Targeting Language Ownership and Awareness with Authentic Uses of English

Abstract

The present paper describes a 12-week content-based course implemented with a class of secondary school students in Italy that aimed to enhance the levels of language ownership and awareness via authentic uses of English. The themes of exclusion and exile – viewed from historical and contemporary standpoints – served as a springboard for class discussions and debates, and inspired the development of collaborative, multimodal final projects shared on Write4Change, an international virtual writing community. After reporting on language attitude and ownership data collected with an entry questionnaire that informed the course design, this paper describes the four phases of the course in detail and presents an overview of ways in which authenticity was embedded within the course. Favorable student responses to the course and its successful implementation, notwithstanding contextual constraints such as limited access to technology, make replication of this course in other learning settings both feasible and worthwhile.