact at interpersonal and educational levels. These types of interaction correspond to real conditions and situations of communication and include a value component for students.

A lot of works by such methodologists as K.S. Krichevskaya, D. Harmer, G.I. Voronina, L. Lier, M. Brin and others are devoted to the problem of authenticity research in linguodidactics ^[1-5].

A.E. Aliyeva considers "authenticity" as one of the properties of the educational process or interaction, emphasizing that while working on authentic material, the tasks of the teacher include creating conditions for the natural communicative activity of students ^{[6, p. 60]}.

L. Lier suggests differentiating the types of authenticity, dividing them into:

-authenticity of the material, involving the use of specially adapted texts for the purpose of teaching the language;

-pragmatic authenticity, which is understood as the authenticity of speech influence;

-personal authenticity, which means that a foreign student is aware of the reason, purpose and result of communicative interaction in another language ^[4].

Researcher M. Brin, in turn, identifies another type of authenticity, called "text authenticity" and considers this type of authenticity one of the main ones in the process of teaching any language ^[5]. 

Following M. Brin, methodologists E.V. Nosonovich and R.P. Milrud emphasize the importance of authentic texts in the learning process and highlight various aspects of authenticity:

1. Cultural and historical authenticity — the choice of texts that provide students with an understanding of the key elements of everyday life, speaking the studied language in various contexts.

2. Information authenticity refers to texts that carry relevant information adapted to the age category of students.

3.        Situational authenticity is the creation of a real context for communication, as, for example, with the help of educational illustrations that are interesting for native speakers.

4.        The authenticity of the national worldview is the comprehension of the expediency of using specific expressions in the target language.

5. Emotional and cognitive authenticity — the choice of texts that can evoke a sincere emotional and intellectual response from students.

6.        Aesthetic authenticity is the preservation of the original format and style of the text in educational materials, which contributes to a better perception and understanding by students.

7.        Authenticity of assignments to texts — tasks that motivate students to actively work with the text and are based on the same principles as the situations they face in everyday life ^[7].

Thus, the concept of "authenticity" in the context of linguodidactics means the correspondence of methodological, substantive and individual aspects of language teaching to its natural application in the relevant linguistic community.

Features of authentic material

Authentic material in linguodidactics refers to any source of information in the language being studied, which provides the student with the opportunity to interact with the "real" language. In addition, authentic material serves as a kind of "bridge" between educational and real communication, allowing students to practice interpreting and using language in contexts close to everyday life.

At the same time, methodologists clearly distinguish the goals of creation, orientation, linguistic content and sources of authentic and inauthentic materials. The purpose of creating authentic material is real communication in a foreign language, and inauthentic materials are characterized by an educational goal. Authentic materials are aimed at developing students' communication skills, while inauthentic materials serve to consolidate the acquired grammatical, phonetic, lexical and other skills.

In foreign methods of teaching languages, the role of authentic texts is highly appreciated. Let's take a closer look at the terminology used to classify authentic materials in modern linguodidactics (Table 1).

Table 1.

Types of authentic materials

It should be noted that experts in the field of language teaching have not yet come to a consensus on the classification of authentic materials. Another classification option is proposed by researcher R.A. Valdeona Garcia, who distinguishes the following types of authentic materials:

-spontaneous (live speech of native speakers);

-artificial (created for educational purposes);

-authentic (created for native speakers and for students studying a foreign language) ^[8].

Despite the variety of classifications of authentic materials in the framework of language teaching, most language researchers believe that an authentic text is a true, genuine, original, authentic text.

After analyzing the methodological literature, which reflects different types of authentic materials, it was concluded that, in general, the following groups of authentic texts are distinguished in linguodidactics:

1.      Literary texts in the original language (novels, poetry, drama, plays).

2.      Printed publications (newspapers, magazines).

3.      Audiovisual materials (radio programs, TV programs, films).

4. Digital and Internet resources (blogs, forums, social networks, podcasts).

5. Advertising and informational materials (commercials, brochures, infographics).

6.      Household writing (personal correspondence, menus, tickets, posters) ^{[4, 5]}.

Within the framework of teaching RCT, different groups of authentic materials are used depending on the purpose of the lesson and the level of students' language proficiency. So, at the initial level, it is advisable to use visual material in the form of tickets, menus, simple advertising brochures, posters with inscriptions of several words, instructions. At more advanced stages, it is worth including in the lesson plan work on poems, texts from works of art, blogs, podcasts, a form, etc.

Functions of authentic materials

At the same time, the functionality of authentic materials, which is presented in Table 2, plays a rather important role in RCT classes.

Table 2.

Advantages and disadvantages of using authentic materials in RCT classes

Experts in the field of linguodidactics note both the advantages and disadvantages of working with authentic texts. The main advantages include:

-the ability to select the material necessary for RCT classes;

-authentic texts, as a rule, have different stylistic affiliation;

-authentic materials can be used when practicing skills in different types of activities;

-the opportunity to practice skills that may be needed in a real language situation;

-formation of ideas about Russian culture through work on authentic texts ^[10].

The disadvantages of using authentic materials in RCT lessons are as follows:

-emerging difficulties for students in understanding the material due to the difference in mentality and cultural realities;

-the effect of "rapid obsolescence" of information, which consists in the fact that authentic news materials lose their relevance quite quickly;

-selection of high-quality material, its processing and adaptation require serious time costs;

-in the case of working on audio or video materials, there is a possibility that the student will not understand some dialects or colloquial vocabulary;

-part of the language material in authentic texts may not correspond to the level of proficiency in Russian ^[11-12].

Also, the teacher often faces a dilemma about the expediency of using texts from literary works. Thus, researcher G. Hoffman k believes that the disadvantages of using such texts are the lack of interest of students in the complex linguistic content of the text of fiction, the difficulty in selecting suitable material due to outdated language forms, the difficulty in adaptation ^[9].

The issue of the use of audiovisual authentic materials in RCT lessons remains controversial. On the one hand, such materials create a situation of live communication in the classroom and contribute to the development of communicative competence. On the other hand, a student may not understand the lexical content of the material, so such materials need to be especially carefully adapted.

Internet resources proved to be the most effective in RCT classes, depending on the student's level. This trend is primarily associated with the rapid development of the Internet space and the interest of students in blogs, social networks, podcasts, etc. Also, in authentic materials taken from Internet resources, there is slang vocabulary, which is often found in real communication situations among native speakers of the Russian language.

Due to the variety of authentic material in the field of teaching RCT, methodologists have identified a number of selection criteria. Researchers E.V. Nosovich and R.P. Milrud recommend following the following principles when selecting authentic material:

-taking into account the age category of students;

-taking into account the relevance of cultural information, the realities of reality;

-a high degree of communication (authenticity) of the situation;

-the presence of various stylistic, grammatical, phonetic, lexical constructions in the materials;

-educational and aesthetic value ^[7].

As G.I. Voronina notes, the RCT teacher needs not only to select the material in accordance with these principles, but to be guided by the rule of authenticity of educational activity, that is, to follow new methods in the process of working with authentic material and use them in the course of classes ^[3].

Conclusions

After analyzing the role of authentic materials in the process of teaching RCT , the following conclusions were made:

-the concepts of "authenticity" and "authentic material" have become an integral part of the educational process of a foreign student;

-in modern linguodidactics, the question of classification of authentic materials still remains controversial;

Russian Russian language teacher, who uses authentic materials in the classroom, must comply with certain criteria, the specifics of working with such material, select material in accordance with the level of language training of the student, as well as find productive ways to explain the cultural realities of Russian reality.;

-according to the methodologists, the most effective is the inclusion of authentic materials selected on the basis of Internet discourse in the process of teaching Russian.