“There’s always an option”

Collaborative Writing of Multilingual Interactive Fanfiction in a Foreign Language Class

Authors

  • Frederik Cornillie KU Leuven
  • Judith Buendgens-Kosten Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
  • Shannon Sauro University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
  • Joeri Van der Veken KU Leuven & Sint-Jozefscollege Aalst

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.41119

Keywords:

fanfiction, interactive fiction, multilingualism, collaborative writing, Maker culture, multiliteracies

Abstract

In the digital wilds, thriving storytelling practices (often in transcultural and multilingual contexts) share with Maker culture a belief in learning through doing, bricolage, collaboration, and playfulness. Key examples are fanfiction, a form of creative writing that transforms popular media in some way, and interactive fiction, a form of nonlinear narrative that verges on the world of gaming. This paper documents a pedagogical intervention carried out within the FanTALES project, which leverages creative writing and meaning-making practices from the digital wilds, in order to develop teaching and learning activities that engage secondary school learners in the writing of multilingual interactive fanfiction. Adolescent learners of English as a foreign language (N=21) wrote multilingual interactive fanfiction based on the digital game series Assassin’s Creed. Qualitative content analysis of focus groups with these learners suggests that they experienced intrinsic motivation and developed skills in language and storytelling as well as transversal competences. They also dealt with a lowered sense of autonomy due to the open-endedness of the tasks, and struggled with a lack of sufficient knowledge about storytelling practices and the source text, as well as with project management. Potential improvements for the pedagogical implementation include more scaffolding of the tasks, and better integration with curriculum and assessment.

Author Biographies

  • Frederik Cornillie, KU Leuven

    Frederik Cornillie (PhD, KU Leuven) is research and valorization manager in educational technology at KU Leuven and at the strategic research institute imec in Belgium. His main research interests in CALL are how digital gaming can support language education, and the intersection of (tutorial) CALL and task-based language learning more broadly. He is also passionate about design and development of CALL applications.

  • Judith Buendgens-Kosten, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

    Judith Buendgens-Kosten is a postdoctoral researcher at Goethe University Frankfurt. They hold an MA in Online and Distance Education from the Open University, UK, and a doctorate degree in English Linguistics from RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Their research interests encompass multilingual computer-assisted language learning and inclusive education in the EFL classroom.

  • Shannon Sauro, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)

    Shannon Sauro (PhD, University of Pennsylvania; Docent, Malmö University) is a specialist in technology-mediated language teaching and learning in the Department of Education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), USA. Her research focuses on the intersection of online fan practices and language learning and teaching as well as the role of virtual exchange in teacher education.

  • Joeri Van der Veken, KU Leuven & Sint-Jozefscollege Aalst

    Joeri Van der Veken is a teacher trainer at KU Leuven and an EFL teacher at the secondary school Sint-Jozefscollege in Aalst, Belgium. His research interests are the development of CALL materials in a differentiated classroom and the dramatization of interactive stories written in the EFL classroom.

References

Black, R. W. (2006). Language, culture, and identity in online fanfiction. E-Learning, 3(2), 170–184. https://doi.org/10.2304/elea.2006.3.2.170

Buendgens-Kosten, J. (2016). Building a multilingual niche: Code-choice and code-alternation at the Day of Multilingual Blogging. Domínios de Lingu@gem, 10(4), 1379–1403. https://doi.org/10.14393/DL27-v10n4a2016-9

CaptainOfTheKryptonSpacemarines (2018). The importance of knowing languages. Archive of Our Own. Retrieved November 1, 2020 from https://archiveofourown.org/works/16914975?view_full_work=true

Council of Europe (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/cci105

Council of Europe (2018a). Common European Framework of Reference for Language: Learning, teaching assessment. Companion volume with new descriptors. Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe. Retrieved November 1, 2020 from https://rm.coe.int/cefrcompanion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989

Council of Europe (2018b). Annex to the Council recommendation of 22 May 2018 on key competences for lifelong learning: Key competences for lifelong learning, a European reference framework. Official Journal of the European Union. Retrieved November 1, 2020 from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018H0604(01)&rid=7

Curwood, J. S. (2013). Fan fiction, remix culture, and The Potter Games. In V. E. Frankel (Ed.), Teaching with Harry Potter (pp. 81–92). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Duffett, M. (2013). Understanding fandom: An introduction to the study of media fan culture. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.

Erard, M. (2012). Babel no more. The search for the world’s most extraordinary language learners. New York, NY: Free Press.

FanTALES. (2019). Introduction to interactive fiction. Retrieved 11 January 2020 from https://youtu.be/dJoe9BQ6z6c

Halverson, E., & Peppler, K. (2018). The Maker Movement and learning. In F. Fischer, C. E. Hmelo-Silver, S. R. Goldman, & P. Reimann (Eds.), International handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 285–294). New York, NY: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315617572-28

Hubbard, P. (2002). Interactive participatory dramas for language learning. Simulation & Gaming, 33(2), 210–216. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878102332009

Inkle. (2014). 80 Days. Inkle. https://www.inklestudios.com/80days/

Jenkins, H. (1992). Textual poachers: Television fans and participatory culture. New York, NY: Routledge.

Kelly, S. W. (2012) Incidental learning. In N. M. Seel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the sciences of learning. Boston, MA: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_366

KeySTART2Work (n.d.). Catalogue of transversal competences key for employability. Retrieved November 1, 2020 from http://www.keystart2work.eu/images/docs/o2-catalogue/O2_Catalogue_EN.pdf

Lee, S. M. (2019). Her story or their own stories? Digital game-based learning, student creativity, and creative writing. ReCALL, 31, 238–254. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344019000028

Leppa?nen, S. (2007). Youth language in media contexts: Insights into the functions of English in Finland. World Englishes, 26(2), 149–169. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2007.00499.x

Leung, C., & Valdès, G. (2019). Translanguaging and the transdisciplinary framework for language teaching and learning in a multilingual world. Modern Language Journal, 103(2), 348–370. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12568

Martin, L. (2015). The promise of the Maker Movement for education. Journal of PreCollege Engineering Education Research, 5(1), 30–39. https://doi.org/10.7771/2157-9288.1099

Montfort, N. (2011). Toward a theory of interactive fiction. In K. Jackson-Mead & J. R. Wheeler (Eds.), IF theory reader (pp. 25–28). Boston, MA: Transcript On Press.

Neville, D. O., Shelton, B. E., & McInnis, B. (2009). Cybertext redux: Using digital gamebased learning to teach L2 vocabulary, reading, and culture. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 22(5), 409–424. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588220903345168

New London Group (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review (spring), 60–93. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160u

Pereira, J. (2014). Using interactive fiction for digital game-based language learning. In S. Garton & K. Graves (Eds.), International perspectives on materials in ELT (pp. 178–197). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave MacMillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137023315

Robinson, P. (2007). Criteria for classifying and sequencing pedagogic tasks. In M. P. Garcia Mayo (Ed.), Investigating tasks in formal language learning (pp. 7–27). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853599286-004

Robinson, P. (2011). Second language task complexity: Researching the cognition hypothesis of language learning and performance. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/tblt.2

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(1), 54–67. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1999.1020

Sauro, S. (2017). Online fan practices and CALL. CALICO Journal, 34(2), 131–146. https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.33077

Sauro, S. (2020). Fan fiction and informal language learning. In M. Dressman & R. W. Sadler (Eds.), The handbook of informal language learning (pp. 139–151). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119472384.ch9

Sauro, S., & Sundmark, B. (2016). Report from Middle-Earth: Fan fiction tasks in the EFL classroom. ELT Journal, 70(4), 414–423. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccv075

Sauro, S., & Zourou, K. (2019). What are the digital wilds? Language Learning & Technology, 23(1), 1–7.

Skains, R. L. (2019). Teaching digital fiction: Integrating experimental writing and current technologies. Palgrave Communications, 5(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0223-z

Storch, N. (2017). Implementing and assessing collaborative writing activities in EAP classes. In J. Bitchener, N. Storch, & R. Wette (Eds.), Teaching writing for academic purposes to multilingual students. Instructional approaches (pp. 130?144). New York, NY: Routledge.

Thorne, S. L., & Reinhardt, J. (2008). “Bridging activities,” new media literacies, and advanced foreign language proficiency. CALICO Journal, 25(3), 558–572. https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.v25i3.558-572

Thorne, S. L., Sauro, S., & Smith, B. (2015). Technologies, identities, and expressive activity. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 215–233. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190514000257

Vuorikari, R., Ferrari, A., & Punie, Y. (2019). Makerspaces for education and training: Exploring future implications for Europe. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/946996

Zhang, Y., & Wildemuth, B. M. (2009). Qualitative analysis of content. In B. Wildemuth (Ed.), Applications of social research methods to questions in information and library science (pp. 308–319). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Published

2021-02-02

Issue

Section

Special Issue 38.1: Innovation and Creation: The Maker Movement

How to Cite

Cornillie, F., Buendgens-Kosten, J., Sauro, S., & Van der Veken, J. (2021). “There’s always an option”: Collaborative Writing of Multilingual Interactive Fanfiction in a Foreign Language Class. CALICO Journal, 38(1), 17-42. https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.41119