It was beginning to look like we would never get to the practice itself, but we have finally arrived.
Glisan and Donato remind us in their discussion of this practice (see Enacting the Work of Language Instruction, 2017) that “interpretive work should never occur in isolation but should be viewed as part of a larger instructional practice, that is, participation in a text-based discussion.” (P. 70) On this point, the authors are slightly at odds with themselves, because the very next sentence states, “Text-based discussion … complement interpretive work by students and teachers.” (P. 70)
How can text-based discussion both the larger instructional practice that contains interpretation and a complement to interpretation?
I believe that the authors wished to link the two practices but could not find a term that would allow them to do so. Thus they use descriptions that are contradictory. Let’s give them a modicum of grace and agree that interpretation of a text and text-based discussion are complementary parts of a larger instructional practice that has yet to be adequately named.
Comprehension and Interpretation of “authentic target language material of various kinds” are “a necessary practice leading to a text-based discussion …” (P. 70) The ambiguity in this statement is the meaning of “authentic target language material of various kinds”.
“Authentic” in what sense? See earlier discussions of “authentic” here, here, and here. Materials created to meet that needs of language learners should not be excluded from the concept of “authentic” as long as they, as Glisan and Donato put it earlier, “… have a sociocultural purpose … that goes beyond simply providing contrived, artificial, and unmotivated examples of the target language to learners, as is the case in most textbook material.” (P. 65)
“Of various kinds” – what kinds? We should use this statement to expand our understanding and use of different kinds of text: visual, audio, and audiovisual. Under visual, we can understand print (text, chart, comic, etc.), graphic, photographic, and other visual media. Under audio we understand monologue, dialogue, soliloquy, vocal and instrumental music, and other sound texts. Under audiovisual we understand film, drama, video (including movie video) and other combinations of sight and sound.
The authors break Interpretation into three “perspectives” (authors’ term; I would have said “parts” or “components”): 1. Selecting an authentic text; 2. planning the sequence of interpretive tasks; and 3. conducting the interpretive tasks with learners. Not mentioned is the choosing of the interpretive tasks, but since they must be chosen in order to be sequenced, this is implied- and the two will often influence one another. As tasks are sequenced, one may be discarded as another is adopted.
Choosing the (authentic) text
Before presenting the factors involved in choosing a text, I want to state that the emphasis on “authentic texts” is somewhat unfortunate. If the practice is high leverage, then it should be applied to texts that may not be considered “authentic” in the sense of “by native speakers for native speakers” (or a variant thereof) but are “authentic” in the sense of being “informed by the communicative context in which [they] occur…”. (VanPatten 2017, p. 72)
A text needs to be authentic in the sense of being “informed by the communicative context in which it occurs”
Glisan and Donato list the following as factors that should be considered when choosing a text:
- topic familiarity, context appropriateness, level of interest: These speak to motivation for engagement with a text
- age-appropriateness: This can be a challenge
- linguistic level: The level must be appropriate to the acquisition level of the learners
- strategy use: The text needs to lend itself to successful application of comprehension strategies that learners know
- alignment with unit and lesson objectives: This alignment will be the result of backward planning
Just so we are clear, finding appropriate and useful texts can be a daunting task, and what works for one group of learners may be totally inappropriate for another group of learners, even though they are the same chronological age, “at the same level”, attend the same school, have the same teacher, etc.
When any of those factors change, it compounds the difficulty. For example, my first-year German class is composed of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. There are some very active, athletic baseball players and some very quiet, sophisticated artists. The class is multi-ethnic with a couple of English Language Learners. Some students are video gamers, some are readers, and some are both. Some are “Straight Edge” and some are “experimenters” (but none are both). There are many other points of divergence. Finding texts that work for all of those students is a challenge. And this is just one section of German in one school.
Don’t let this stop you from trying.
(This, by the way, is one of the reasons that using textbooks as the curriculum is not a “Best Practice”, a “Core Practice”, or a “High-Leverage Teaching Practice”. There is no way that a textbook designed for use in urban, suburban, and rural schools in states as disparate as New York, Florida, Texas, and California can engage students the way that a teacher who interacts with students on a daily basis and adapts instruction based on that interaction can.)
One of the more difficult aspects of finding texts is balancing and combining the various factors. One of the points of tension is the discrepancy between age-appropriate and level-appropriate. My first-year students are 14-17 years old and have cognitive abilities and interests appropriate to those ages. However, as far as language is concerned, they are novice low/mid. They generally don’t want to read texts designed for first-language emergent readers because the cognitive elements and interests don’t align. But any longer texts designed for native speakers who are teenagers are far beyond their language capabilities.
We need to recognize this tension and find a way to work with it, not around it.
Cognitively demanding and philosophically profound texts can be written using extremely simple language, but this is rare. Perhaps the best example I can give of this is the opening of the Gospel According to John from the Bible: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:1-4 ESV) In the English version, the longest word is three syllables long. In the original Greek, two words are four syllables, and one word is three syllables. The syntax is simple. Yet, this profound text has occupied scholars for two millennia.
Extended texts that are at the correct language level, are age appropriate, interest students, meet the other requirements listed, and are “by native speakers for native speakers” are few and far between.
reading is one of the most important sources of input for the development of vocabulary
And yet, extensive reading is one of the most important pathways to language acquisition and proficiency. As VanPatten notes, “… reading is one of the most important sources of input for the development of vocabulary. Reading provides the kind of input not found in everyday spoken language.” (2017, p. 71)
It is for this reason that we need more “inauthentic” readers. By that, I mean readers written by teachers for learners. However, these readers need to
- have a psychosocial purpose, i.e. inform, entertain, argue, teach a life lesson, etc.;
- do something other than “teach a foreign language”, i.e. not exist for the purpose of “teaching the preterite” or “practicing the imperfect” or some other specifically linguistic function;
- use real, though constrained, language (more about this below);
- be interesting, i.e. not simply provide “contrived, artificial, and unmotivated examples of the target language to learners, as is the case in most textbook material;
- be age and level appropriate, i.e. appeal to cognitive development of target students while using language that is understandable to learners.
As language teachers become more familiar with second language acquisition and the role of Comprehensible Input in acquisition, we can write better books. Some of the early readers were, quite frankly, uninteresting, stilted, and contrived. I won’t name any of them, because they were an important first step away from the “contrived, artificial, and unmotivated examples of the target language … in most textbook material.”
More recent books are better. It is possible to tell an entertaining story, even one with life lessons, using restricted vocabulary. Don’t believe me? Read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss. It contains 50 unique words, yet has entertained and edified millions. See my discussion of it and constrained writing here.
I teach a unit on the Middle Ages in my German 3-4-AP course. (Yes, we German teachers often teach combined levels.) A few years ago, I was looking for a text that was accessible to my students yet allowed me to use it as a springboard to discussions of history, literature, art and architecture, culture, politics, etc. in the Middle Ages. It didn’t exist. So, I wrote one myself. Its purpose was definitely psychosocial, my students (and others) have found it interesting, it is age and level appropriate, it uses real – though constrained – language. How well it does all of that, I will leave for others to decide.
Then I discovered the legend of Claus Stoertebeker, a pirate in the North Sea area in the late 1300s. It was such an interesting legend, that I adapted it for a second book, aimed slightly lower in language level. This one was primarily to entertain, though there were also geographical, cultural, historical, and political bits of information in the book and accompanying activities. Colleagues who heard me tell the legend said they wanted it in their language as well, so I translated it (or had it translated) into French and Spanish.
Anyone who is interested in either of these books can find them on my website, Compelling Input Productions. (Click here.) I have other materials as well and plans for more books. Finding time to get it all done is an issue. Anyone else have that problem?
Wow, that was quite an excursus.
I didn’t get past finding a text and the factors to consider, but I am going to wrap up this post with the following challenge:
Write a book, collection of stories, or other text that has a psychosocial purpose, does something besides “teach language”, uses real (though constrained) language, and is interesting as well as age and level appropriate.
Then publish it.
Your colleagues and students are waiting eagerly.