Use of authentic material beneficial to the learning process
Checking out the literature for proof that our choices were valid, especially concerning the use of videos with real conversations, we found out that in the recent years it is a general consensus in language teaching that the use of authentic materials in language learning classes can be proven beneficial to the learning process. Even though by authentic materials is usually meant the use of text or audio, we will use these examples to support the use of videos in our app with real life conversations. Moreover we will support here through examples the fact that visual representations enhance the learning process as well.
In [1] it is clearly stated that it is of high importance a student’s capacity to develop effective skills in order to be able to communicate and participate well in real world situations. By giving students authentic materials they feel more motivated for learning since they believe that they are learning the “real” language. That’s why all kinds of tasks given should relate to “real world” situations. Another thing that plays a distinctive role is to use that kind of material that will engage learners’ interests by being relevant to their concerns. In this way learners can develop receptive competence and true confidence to deal with authentic situations. The fact that real conversations could be difficult for lower level learners can be overcome partially by adding features like the one used in our app, the vocabulary. In this way they could expand their knowledge and giving that they are watching videos relevant to their interests the task should still be motivating for them, even if they don’t fully understand everything being said.
In [2] Generally, the use of authentic materials is supported as well. Their usefulness for language learning is emphasised as at first they provide a positive effect on the motivation of students in the sense that they encourage them to read for pleasure at least some topics that interest them after heaving heard some things on different topics. Moreover given that the learning materials are chosen appropriately and dealt with effective learning strategies, learning about the culture of the target language can be very useful. Coming closer to the culture of a country makes people understand better why and how some things are being said in a certain way for instance which may be different than the one in their country. In general cultural content can add to the learner receptive skills and general communicative competence. The sources available nowadays are much more than just printed materials, so some sources that could be used for information are mentioned to be videos and real discussions, which are the two things that our app is based upon. Putting into practice real life situations for learnings may help students to relate better the tasks to their needs and the reasons why they decided to learn the language. In the paper it is also stated that providing challenging tasks meaning of a higher level of the one the students are is not advised, which is why we chose to put levels in the app to indicate if a video is appropriate according to someone’s progress, but beyond that providing challenging tasks can be proven beneficial in a limited context. Most of the teachers throughout the world agree that authentic texts or materials are beneficial to the language learning process, but what is less agreed and remains to be examined further is when authentic materials should be introduced and how they should be used.
In [3] it is stated that language teachers acknowledge that even the best technology cannot provide the high degree of interaction required to acquire meaningful proficiency in a foreign language. This is why through authentic materials the receptive skills of a students can be improved especially when using apps which include “technologically enabled possibilities supporting a text or script” such as the user interaction features that are offered in our app, along with the controls over them by playing or pausing for instance, the ability to add vocabulary or use captions for the entire video as well as of combined videos and scripts.
In [4] the study being done on French language through listening comprehension materials proves that for better comprehension students should combine relevant written as well as pictorial information from annotations organising the information into coherent verbal and visual mental representations in order to build referential connections between them and create a mental model. This way learning is more effective and results to stick into somebody’s head we could say. The use of comments in our app as well as the use of the vocabulary enhance the learning process of just listening and watching the video because they complete the information missing. In the case where captions are added the experience helps the user reach a higher level of understanding.
To sum up the use of authentic materials is proven to develop comprehension along with the fact that they can motivate and encourage learners to engage with a language, given that the material is on the appropriate level so that learners are not demotivated. The addition of annotations can significantly add to the effectiveness of authentic learning materials and even when more difficult content is used engaging through continuous annotating/suggesting can be proven highly beneficial for them and the community.
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