The Language Teacher
September 2001

Novel Ideas for Using Authentic Student-Generated Materials

Eleanor A. Kane

Hiroshima Bunkyo Women's University

<ekane@h-bunkyo.ac.jp>




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Key Words: Authentic texts, student-generated materials, reading, writing
Learner English Level: Intermediate and above
Learner Maturity Level: Senior high school and above
Preparation Time: None (or about one hour if one does the same homework in Japanese). Responding to students' notebooks: variable
Activity Time: 40-60 minutes


After attending a very interesting presentation on student-generated textbooks at JALT98 by Richard Humphries and Paul Borg, I wished to try some of their ideas using authentic texts in my own classroom, on the assumption that students would be more interested in materials they had chosen themselves. I decided to use authentic texts as they offer a wide range of interesting topics as well as providing rich examples of current English usage.

Procedure

At the beginning of the semester I asked students to find an English text from newspapers, magazines, or the Internet every week. They were asked to find a text relating to our textbook one week and to choose their own topic every other week. They were then asked to write down definitions for at least ten words, and write about 100 words in response to the text. In class they would work in small groups and explain their texts to each other. While students were presenting I would go from group to group, checking that the homework had been done, listening in, or participating.

Accordingly in the first two classes, students were asked to form small groups, explain their texts to each other in simple English -- verbatim reading was forbidden -- and to ask questions about the texts. Next students chose the most interesting text, or the person who had worked hardest, and that person presented her text to the class. Students who were chosen by their peers received 5% toward their final grade.

Problems and Solutions

Most of the problems and solutions which follow also relate to classrooms in general.

Problem 1: The first problem was that of student workload. Non-English majors complained of spending three or four hours a week on this homework, mainly because they couldn't find appropriate texts. Many students brought completely unrelated texts and claimed they had only realised the text was inappropriate after having spent several hours translating it.

Solution: This problem was dealt with by simply halving the amount of homework. Students were asked to find a text once a fortnight. I also persuaded more of them to use the Internet to find texts. In addition, I began to do the same homework as the students but in Japanese. I exchanged my notebooks with students, for them to comment on and correct. At that point, I realised just how hard the homework actually was!

Problem 2: Exploiting the texts in the same way each week seemed rather stale after two attempts. Humphries and Borg had used their students' texts to spark discussions and for writing exercises but my students' English was not so advanced. I wanted to continue small group work, which most students seemed to enjoy and could do well, without having them do the same thing each week.

Solution: This second problem was dealt with by varying the group patterns. Sometimes I manipulated who sat with whom, as suggested by Klippel. In one class I gave each group a ball of string. Every time a student spoke English she had to take the string so that a web was created among the students. That week the student who spoke the most, as evidenced by the amount of string, presented her text to the class. In some classes, students were asked to sit in two concentric circles facing their desks toward each other. The inner circle students remained static while the outer circle students moved to the next seat every three or four minutes. In this way they were able to present their texts about 10 times and hear another 10 students' texts. Then the "best" students, as chosen by their peers from both the inner and outer circle, presented to the class as a whole. The following class was done using buzz groups: students presented in their own groups, and then formed a group with one student from each of the other groups. Next they summarised their original groups' texts; finally students chose whose presentation they would like to hear. In another class, students chose the best text from their small groups and each chosen student was asked to go to a different corner with her notebook. The teacher then told the class what topics had been chosen and students decided whose presentation they would like to listen to most and went to the corresponding corner. No doubt there are many more ways to exploit the texts with lower-level learners and I would be grateful for any suggestions.

Problem 3: The same students seemed to be contributing well each week while other students failed to participate.

Solution: This problem was addressed through the grading system. The notebook was to count towards 49% of a student's final grade, i.e., seven points for each of the seven entries. Students were also required to write down a question for each other member of their group and this was also checked when notebooks were submitted. Students also gained points towards their final grade by asking a question to the student who presented at the front of the class; therefore students knew that it was in their best interests to practice a few questions in small groups.

Problem 4: Texts taken from the Internet were often poorly written.

Solution: This problem was solved by requiring students to search only certain Internet sites, such as newspapers and magazines. Homepages were not to be used.

I have found that students are meticulous about their notebooks and enjoy having them as a record of their study. Notebooks were collected and read every second week.

Exploitation of the texts takes at least 40 minutes per class, longer if concentric circles are used. As I am not required to prepare anything for this part of the class, I find that I am able to plan more labour-intensive activities for the remainder of the class, or to use this extra time to read students' notebooks.

References

Klippel, F. (1984). Keep talking. Cambridge University Press.

Humphries, R. & Borg, P. (1998). Content and creation: Student-generated textbooks. Paper presented at JALT98.



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