Reading Reflection #4

“Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom”
By William Guariento and John Morley

This article is about text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom. The authors state that “an authentic text is one ‘created to fulfill some social purpose in the language community in which it was produced’”. This is one way of saying that the work that students do in the classroom should somehow be applicable to the students in the real world, or be leading them toward its use outside the classroom. If students recognize that what they are doing can help them right now, or in the future outside the classroom it can increase their motivation to learn. However, when you made an authentic text/task for lower levels unless it has been carefully chosen for that particular group it can lead to the students not wanting to do any more because of how that made them feel. The text/task must somehow be made known to the students that it is relevant to them, so that it engages their interest. Even if students don’t fully understand what they are reading as long as it engages their interest and it’s a part of an authentic text/task, that’s okay. But when using an authentic text make sure you are using it for an authentic task or all meaning will be lost. There are several ways to make a text/task authentic: “through real world targets”( i.e. a “clear relationship with real world needs”), through classroom interaction (group work in the classroom), through engagement (depending on the group and how it’s presented, it may or may not seem authentic).
Authenticity doesn’t depend on how hard or simple a task may be. Remembering items from a picture, playing bingo, conducting surveys in the classroom about things that are relevant to the students are all fairly simple tasks that can be authentic for the students.
When I first started reading this article I wasn’t really sure what it was saying. It just seemed to be talking in circles. However, as I continued to read I understood what it was stating. It was discussing making the students see that information in the classroom is applicable to them outside the classroom so that they are motivated to learn and how to go about doing that. It also gives ideas on how to know when some kind of text/task is authentic. I do know from classroom experience if students see that what they are learning is relevant outside the classroom, if they are interested in it, and if it isn’t to hard/easy for them they will maintain motivation and continue learning in the classroom. This article gives some great ideas about how to make a task authentic and what that task might look like. It gave me some ideas for this upcoming school year.
-Holly