DIGITAL FICTION IN LITERARY EDUCATION

What do secondary-school teachers think about this multimodal artform as a pedagogical resource?

Abstract

This paper documents L1 teachers’ viewpoints regarding the integration of digital fiction in the form of multimodal, digital literary texts as a resource to foster literary education at secondary level. This study is developed in the context of a larger collaborative, intersectoral research project focused on the co-construction of guided reading of digital fiction texts. Based on interviews with 6 secondary school teachers in Catalonia (Spain), we analyze what teachers think about the arrival of digital fiction in literary education and the pedagogical function they consider that it might perform. Also, we document their fears and doubts regarding the academic use of these texts as well as the teaching and institutional challenges posed by the multimodal and interactive artforms that they envision using. The data analysis shows that one main challenge has to do with grasping the value of works of digital fiction as key texts for literary learning and reflecting on the ways in which digital fiction contributes to building a complex literary competence. Other challenges concern establishing criteria for the selection of quality texts, their suitability for the student/reader, envisioning teaching strategies, the metalanguage on multimodality, and overcoming institutional barriers. Our study also highlights the contributions that, according to teachers, digital fiction brings to reinforcing the interpretive, literary skills of secondary school students.