Didactisation of authentic text when teaching german as a second foreign language with english as the first in a higher educational institution

Abstract

© 2017. revistaESPACIOS.com. The suggested study is dedicated to the problem of the use of authentic texts (ATs) in foreign language (FL) training method in a higher educational institution, particularly when teaching second foreign language (SFL) (in our case, German on the basis of English as the first foreign language (FFL)). The goal of the research is to find and justify the best AT reading and understanding training method when teaching German as a SFL after English as the first on the basis of trilingual/multilingual approach to FL teaching. The aims of the study are the following: 1) to differentiate between the terms "authenticity", "authentic material", and "authentic text"; 2) to identify the topical challenges that students face when working with AT; 3) to specify the term "didactisation" and justify the term "secondary didactisation"; 4) to create an algorithm of working with AT when teaching German as a SFL after English as the first. The following methods have been used during the work: analysis of specialised literature and studies dedicated to different aspects of the issue under consideration, analysis of practical work experience of the German language teachers; questionnaire (quantitative and qualitative analysis of the obtained data), participant observation, conversation; percentage ratio of the empirically obtained data. The authors of the article provide generalised characteristic of AT as a cultural phenomenon and, as a result, as a source of intercultural competence development when teaching German as a SFL after English as the first. We have analysed foreign and Russian experience in the field of trilingual/ multilingual teaching German as a SFL after English as the first, including practical experience obtained by the German language teachers of foreign languages faculty of Elabuga institute of Kazan Federal University (EI KFU). We have developed an algorithm of AT didactisation based on the existing linguistic experience of students which is aimed at simplifying the process of studying SFL.