A Critical Look at the Concept of Authenticity (original) (raw)
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Argentinian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2018
This paper discusses some of the troubling issues which surround the nature of authenticity in language teaching and learning, such as identity, the legitimacy of L2 teachers of English, and the disempowerment of L2 voices. This paper presents an examination uncovering how the English language is marketed to learners, and traces the effect this has on our teaching approach and sense of efficacy as language teachers. Rather than simply 'real language' or 'newspapers', I propose that authenticity should be taken to mean that learning is both personally meaningful and socially relevant to each individual in context. Fundamentally, this paper argues that as teachers we must find our own authentic reasons for working with students, in order to create a culture of authenticity in the language classroom. RESUMEN El presente artículo examina algunas de las cuestiones que rodean la naturaleza de la autenticidad en la enseñanza y aprendizaje de otra lengua, tales como la identidad, la legitimidad de los docentes de inglés como segunda lengua, y el desempoderamiento de las voces en segundas lenguas. El artículo analiza cómo la lengua inglesa es mercantilizada a los estudiantes, y traza los efectos que esto tiene sobre nuestro enfoque didáctico y nuestro sentido de eficacia como profesores de inglés. En lugar de tomar la autenticidad solamente referida a diarios y lengua real, propongo que la autenticidad sea tomada como el aprendizaje relevante personal y socialmente de cada individuo en su contexto. Fundamentalmente, este artículo discute que como docentes debemos encontrar nuestras propias razones auténticas para trabajar con los estudiantes con el fin de crear una cultura de la autenticidad en la clase de lengua.
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.
Authenticity in a Global Context: Learning, Working and Communicating with L2 teachers of English
Learning, Working and Communicating in a Global Context, 2015
In order to continue teaching in Japanese schools, every ten years all teachers from primary to high school level are required to renew their teaching licence by taking professional development courses which provide them with credits for renewal. This paper outlines an in-service training workshop for high school teachers of English as a Foreign Language, accredited by the Japanese ministry of education (MEXT). The course which I taught, entitled Using and Adapting Authentic Materials to Help Motivate Students, is four 90 minute workshops and a one hour assessment. During the sessions I attempted to gauge the participants’ existing ideas about authenticity in language teaching and examine how these fit with the way English is currently employed for international communication in the global context. I proposed during the workshop that authenticity be reconceptualised as a continuum; incorporating contextual and social dimensions. Participants were then asked to reflect on their concept of authenticity before and after the workshop to examine the impact of the proposed continuum. I collected data from participants in the form of a written reaction to the workshop and questionnaire, as well as teacher/researchers’ observations and journal entries. From a total of 33 participants, 23 (almost 70 per cent) had culturally embedded definitions of authenticity, with 18 participants (over 50 per cent) specifically making reference to native speakers in their explanation of what they thought authentic language meant. Participants commented that the workshop had helped them to expand their ideas about authenticity, which for many was a motivating or empowering experience since it meant that they could include themselves as being able to provide an authentic model English speaker for their learners.
Authentic or not? A Case Study on the Role of Authenticity in English Language Teaching in Iran
Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 2012
The present article arises from a three-year cross sectional investigation into English Language Teaching (ELT) in secondary schools in Iran and the role of Communicative Pedagogy within this. The study has examined the extent of communicative pedagogy within the Iranian national ELT curriculum, the ELT programme and to some extent the English language coursebooks used in secondary schools. What is going to be done therefore is looking at one aspect of the study which is the role of authenticity in the above mentioned system. In order to investigate the situation, varieties of research instruments were applied in order to collect valid and reliable data. These instruments were mainly composed of a review of literature, a desk based analysis of the curriculum, administering questionnaires as well as conducting interview sessions. The questionnaires were mainly distributed among English language teachers and the interviews were conducted with some authors of the curriculum, textbooks ...
Learner's Perspectives on Authenticity
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)
Authenticity in ELT: A Critical Inquiry
The paper discusses the notion of authenticity in EFL pedagogy through multiple perspectives. The notion of authentic materials has been a hot issue in EFL discourse. Following the premises of communicative language teaching, there have been attempts to replicate the real life language input into learning EFL. In this connection, this paper discusses various aspects associated with authenticity and authentic materials in ELT. The author presents arguments citing relevant literatures, and argues that authenticity is a changing phenomenon along with the dynamics in the ELT world. Implications of the debate are also presented as a way forward.
Authentic materials & authenticity in Foreign Language Learning
This article reviews some of the wide-ranging issues and research surrounding authentic materials and authenticity in foreign language learning. After a brief historical overview and a discussion of some of the definitional ambiguities associated with authenticity, the paper goes on to discuss four important areas of concern: i) the gap between authentic and textbook discourse; ii) the English-as-a-world-language debate; iii) authenticity and motivation; iv) text difficulty and task design and their effects on language acquisition. The article concludes by examining some of the reasons behind resistance to change in curriculum and materials design and possible future directions.
Authenticity is one of the most controversial concepts in teaching/learning material analysis. This paper aims at discussing about this dimension of analysis toward language text books. In fact, the Iranian new published English book (called Prospect 1) for first grade of junior secondary school in EFL classrooms is under concentration here. Besides, this article will concentrate on different aspects of authenticity (social and linguistic categories) in analyzing different parts of this new English book. Based on the results of this research, it can be concluded that the proportion of different aspects of authenticity in this book is not distributed properly. In fact there is just unremarkable proportion to target culture and informal linguistic elements and remarkable proportion to intercultural category of authenticity.
CLASSROOM MATERIALS : REALLY AUTHENTIC?
Language teaching methodology has been changing in time along with the different psychological trends in Educational Psychology. These changes have become evident not only in the way grammar and vocabulary have been dealt with, but also in the development of teaching material. It's been the concern of this team to use texts and activities that enable the development of the four language skills taking into account our students' needs at the same time.. The aim of this talk is to show you how we developed the teaching material for a three-year English programme for students taking the " TecnicaturaenEmpresas de ServiciosTurísticos " course of studies at Universidad Nacional delComahue. Considering Nunan's concepts of pedagogical tasks and real-world tasks (Nunan 1989) together with Widdowson's ideas of genuineness and authenticity.