%0 Journal Article 
%A Coffey, Simon
%T Representations of language learning : from talking about a school subject to talking about "authentic" contexts
%D 2009
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10017/10081
%X In this article I examine how the ‘learning’ of modern languages (in this case mainly French, though also Russian) is constructed differently as, on one hand, a school subject, and, on the other hand, an integral element of interacting in ‘authentic’, or naturalistic, settings. Narrative analysis of participants’ life stories reveals how the two experiences of learning are constructed differently. Furthermore, I argue that defining authenticity only as communication in naturalistic settings can be simplistic given that authenticity denotes any experience which is motivated as genuine in a given context and valued for its own sake, including in the classroom. In the accounts discussed here, school learning is constructed as a pedagogic process dependent on being good at languages and having a good teacher whereas engaging in authentic settings is narrated as part of a wider life project of becoming cosmopolitan. The way the experience of language learning is reproduced through discourse has important implications on many levels: such an approach extends our understanding of the learning / acquisition distinction beyond blunt Krashenian terms to see that contexts of language learning are not static backdrops but are social networks which individuals reconfigure to make their own meaning. Individuals’ personal reflections on learning are shaped through narrative resources, and these can inform and enrich the types of intercultural work which encourage personal investment through links with others (such as peer correspondents) and discussion of cultural representations.

%K Teaching and learning
%K Autobiography
%K Language-and-culture
%K Pedagogy discourses
%K Enseñanza y aprendizaje
%K Autobiografía
%K Lengua y cultura
%K Discursos pedagógicos
%~ Biblioteca Universidad de Alcala