Context and Contextualisation: Hallmarks of Authentic Spoken English

Abstract

When speaking of language, “authenticity” is almost always indissociable from the figure of the native speaker: native English speakers are seen as the unique holders of the ability to produce “genuine” English. In an effort to move past this harmful ideological positioning, this article sets out the case for another marker to be taken as a benchmark for linguistic authenticity: contextualisation. First, it is shown how contextualisation – the complex interplay between language and context – can be considered as a hallmark of authenticity. Following this, the creation of teaching and research materials is shown to engender decontextualization of linguistic data, leading to the loss of elements of contextualisation. Some theoretical and methodological remedies to this situation are explored. Finally, this conception of authenticity is shown to have benefits in terms of developing students’ communicative competence as well as moving beyond the exclusive “native speaker as authentic” ideological paradigm.