Adapting Authentic Materials for Language Teaching
Rewrite: In Japanese companies, far more levels are involved in decision making than in U.S. companies. For example, a middle manager may write a report that suggests a course of action. The report is then sent up through the hierarchy, and senior managers give their opinion on it. It is also sent down to small groups of workers in the office or factory for their comments.
The rewritten version above labels the relationships of example, sequence (then), and addition (also). In the following example, the relationship梠ne of reason梬as not in the original. Notice how including the transition phrase for that reason makes the relationship much clearer.
Original: Southern Africa has not attracted much foreign direct investment, apart from mining and farming. Many southern Africans resent that their often painful efforts at economic reform have not been rewarded.
Rewrite: Southern Africa has not attracted much foreign direct investment, apart from mining and farming. For that reason, many southern Africans resent that their often painful efforts at economic reform have not been rewarded.
Adding, subtracting, and deleting material
At times it抯 necessary to add, subtract, or delete some of the original material for several reasons. Some material may be superfluous or too detailed, and some may be too hard to understand. Although there are places in texts where ideas need elaboration梥uch as paraphrasing or adding examples or visuals梩he usual approach is to reduce details and other information.
Here is a before-and-after analysis. It contains two paragraphs from The Economist magazine about a regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community. The passage from the adapted text is about 60 percent the size of the original. There are two major differences between the original and the adaptation: dramatic words, idioms, and arbitrary collocations become more literal; and details, including numbers, become generalizations. This second factor is responsible for much of the deleted material. Also, italics indicate which items from the original were deleted in the rewritten text:
Original 1: Southern Africa, once torn apart by war but now tentatively at peace, is enjoying an economic revival. Last year, the region抯 GDP jumped by an average of over 6%, a rate more often associated with Asia than with sluggish Africa. For the first time in many years, the economies in every one of the 12 members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional economic body, grew in 1996; and in eight of them the growth was over 5%. This year they may again do well.
Rewrite 1: The region of Southern Africa has had its problems, including war and weather. At present, though, it is having an economic revival. Last year, the region抯 gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 6%. For the first time in many years, there was growth in every country of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Original 2: Is this just a blip on a continent where wild swings in fortune are common, or the beginning of a genuine economic turnaround? Cyclical good luck certainly provides part of the answer. Southern Africa, like the rest of the continent, still depends heavily on selling what it can dig out of the ground or pluck from the trees. The past two rainy seasons have been unusually good, bringing in bumpe
r harvests. Good rains last year enabled Mozambique, a long-term recipient of food aid, to reap a record harvest, making it now almost self-sufficient in grain. In Africa, rain alone can swell or shrink an economy. After a dry season and poor harvest, Zimbabwe抯 GDP shrank in 1995 by over 3%; a year later, after good rains, it had shot up 6%.
Rewrite 2: Is this a permanent change or just a short-term trend? Good luck has helped. Southern Africa still depends a great deal on farming, and the past two seasons have had extremely good rains. This helped Mozambique to produce one of its best grain crops ever. However, a few years of dry weather could destroy most of this progress.
Conclusion
Teachers adapt authentic materials for different classroom uses, depending on their students?age and English language proficiency. No matter what the source of the material or its purpose in class, however, successful adaptation requires careful attention to the semantic, lexical, syntactic, and discourse elements of the original text. By following the guidelines presented in this article, teachers can help their students improve their comprehension of written English.
References
An African success story. 1997. The Economist, June 14.
Darian, S. In press. English for decision-makers: A course in modern management. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan.
Steven Darian is a professor of education and ESL at Rutgers University in Camden, NJ.
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