Much has been written about the importance of using so-called 'authentic' materials in language learning (Clarke, 1989). The term authentic has been used loosely to mean any kind of communicative language use, where meaning is genuinely being communicated. Thus, for example, a recording of a programme from Spanish radio is 'authentic' because the radio programme represents genuine communication for a Spanish-speaking audience. The argument goes that genuine communicative acts are structured in typical ways: language is used differently, depending on the communicative intent of the speaker. In order to ensure that our learners pick up on how language is used communicatively, they should only be exposed to genuine communication. Yet one may wonder what is genuine about expecting English students of Spanish to engage with the 'genuine' communication of a radio broadcast which has been structured for a very different audience.

TV and radio broadcasts often strongly reflect their intended audience in assuming shared cultural knowledge, but this cultural knowledge may not be available to the non-native speaker. This may in fact be a strong reason for using such authentic recordings, but the teacher will need to find some way to compensate for the likely lack of background knowledge.

Example: A news report on a cycling demonstration in Paris

Most of TF1's audience will recognize immediately that the introduction to the item borrows humorously from the famous introduction to the Astérix cartoon books. But non-native speakers are likely to find the first six seconds of this news item totally opaque.

An alternative interpretation of 'authentic' refers to the use of unscripted or partially scripted recordings. These are considered 'authentic' because they reflect more natural styles of speech. Typically, spoken language is spontaneous, i.e. it is not prepared beforehand and it cannot be 'revised'. It happens in real time. As a result, it is characterized by particular intonational patterns, speed of delivery, repetitions, false starts, hesitations, ellipsis and redundancy. Some language is typically used in oral contexts, while other language is typically used in written contexts. But are unscripted recordings better for developing listening comprehension than scripted ones? The answer to this question, of course, depends on what you are trying to achieve by using them.

Reflection task 14

Dialogue 1

Extract from Colloquial French by Alan Moys. Published by Routledge (1996). © Alan Moys 1996. Reproduced with permission.

Bob and Sylvia Hawkins are American tourists staying in a small French seaside town. They ask the hotel receptionist for information about places in the town.

English translation

Dialogue 2

Extract from Breakthrough 3 by Stephanie Rybak. Published by Palgrave Macmillan (1999). © Stephanie Rybak and Brian Hill 1989. Reproduced with permission.

Comment sortir de Paris?

English translation

As we mentioned above, the argument in favour of 'authentic' recordings such as Dialogue 2 is that they preserve those typical features of natural speech that learners will need familiarity with if they are to become independent target language users. For many language learners, it is more motivating listening to what is clearly 'real' language. Certainly, suspension of disbelief is required when listening to the 'American tourists' in Dialogue 1. The voices sound as if they are 'reading a script' with the downwards intonation that is typical of a reader coming to the end of a sentence, but is not so frequent in spontaneous speech, where the whole emphasis is on maintaining interaction, not on 'stating a point'.

If you listen back to Dialogue 2, you will see that the downwards intonation occurs mainly at the end of a turn, not at the end of a 'sentence'. Note also the typical upwards intonation on 'Je vous en prie' ('You're welcome') compared with the atypical downwards intonation on the same phrase towards the end of Dialogue 1. These features perhaps help us to better imagine the situation in Dialogue 2: we feel we are 'witness' to a real event.

However, the rhythm of speech is significantly faster in Dialogue 2. It is probably more difficult for a learner - particularly a beginner - to segment the stream of sound easily. Furthermore, details are mentioned which refer to the precise context of the recording, e.g. 'vous n'avez qu'à suivre les flèches Hertz jaunes et noires, à cette heure-ci' ('just follow the yellow and black Hertz arrows, at this time of day'). Listeners cannot see the arrows, nor do they know what time is being referred to, although it's possible to infer this information from the passage ('les embouteillages' - 'traffic jams' - are mentioned). Thus, with authentic recordings, more inferential work may have to be done.

Things are more explicit in Dialogue 1: the receptionist indicates explicitly when he is referring to a map - 'voici un plan de la ville, regardons le plan' ('here's a town map, let's look at the map'). Rather oddly, he refers by name to the hotel where the dialogue is supposed to be taking place - 'nous sommes ici, à l'Hôtel Miramar' ('here we are, at the Hôtel Miramar'). In a real situation, this is an item of information that a receptionist speaking to guests would probably assume was shared.The structures used to express the directions are repeated and obviously the writer is trying to illustrate the different possibilities.

Authentic and scripted dialogues both have advantages and disadvantages. Of course, learners need to be familiar with the 'authentic' features of spoken language if they are to function in target-language interactions. Thus, the use of such authentic speech recordings is important, particularly where an emphasis is being placed on learning to listen, that is, practising comprehension skills. However, we should not forget that listening to authentic recordings is very different from engaging in authentic interaction. We need also to ensure that authentic interactions are practised in language classes.

More carefully controlled recordings, such as scripted dialogues, may be appropriate where the emphasis is on listening to learn, or the presentation and retention of new language. Yet it is as well to remember that learners need gradually to be prepared to pick up new language from authentic recordings too, since this should enable them to learn more effectively if and when they find themselves in a target-language environment.

Reflection task 15