PÚNGUÈ UNIVERSITY

Department of Letters, Social Sciences and Humanities

Restricted use activities vs authentic use activities in relation to the teaching of English
language skills

Degree Course in Teaching Portuguese

Individual work
Francelina Manuel Juliano Njanje

Tete
2023
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Francelina Manuel Juliano Njanje

Restricted use activities vs authentic use activities in relation to the teaching of

English language skills

Scientific work to be presented in the

subject Didactics of English, Degree
Course in Teaching Portuguese, as a partial
assessment requirement.

Teacher: Fato Sabonete

Tete
2023
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Índex
1. Introduction................................................................................................................4

1.1. objectives................................................................................................................4

1.1.2. main objective.........................................................................................................4

1.1.3. specific objectives...................................................................................................4

2. Literature review........................................................................................................5

2.1. What are language skills?.......................................................................................5

2.1.1. 4 Essentials Language Skills...............................................................................5

2.1.1.1. Listening..........................................................................................................5

2.1.1.2. Speaking..........................................................................................................5

2.1.1.3. Writing............................................................................................................6

2.1.1.4. Reading...........................................................................................................6

2.2. ARC (Authentic Use, Restricted Use, Clarification)..............................................6

2.2.1. Authentic use activities.......................................................................................7

2.2.2. Restricted use activities......................................................................................8

2.2.3. Clarification and focus........................................................................................9

3. conclusion................................................................................................................10

References.......................................................................................................................11
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1. Introduction
To teach the English language proficiently, the teacher uses some activities such as: role
plays with peers or native speakers, interview tasks, listening to or reading news reports,
gap fill exercises, substitution exercises (where the student uses the form / phrase in a
different way), grammar and vocabulary drills, theater, among others.
In this research work, from the subject of Didactics of English, subjects related to
restricted use activities vs authentic use activities in relation to the teaching of English
language skills.

1.1. objectives

1.1.2. main objective

 talk about restricted use activities vs authentic use activities in relation to the
teaching of English language skills.

1.1.3. specific objectives

 explain about restricted use activities;
 explain about authentic use activities;
 identify some examples of each type of activity.
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2. Literature review
2.1. What are language skills?
Language skills are the abilities that enable you to express your thoughts coherently and
communicate with others. These skills provide structure and relevance to the
information you wish to convey to the recipient. Reading, writing, listening and
speaking are four essential skills that comprise basic language competency. While
communicating, people usually use a combination of these skills simultaneously.
Choosing the right skills usually depends on various factors urgency of the message, the
number of people targeted and whether it is a formal or informal communication.
It is common to combine two or more language abilities while interacting. These skills,
when used together, are co-dependent on each other. For example, if listening is an input
of information, speaking is a form of output where the audience can interject, ask
questions or provide inputs after listening to the message. Similarly, writing is the
summary output of what is read, understood and interpreted, which requires reading
skills.

2.1.1. 4 Essentials Language Skills

Here are four basic language competencies that can help improve how you
communicate:

2.1.1.1. Listening
Listening refers to understanding, interpreting and analysing the speaker's message.
Listening is an integral part of the communication process as it is vital for the listener to
stay engaged and actively comprehend what is said. This helps increase clarity, ask
relevant questions, frame appropriate responses and prevent misunderstandings.
Listening is crucial when participating in meetings, discussions, feedback sessions and
interviews.
Listening attentively has several benefits that can be essential even after the
conversation is over. Active listening can help you process and store information for
later recollection. Focusing on what the person in front of you is saying can also help
increase focus and enable you to articulate your thoughts effectively.

2.1.1.2. Speaking
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Speaking is the verbal expression of your thoughts and ideas. Speaking effectively
includes having clarity and fluency in your expression and vocabulary. It also includes
other essential abilities such as confidence, passion and storytelling. Speaking skills are
usually important when companies are hiring new employees. Strong speaking skills
can help you progress in your career, contribute during meetings and improve your
interpersonal relationships.

2.1.1.3. Writing
Writing involves presenting your thoughts in the form of text using the right structure
and flow of information. Writing includes changing the format and tone of the text as
per the target audience. Choosing the right vocabulary, medium and outline for what
you wish to convey can ensure that your writing is interesting and delivers the intended
message. Writing grammatically accurate text, using short sentences and researching
comprehensively are some ways to make your text more impactful.
No matter the role or industry, professionals often write emails, reports, letters and
proposals. This makes writing skills essential for all professionals, particularly those in
the IT, marketing, strategy, consultancy and data analytics industry.

2.1.1.4. Reading
Reading skills help understand different texts, their context and inference. These skills
are crucial to improving your overall literacy skills as they can help enhance your
vocabulary, expression, analysis and communication. Reading different text forms
carefully, such as letters, messages, notes, memos, emails and reports, can help prevent
miscommunication in your personal and professional relationships. Being attentive and
focused while reading can also help you interpret the meaning of the text effectively and
retain the information for a longer duration.

2.2. ARC (Authentic Use, Restricted Use, Clarification)

The ARC approach is a way to describe three potential and sequential stages in any
lesson.
Scrivener names them: ‘Authentic use,’ ‘Restricted use’ and ‘Clarification and focus.’
His stated intention was that educators should consider the three stages as a sort of
checklist to have in their mind when lesson planning.
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For Scrivener, students should have the opportunity to participate in all three aspects in
every lesson, whilst educators should feel free to use the elements in whatever balance /
order is most appropriate for the lesson objectives. For example, a conversation-based
lesson would normally have more authentic use activities, while a grammar-focused
lesson would naturally involve more clarification and focus.

2.2.1. Authentic use activities

As teachers, we are constantly searching for articles, books, or advice on how to make
learning ‘stick’ with our students. In our classrooms, we want engaged learners who
retain what they have learned and apply it in their lives for years to come. But how do
we actually make this happen?
What can we do to ensure our students are getting the most out of every moment during
school? There is definitely one surefire way to do this and it goes by the name
of Authentic Learning. Not certain what that actually means? This post will cover what
Authentic Learning actually is and how to use it in your classroom to create meaningful
learning experiences for students.
Authentic Learning has a myriad of definitions, but what it boils down to is making
what your students learn meaningful by engaging them in relevant and real-world
learning. A more official definition would be (Donovan, Bransford, & Pellegrino,
1999):
In education, authentic learning is an instructional approach that allows students to
explore, discuss, and meaningfully construct concepts and relationships in contexts that
involve real-world problems and projects that are relevant to the learner.”
So, what does that all mean?
According to the Authentic Learning creator and guru, Steve Revington, Authentic
Learning “is real life learning. It is a style of learning that encourages students to create
a tangible, useful products to be shared with their world.”
Not only are we teachers bringing in real world context to our classrooms, but
our students are taking real world issues and problems and working to solve
them and developing solutions applicable to the world or community around them. This
is the future of learning. Students will become adults in a world more complex than our
own and will have to solve real world problems creatively and collaboratively. So why
not start them on the path for success?
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These language learning activities or tasks should provide students with the chance to
use the target language in the most natural and realistic way in the classroom. Tasks of
this type should mirror activities that native speakers of the target language might do in
their everyday lives.

Authentic tasks will therefore place a genuine communicative demand on students.

This demand could be either receptive or productive. A receptive task might involve
listening to or reading an authentic piece of text, whilst a productive task could be a free
or open speaking activity on a particular theme or topic. In both cases, the student needs
to have a clear understanding of the language to fluently complete them. In the language
classroom, example of these tasks might include:
 Role plays with peers or native speakers
 Interview tasks
 Listening to or reading news reports
 Phoning for information (e.g. train times, hotel availability etc.)
 Planning a trip or a party
 Completing a form or residency application

These exercises help to highlight to students how the communication / language skills
they are learning can be used in the real-world. As such, they provide powerful
motivation and encourage their continued engagement and participation.

2.2.2. Restricted use activities

As the name suggests, these activities require students to demonstrate their knowledge
of a specific learning objective in a tightly-targeted manner. It is therefore very similar
in form to the Practice Stage of the PPP teaching approach in that it requires students to
produce the language point in a very accurate and controlled manner.
Examples of restricted use activities might include:
 Worksheets
 Gap fill exercises
 Substitution exercises (where the student uses the form / phrase in a different
way).
 Grammar and vocabulary drills
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Restricted use activities play a key role in the language learning process. They support
students to specifically practice their newly-acquired knowledge (e.g grammar or
vocabulary) through dedicated exercises, ensuring that new concepts and their
application are fully understood.

2.2.3. Clarification and focus

This term refers to those moments in any lesson where core elements of the target
language (e.g alphabet, grammatical structure, vocabulary etc.) are explained to the
students. Importantly,
these elements could be outlined by the teachers or they could be found by the student
through guided or self discovery. Parts of the lesson involving corrective feedback
(incorrect pronunciation or spelling, for example) would also fall into this category.
As above, it’s important to emphasise that this phase could happen at any time in the
lesson. Place it at the beginning and it mirrors the Present stage of the PPP approach.
But if placed at the end, it can form a powerful feedback session to check understanding
and ensure that all students have the core knowledge needed before progressing to the
next lesson / stage.
Although it is important to ensure that these parts of lessons are positive and engaging,
clarification and focus activities are invaluable for learners. If the teacher has not
explained a new concept, then it is a waste of everyone’s time for the student to attempt
to practice using it in a conversation or tailored exercise.
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3. conclusion
Based on the information contained in the work we conclude that restricted use
activities these activities require students to demonstrate their knowledge of a specific
learning objective in a tightly-targeted manner, whereas, authentic use activities are an
instructional approach that allows students to explore, discuss, and meaningfully
construct concepts and relationships in contexts that involve real-world problems and
projects that are relevant to the learner.
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References
Anderson JR, Reder LM and Simon HA. (1996), ‘Situated learning and education’,
Educational Researcher, vol.25, pp.5-11.
Herrington J and Oliver R.(2000), ‘An instructional design framework for authentic
learning environments’, Educational Technology Research and Development,
vol.48, no.3, pp.23-48.
Jonassen D. (1991), ‘Evaluating constructivist learning’, Educational Technology,
vol.31, no.9, pp.28-33.
Stein SJ, Andrews T and Isaacs G. (2001), ‘Incorporating authentic learning experiences
with a business management course’, Australian Association for Research in Education
Conference Proceedings, Paper STE01249, Fremantle
Winn W. (1993), ‘Instructional design and situated learning: Paradox or partnership’,
Educational Technology, vol.33, no.3, pp.16-21.