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M
s. Jones (all names are pseudonyms)
hushed her excited second graders. She
began to read aloud a letter from the di- Authentic literacy
rector of the local nature center. All of the students The second graders in Ms. Jones’s science
recalled their recent trip to the pond as part of their
class were actively involved in what we consider
science unit on pond life.
to be authentic literacy. We documented this inci-
Dear Boys and Girls, dent, and many others, over the course of a two-
I hope you enjoyed your visit to our pond. I en- year experimental research study of genre learning
joyed answering your many good questions about what in second- and third-grade science classes. In this
lives in ponds. After you left, I thought about all of the
article, we provide a brief introduction to authen-
other children who visit us and who also have many of
the same questions. I thought it might be a good idea to tic literacy and to the research study. We then dis-
have a brochure for them with answers to some of their cuss theory and research behind authentic literacy.
questions. I am writing to ask if you would prepare a Finally, we share lessons from teachers about set-
brochure like this. It could be called something like ting up authentic literacy activities in their class-
“Questions and Answers About Pond Life.” You could rooms. We hope to provide teachers with many
include some of your questions that you had before you
ideas for their own practice.
visited us. If you write this, I will have many copies
printed that we can put in the main office. That way, The terms authentic literacy and authentic
people can pick one up when they come or as they are reading and writing are familiar to many teachers.
leaving. I hope you can do this for us. We are encouraged to include authentic literacy ac-
Sincerely, Mr. Hernandez tivities in our instruction. Students, we believe,
need to read authentic literature and to engage in
After a quick vote of approval, the students authentic writing. But what is authentic literacy? In
went to work. They studied similar brochures col- many ways, the term is a pedagogical one. People
lected from museums and other sites of natural sci- who are not involved with issues of instruction do
ence. They worked in groups to brainstorm not use it. Yet to many teachers, authentic literacy
questions for the brochure, after which they re- means reading and writing that is unlike the kind
searched answers by reading from a variety of sci- done in school.
346 The Reading Teacher Vol. 60, No. 4 December 2006/January 2007
FIGURE 1
Authenticity rating sheet
Brief description of activity, including (a) text students are reading, writing, or listening to, and (b) purpose of stu-
dents’ reading, writing, or listening:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Authenticity of purpose
Rating: 3 2 1
3 = This reading, writing, or listening-to-text purpose exists in the lives of people outside a classroom, or it is as
authentic as the use of that genre for that purpose can be.
2 = This reading, writing, or listening-to-text purpose exists in the lives of people outside a classroom, but it dif-
fers in that for reading the impetus is less personal and for writing the audience is less compelling.
1 = This reading, writing, or listening-to-text purpose is identified by its absence of any purpose beyond school
work. This takes different forms depending on the genre and process (reading or writing).
Authenticity of text
Rating: 3 2 1
3 = This text type occurs naturally in the lives of people outside a classroom. You can find it in bookstores or or-
der it for home delivery. This category also includes texts that are written primarily for instructional purposes
but that closely mimic the naturally occurring texts—the only difference being the publisher’s audience.
2 = This text is written primarily for use in schools and, although it mimics to an extent the genre style, form, and
purpose of those texts that do occur naturally outside school, it includes enough school “stuff” to be recogniz-
able. This type would include texts that have comprehension questions, special vocabulary sections, and per-
haps even “Checking What You Have Learned” sections. These texts are hybrid forms reflecting school and
authentic genres in different combinations and emphases.
1 = This text would not occur anywhere except in a school or other teaching and learning contexts. It is written to
teach skills and is used only for learning and practicing skills. You may be able to purchase these texts in
stores but they reflect a skills-learning purpose.
Total authenticity rating: _________
Examples of literacy activities and how they based on our analysis of literacy activities rated 3
would be rated are provided in Table 1. As you can (highly authentic) for both purpose and text. The
see, highly authentic reading and writing of infor- teachers participated in summer workshops devot-
mational text involves seeking and acquiring infor- ed to building an understanding of authentic litera-
mation (for reading) and providing information (for cy, and each teacher was coached once a week for
writing). Authentic reading and writing of proce- the entire year she or he was part of the study.
dural text involves doing procedures (for reading) Over time, the teachers developed many differ-
and enabling the doing of procedures (for writing). ent strategies for establishing authentic literacy
events in science. We identified and categorized
them in order to share these strategies with other
teachers.
Classroom activities: Lessons from
teachers Authentic reading of informational text in
The remainder of this article focuses on how science
teachers in our study established conditions for au- To establish authentic contexts and purposes
thentic reading and writing of informational and for the reading and writing of informational text,
procedural texts in science. These portraits are the teachers looked for different ways to generate
348 The Reading Teacher Vol. 60, No. 4 December 2006/January 2007
TABLE 1
Examples of activities with differing levels of authenticity of purpose (continued)
Activites and text type Rating 3 Rating 2 Rating 1
Writing activities, In pairs, students re- The teacher led the class in The teacher told the class
informational text searched a topic that they composing an information to imagine that an alien
believed would be of inter- pamphlet about what was lands in the playground and
est to children in Mrs. X’s discovered in the dirt in the sees a pine tree there. This
class. Mrs. X’s class gener- playground. She elicited alien asks one of the stu-
ated questions and sent “text” from the students dents what the tree is. The
them to the students to and wrote it on chart pa- assignment was to write an
guide them. The students’ per. The pamphlet was to information book about
ultimate purpose was to be sent home to parents, trees for the alien.
write and publish informa- for display and also to pro-
tion books on each topic vide information about the The teacher told the class
and present them to Mrs. X school playground. that each student was to
for her class library. pretend to have a pen pal in
Students contributed as a another country. The stu-
The kindergarten class group to an information dents wrote an information
requested picture books pamphlet that was posted book about the plants that
about animal babies. In as a class project in the grow in their backyards to
groups of three, students hallway on Back-to-School inform pen pals who have
created the books. They Night. The topic was never been to the United
either drew or used cut-out assigned as part of the States.
pictures, and they wrote district-mandated curricu-
accompanying labels, lum on force and motion.
captions, or sentences. The teacher did the actual Students answered ques-
They laminated each page writing. tions referring to sample
and bound the books, which procedures such as these:
were presented to the The teacher suggested How many materials are re-
kindergarten class and writing information books quired? What are you sup-
read aloud by the students for the kindergartners. She posed to do after you have
who created them. elicited questions from the poured the water into the
class on what they thought glass?
Students contributed text kindergartners would like
to an informational to know. She assigned
brochure to be printed and groups to read to find the
left for visitors to a local answers to the questions
nature center. This project and then to write an infor-
was prompted by the guide mational text for the
at the center after the stu- kindergarten library.
dents had visited there. He
wrote a letter to the class
requesting the brochure.
(continued)
Writing activities, Students were assigned Following a lesson on Students were told to pre-
procedural text different tasks related to planting seeds, the teacher tend that an alien arrived
growing corn inside their assigned students to write at their school and wanted
classroom. As spring break a procedure for doing so. to know how to take care of
approached, they com- They were to use all that baby chickens. The teacher
posed—in their task-related they had learned about assigned students to work
groups—a list of instruc- planting seeds. They took in groups of three and pre-
tions for the aide who had turns following one anoth- pare a “how-to” pamphlet
volunteered to take care of er’s procedures to see how for the alien. The teacher
the plants while the stu- well they were written. led these groups in com-
dents were away. Many had to do rewrites. posing this procedural text.
She wrote it on chart paper
Students created a proce- After a unit on underwater or on the chalkboard.
dures book that will be plants, students were as-
passed on to the class next signed to create a procedur- Students watched and an-
year. They worked in pairs al pamphlet telling readers swered questions while the
to create procedures for how to prepare and care for teacher wrote parts of a pro-
demonstrations for key sci- an underwater plant aquari- cedure on the chalkboard in
ence concepts. Each pair um. They worked with the a lesson on “writing proce-
picked a different one from teacher to compose it, and dures.” Teacher questions
a list generated by the the teacher saved the fin- were of this type: Now, what
teacher. As part of this, they ished products for next do I call the section that lists
had to “field test” their year’s students. the things you need?
demonstration by doing it Materials, that’s right. I’ll
according to their written write that right here.
procedures. The teacher ful-
ly expected the students to
use the procedures to help
learn the concepts.
The teacher led the class in
composing a procedural text.
She elicited text from the
students and wrote it on the
board. The students then
copied the text to be included
in their individual procedures
book that they will eventually
take home and use.
350 The Reading Teacher Vol. 60, No. 4 December 2006/January 2007
the need to seek information that the student read- topic, read aloud from a text about it, and then
ers required or wanted to know. Teachers often asked students if they had any questions on that
generated student questions prior to the reading of topic. These questions guided future reading.
informational text. These types of set-ups fell into
several categories. Discrepant events. Finally, teachers set up situa-
tions involving discrepant events to generate ques-
Hands-on demonstrations. Teachers conducted tions about science content. A discrepant event
demonstrations to generate questions as well as gen- reflects a reality that conflicts with what students
eral interest in a science topic the class was about to might expect to see. For a study unit on light, one
study. For example, one teacher created a model vol- teacher set up a prism on the overhead while her
cano and, by pouring a solution of baking soda and class was out of the room. This caused rainbows
vinegar into the top, caused a reaction that looked to appear on the ceiling. When the students re-
like a lava eruption. Another teacher brought in turned there were many “oohs” and “ahs” and a
caterpillars for the students to observe and handle. rush of questions about how the rainbow effects oc-
Questions that arose naturally or in response to the curred. Capturing these questions, the teacher led
teacher’s elicitation were used to inspire and guide the class in finding informational text on light to
informational reading. Teachers recorded questions help them understand the phenomenon.
on a clipboard as they circulated, and wrote them
on chart paper during a group discussion. This inte-
gration of hands-on, or first-hand, investigations
Authentic reading and writing of
with text-based, or second-hand, investigations is procedural texts in science
supported by a number of research studies (e.g., Given our operational definition of authentic
Anderson & Guthrie, 1999; Palincsar & Magnusson, reading and writing of procedural texts—reading in
2001; Romance & Vitale, 2001). order to do a procedure and writing to instruct
someone how to do one—the set-ups for these au-
Teachable moments. Teachers responded to un- thentic literacy activities were fairly straightfor-
expected events in ways that connected with their ward. Highly authentic reading of procedural text
science instruction. For example, a second grader occurred when teachers let students in their science
appeared in class one day with her arm in a cast. units read and conduct procedures that were an in-
Her teacher, realizing that she could use this un- tegral part of the content being learned (e.g., in-
fortunate accident for her unit on the skeletal sys- vestigations intended to demonstrate science
tem, centered the class discussion on the student’s concepts). For the most part, students wrote proce-
broken arm. Questions like “How did you break dural text for the authentic purpose of providing the
it?” “Does it hurt?” “Which bone is broken?” were requisite instruction to someone who would be
asked. Students read many informational texts on reading the text when conducting the procedures.
bones that day. Another teacher proceeded in a sim- These could be procedures for conducting investi-
ilar manner when a student brought in an unusual gations, caring for plants and animals in or outside
and interesting rock, in response to a unit on rocks. the classroom, and so on.
Topic announcements. K–W–Ls (Ogle, 1986)
were often used by teachers for eliciting questions Authentic writing and reading
about topics. These activities followed the K–W–L All of the teachers gave evidence of conceiving
template for the most part (K = what we know; W = authenticity as a literacy construct—that is, as in-
what do we want to know; L = what we have cluding writing, reading, and other language
learned). The teachers first elicited what the stu- processes much of the time. This meant that teach-
dents knew—for example, about sound. Then they ers often used the communicative purposes of writ-
elicited questions the students had about the top- ing informational and procedural text as a rationale
ic—what they wanted to know—structuring their for reading. Although we can look at these data on
reading of informational text about sound. In a sim- integrated reading and writing activities in several
ilar approach, teachers announced a new science ways, we use three lenses: literacy in response to
352 The Reading Teacher Vol. 60, No. 4 December 2006/January 2007
directed toward readers within the school but out- Informational texts other than books were also
side the students’ classrooms. And many were written for authentic audiences within school com-
composed for classmates, resulting in texts that re- munities, always in response to a demonstrated
flected shared background knowledge. need or request for such texts. Answers providing
information about science topics were written as a
Purposes for writing to a more distant reader. result of a question jar placed in school libraries.
Many teachers in the study proved to be inventive Students were encouraged to write questions to put
in establishing purposes for writing informational in the jar. Bookmarks with information on di-
and procedural scientific texts for real readers out- nosaurs were written for students and made avail-
side their schools and, in some cases, outside their able in a central place. Posters like those found in
communities and countries. They called on person- natural history museums were placed in school
al and professional friends to act as readers and au- hallways. Factoids on weather were written to be
diences. They took advantage of e-mail, the read over the public address system for the daily
Internet, and other technological venues. And they weather report. Video scripts about water were
worked with local community members to estab- written and then produced for the morning an-
lish authentic contexts for authentic writing, as our nouncement event in a school that featured televi-
example of the pond brochure illustrates. sion monitors in each classroom.
One Michigan teacher arranged for a friend Authentic writing for within-school audiences
who teaches third grade in Costa Rica to request also took place with procedural text. For example,
via e-mail some information books on Michigan’s teachers arranged with colleagues to request proce-
climate for her students. While reading and writ- dures for experiments that their classes could con-
ing in response to this request, the Michigan stu- duct. Or one class would serve as an audience for
dents also learned about the climate of Costa Rica another in reading student-written text on how to
grow lima beans.
so they could better explain their weather through
compare-and-contrast techniques. Other distant,
Classroom community as audience. Finally, teach-
authentic, teacher-arranged audiences included stu-
ers would often turn to their own classrooms to pro-
dents who requested information on living things, vide purposes and audiences for the informational
light, and sound; visitors to the local library whose and procedural reading and writing. All of these ac-
librarian requested information books on coral tivities, rated 3, could and do occur naturally in the
reefs; museum-goers whose director requested in- world outside the learning-to-read-and-write con-
formation sheets about light; and readers of the text. For example, sometimes students would read
ZOOM website (http://pbskids.org/zoom/), which about mammals with the purpose of sharing orally
solicited science-related procedures from children. with class members interesting facts they discov-
ered. Or students would write informational books
Arranging within-school audiences. As teachers on a variety of science topics for their class library,
searched for authentic audiences for their student to be read by class members during the year.
writers, they also found them within their school Because procedural texts specific to the class-
communities. These readers provided the distance rooms’ science topics and curricula and appropriate
that is pragmatically required for much writing but for students of this age were hard to find, the ration-
were more immediately accessible than those out- ale for writing procedures to demonstrate concepts
side school. Students wrote information books on a under study was very natural and obvious. In these
variety of science topics for their school libraries, cases, students would often write different proce-
for “next year’s class,” “for the kindergartners” dures in groups and then share them with classmates
(who were often willing listeners), and for numer- in other groups who would then conduct the proce-
ous other classes in their schools. For each of these dures. One interesting example of this was the class
writing events, which always required background that wrote procedures for creating different musical
reading, the teachers made sure that the students instruments (as part of a study of sound) and then ex-
knew there was a real audience and that the texts changed them with other students who tried to build
would be read by that audience. the instruments and play them.
TABLE 2
Sample genres and purposes for reading and writing them
Genre Purpose for reading Purpose for writing
Informational text To obtain information about the To provide information about the
natural or social world natural or social world to someone
who wants or needs it
Procedural text To make something or do To guide the making or doing of
something according to something for someone who wants or
procedures needs it
Fictional narrative text To relax; for entertainment, To provide relaxation; to entertain,
broadly defined; to discuss broadly defined; to foster discussion
Personal letter To maintain a relationship; to To maintain a relationship; to inform
learn about personal events; to about personal events; to express
share emotions emotions
List To be informed about a related To record a related group of items
group of items
Biography To learn about a person’s life To convey information about a
person’s life
Book review To learn about a book and To convey information about a book and
someone’s opinion of and one’s opinion of and responses to it
responses to it
354 The Reading Teacher Vol. 60, No. 4 December 2006/January 2007
opportunities to bring authentic literacy into their Hymes, D. (1974). Foundations in sociolinguistics: An ethno-
classrooms. graphic approach. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press.
Note: This article is based upon work support- Lemke, J.L. (1994, November). Genre as a strategic re-
ed by the National Science Foundation under Grant source. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the
No. 9979904. National Council of Teachers of English, Orlando, FL.
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies:
Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review,
Duke teaches at Michigan State University 66, 60–92.
(350 Floor Erickson Hall, East Lansing, MI Ogle, D.S. (1986). K–W–L group instructional strategy. In A.S.
48824, USA). E-mail nkduke@msu.edu. Palincsar, D.S. Ogle, B.F. Jones, & E.G. Carr (Eds.),
Purcell-Gates teaches at the University of Teaching reading as thinking (pp. 11—17). Alexandria, VA:
British Columbia in Vancouver. Hall teaches at Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Palincsar, A., & Magnusson, S. (2001). The interplay of first-
hand and text-based investigations to model and support
Tower teaches at Prairie Creek Community the development of scientific knowledge and reasoning.
School in Northfield, Minnesota. In S. Carver & D. Klahr (Eds.), Cognition and instruction:
Twenty-five years of progress (pp. 151—193). Mahwah, NJ:
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