Keeping It Real: Valuing Authenticity in the Writing Classroom

Applied Linguistics, 2010

Language and Literacy

Authentic literacy activities engage children with meaningful reading and writing (Duke, Purcell-Gates, Hall, & Tower, 2006), but little investigation has been conducted into the relationship of the kinds of writing children enjoy and the authenticity of the writing activity and experience. This paper reports findings from a study that investigates the question: How, if at all, does authenticity factor into kinds of writing that children like and/or dislike? Findings indicate that children enjoy writing that purposefully engages them with the real world, and is therefore authentic, and do not enjoy writing that they perceive as merely “school work”.

2009

To meet the intentions of the New Zealand Curriculum 2007 teachers must critically reflect on their role and their ideas of what is 'best practice' for teaching and learning in the twenty-first century. In this post-modern age the teacher's role has changed considerably and there is now, more than ever, a need for much greater transparency, accountability and collaborative practice within education. While famous philosophers and theorists of the past including Plato, Rousseau and Dewey have expounded the ideals of authenticity and authentic engagement, it is only in more recent times with the spread of constructivism that authenticity has gained more favour.

2007

This article is intended to briefly overview the concept of authenticity which cannot be defined similarly for all contexts, as we confront various contexts around the world, each with their unique characteristics. In other words, authenticity is a relative concept, materialized within each context with the interaction of its partici pants. Also, following Chavez' (1998) comments, authenticity cannot be defined as anything really existing in the outside world because any text taken out of its original context and away from its intended audience automatically becomes less authentic. Learners' proficiency levels and their positive attitudes towards the text are other aspects in this regard. Authentic materials require at least two features: communicative potential and relevance. The binary division of authenticity is no longer relevant and efficient; rather, it is to be considered in relation to the context where the material is used. Therefore, literature on authenticity suggests that authen ticity is subject to pragmatic variation which cannot be defined in a vacuum and that its defining characteris tics lie in the context. This argument has implications for teacher education and material development be cause of the changing situation of ELT practice around the world. The final conclusion is that the notion of authenticity within the global context must be considered in the light of the pragmatic appropriateness of the materials used and the interaction tasks set in relation to learners' needs and interests. The knowledgeable teacher is the nexus for empowering materials and tasks that are 'authentic' for their specific groups of learn ers.

ELT Journal

Framed in exploratory action research, this article reports on an experience carried out at an initial English teacher education (IELTE) programme in Argentina. A group of four tutors noticed their student-teachers' demotivation to complete written coursework. On exploring this issue, it was found that lack of authenticity of audience in writing tasks acted as a demotivation factor. The tutors adapted their teaching practices to engage the student-teachers in a writing for publication project organized by an Argentinian teacher association in 2018. To understand the effects of this experience on the student-teachers' motivation, data were collected through individual interviews, in-class group discussions, pair-work tasks with the student-teachers, and through notes taken during tutors' meetings. Findings show that while authenticity of audience acted as a motivating factor with more advanced student-teachers, most student-teachers and tutors engaged in motivational synergy triggered by a change in tutors' teaching practices given the possibility of publishing.

Evidence Based EFL (blog), 2015

Authenticity in language teaching is a thorny issue, and especially in English language teaching because of the nature of English’s use worldwide as an international language, with many diverse varieties. What do you understand by the term authenticity? For most language teachers, the word authentic is part of our daily vocabulary. It is stamped onto the backs of textbooks, it is mentioned when describing a particularly motivating task, and it is often used alongside other words like motivation and interest. So, just what do we talk about when we talk about authenticity?

Journal of Business Communication, 2004

The Naval Postgraduate School I have never thought of myself as a researcher. The words "Outstanding Researcher Award" on the plaques the Association for Business Communication (ABC) and McGraw-Hill/Irwin awarded me this past year don't describe who I am and what I believe I do. Those words, in fact, cause me uncomfortableness, even embarrassment. I deliberately avoid describing myself as a researcher, let alone a "social scientist." It has taken me well over a decade of my academic life to figure out what I do, aside from teach. Simply put, I write, or write articles. More precisely, I struggle to find time to write, avoid writing more times than I care to admit because it's hard work, puzzle over how to "word and reword" (Rose, 1992) the organizational world I'm thinking about, and, more often than not, think and write badly. Not until the mid-1990s did I discover that what I am compelled to write are stories about communication problems I've stumbled across, the ways I've used to solve them, and the problems that still puzzle me. Telling stories feels authentic and enables me to continue writing, even though tenure and promotion are no longer rewards for my writing efforts. This article describes my experiences and beliefs about academic writing in general and, more specifically, writing business and managerial communication stories. I will tell you a story that explains why I think of myself as a storyteller rather than a researcher and the extraordinary effect this change of thinking has had on my attitude toward writing and my ability to write. Before explaining why I chose this approach, I break with storytelling tradition by revealing my goals for telling this story.

IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 1998

A survey investigated the attitudes of second language learners about authentic texts, written and oral, used for language instruction. Respondents were 186 randomly-selected university students of German. The students were administered a 212-item questionnaire (the items are appended) that requested information concerning student demographic variables, previous experience with German, current enrollment level, target language country travel, and last course grade, and presented 53 scenarios. Respondents rated the scenarios on four levels: authenticity; contribution to language learning; difficulty level; and level of anxiety/enjoyment elicited. Scenario themes included reading a menu, listening to a conversation about the weather, reading a letter, listening to directions, watching the news, and reading a literary story. Each varied with respect to the number and nature of authenticity factors they contained. Analysis of survey results indicate that: (1) certain authenticity factors (immediacy, currency, medium authenticity, native inception, native reception, cue authenticity, intent authenticity, learner inclusiveness, source authenticity, initiative authenticity, setting authenticity, cultural orientation) influence perceptions of authenticity, contribution to language learning, ease/difficulty, and anxiety/enjoyment; (2) perceived authenticity and difficulty are independent of each other; and (3) correlations between authenticity, contribution to learning, ease/difficulty, and anxiety/enjoyment varied by student characteristics. Contains 15 references. (MSE)

Across theory, research, and learning standards, there is a clear call for authentic writing experiences to increase achievement and engagement. According to theories of authenticity that stress its subjective nature, a writing task is authentic when a student perceives it as relevant to the real world-as they define the real world. Moreover, there is a need for authentic writing in classrooms that connects to increased student engagement, but the reality of writing instruction across schools in the United States remains rote and teacher-centered. These narrowed views and perspectives are further exacerbated when it comes to teaching African American youth in classrooms. Using qualitative interview data involving 12 African American students in the middle grades, the researchers examined the following questions: 1) How do African American adolescents describe their classroom writing experiences? 2) What factors do African American adolescents desire related to authenticity for writing instruction? Researchers found 24 present, desired and undesired practices expressed by participants when describing their classroom writing experiences. In this article, eight of the most prevalent factors (i.e., expression, personal connections, sharing with peers, sharing with teachers, structured writing, student and teacher choice of topics, and writing for impact) are illustrated to understand how these variables contributed to authentic writing experiences. Findings from this study suggest that more research is needed within classrooms that attempt to increase the perceived authenticity of writing tasks among African American youth.