Adolescent Digital Literacy and Teaching Perspectives: The Case of Fanfiction

Abstract

Our study consists in the analysis of an experimental academic adaptation of fanfiction practices in the context of French teaching in middle schools. It is based on the observation that the adolescent practice of fanfiction fosters the development of literary and numerical skills and that it presents common characteristics with traditional literary and even academic writing practices. In this sense, it may have relevant didactic potential. However, bringing informal practices closer to the school setting is a risk as they might then lose their appeal and no longer make it possible to thwart negative relationships with the written word. We will analyze whether or not the fanfiction experiment, carried out over the course of a school year, has been able to stimulate the students’ commitment and positively change their relationship to the written word. © 2021 Universite Stendhal, Editions Litteraires et Linguistiques de l'Universite de Grenoble (ELLUG). All rights reserved.