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

Abstract

The subject of the study is a corpus of authentic materials used in the process of teaching languages. The object of research is the varieties of authentic materials used in RCT classes. The purpose of the study is to analyze in detail the types of authentic materials, the concept of "authenticity", the pros and cons of using authentic materials, the criteria for selecting authentic texts in the process of teaching RCT. To achieve this goal, foreign and Russian works of well-known methodologists in the field of language teaching were analyzed, as well as studies devoted to the peculiarities of working with authentic material in RCT classes. The main research methods are comparative analysis, observation, and survey research methods. The study concluded that the concept of "authentic materials" is controversial in modern linguodidactics. Researchers classify authentic texts, depending on the goals and objectives of the learning process. Despite this, methodologists identify criteria, following which it is necessary to select authentic material for RCT classes and make the content of the lesson close to the situation of live communication. At the same time, the texts of Internet discourse have proven themselves most effectively in the framework of teaching RCT, since with their help the language competence of a foreign student is formed quite quickly. The novelty of the research lies in the possibility of applying its results in practice in the process of using authentic materials in RCT classes.