The notion of ‘authenticity’ has been revisited and discussed by the researchers and practitioners in the field of English language teaching (ELT) over recent years. However, it is usually described within a limited framework that focuses on the quality of texts used in ELT, often without paying attention to the ways and contexts in which those texts are used by language learners and teachers. Following van Lier’s definition of authenticity as ‘the result of acts of authentication, by students and their teacher, of the learning process and the language used in it’ (1996, p.128), this study focuses on the dynamic and multi-dimensional nature of authenticity in the language classroom. In ELT literature, there are a limited number of studies on this issue and the majority of them have provided prescriptive or theoretical discussion or focused on ‘text authenticity’ and the ‘correspondence account’ of authenticity rather than encompassing different dimensions and accounts of authenticity in a more holistic way. The present study addresses this gap and explores the relationships between different dimensions of authenticity in four 9th grade classrooms in two Anatolian High Schools in Ankara, Turkey. This study adopts the qualitative research tradition and is tailored as an embedded multiple-case design with multiple data collection methods such as classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and documents (e.g. textbook extracts). The data was analysed separately for each unit of analysis (i.e. classroom) and themes were developed inductively. The findings revealed that authenticity should be seen as a phenomenon (co)constructed through human actors’ engagement and validation in the classroom context rather than as an inherent quality of materials or activities. The main characteristics of this process were discussed under the key themes that emerged from cross-case comparison. These themes were listed as Spontaneity, Discrepancy, Personalisation, Humour, Didacticity (genesis and accommodation) and Localisation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:682884 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Külekçi, Erkan |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/77323/ |
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