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EVE ZYZIK

Authenticity in language teaching is a broad concept since it can refer to an inherent quality of a text, the types of tasks used in language classrooms, or the subjective way in which learners engage with the materials presented to them (see Gilmore, 2007, for eight interrelated definitions of authenticity). Zyzik and Polio (2017, p. 1) define authentic materials as “those created for some real‐world purpose other than language learning, often, but not always, by native speakers for native speakers.” Under this definition, authentic materials comprise a wide variety of spoken and written language samples, including newspaper articles, graphic novels, greeting cards, restaurant menus, radio broadcasts, political speeches, songs, and films. The common feature among these materials is that they were created with a particular communicative intent and were not modified for pedagogical purposes.

This entry will focus primarily on authentic materials as described above, noting that other conceptualizations of authenticity are possible. The previous entry on this topic (McKay, 2012) characterized authenticity in terms of learner relevance and engagement: “Authentic language learning texts are… those texts that particular groups engage with and create discourse around for meaningful purposes” (p. 2). Yet another vantage point comes from task‐based language learning, where some tasks are designed to simulate real‐world activities (e.g., making a reservation at a restaurant). In contrast, many classroom tasks do not resemble activities we do in real life, and yet these tasks achieve interactional authenticity (Ellis, 2017). Consider an opinion gap activity in which a group of learners has to reach consensus on five items that they will need for survival on a deserted island. The situation itself may not be authentic, but the language used during the task resembles the kind of discussion and negotiation that happens in real‐life interactions.