Authenticity and Children’s Engagement with Writing

Abstract

Authentic literacy activities engage children with meaningful reading and writing (Duke, Purcell-Gates, Hall, & Tower, 2006), but little investigation has been conducted into the relationship of the kinds of writing children enjoy and the authenticity of the writing activity and experience. This paper reports findings from a study that investigates the question: How, if at all, does authenticity factor into kinds of writing that children like and/or dislike? Findings indicate that children enjoy writing that purposefully engages them with the real world, and is therefore authentic, and do not enjoy writing that they perceive as merely "school work".