This article reports on a study of 23 tenth-grade students who created fiction in digital game and written formats. The researchers observed them at work, analysed their stories in both formats, and interviewed selected students to learn what affordances and constraints they demonstrate and/or articulate in such authoring. The students used ScriptEase, a software tool that supports the creation of digital stories, based on the game engine of Neverwinter Nights (Bioware). The authors consider the theoretical literature about narrative and games, focusing especially on indicators of verbal tense and mood. They discuss the overlaps and differences between digital and written stories, drawing in particular on the work of two students, and they conclude with implications for theoretical understandings of contemporary narratives in multiple formats and implications for literacy education.
This article explores what teachers and students can learn about contemporary story‐telling from a study of fan fiction – that is, stories created by readers and viewers out of the canonical material of previously published fictions. Drawing on the example of Pirates of the Caribbean, it investigates ways in which fan fiction writers develop codes and conventions to govern themselves. For example, online litmus tests establish when a writer is self‐indulgently writing ‘Mary Sue’ characters into a story; the self‐styled Protectors of the Plot Continuum patrol the fictional limits of an imagined world to make sure that canonical information is not violated by fan fiction writers. This article makes use of such examples to investigate how quality control in fan fiction is codified, and to explore what teachers can learn from such enterprises about contemporary writing, reading and viewing. It compares these possibilities with issues of online literacy outlined by Henry Jenkins under three headings: the participation gap, the transparency problem, and the ethics challenge.
One young adolescent writer's fantasy narrative is used as an example of writings that blend genres and borrow conventions across media in contemporary student and professional fiction. Such writing raises issues for teachers, three of which are discussed: development of students' writing, assessment of writing, and awareness of copyright and ownership issues.
This article reports comprehensive findings from a national study of the teaching and assessment of writing in classrooms across ten Canadian provinces and two of three territories. Through interviews with 216 grade 4-8 teachers and observations and interviews in 22 classrooms (1 to 3 classrooms in each province), we gathered information about participating middle-grade teachers’ goals, and the practices and resources (including computers and multi-media, parents and community resources) that they use to teach and assess writing. The strengths and challenges that they identify in teaching writing and assessing writing, and the people who have most greatly influenced their writing instruction provide additional information on which we base implications for teacher education and professional development initiatives.Cet article présente les résultats exhaustifs d’une étude nationale portant sur l’enseignement et l’évaluation de l’écriture dans les classes des dix provinces canadiennes et de deux des trois territoires. Des entrevues auprès de 216 enseignants de 4e année à secondaire 2 ainsi que des observations et des entrevues dans 22 classes (1 à 3 classes dans chacune des provinces) ont été réalisées. Ce faisant, nous avons accumulé des informations auprès des enseignants des écoles intermédiaires participant sur les objectifs, les pratiques et les ressources (incluant les ordinateurs et autres technologies ainsi que les parents et les ressources communautaires) que ceux-ci utilisent pour enseigner et évaluer l’écriture. Les forces et les défis identifiés par les participants en ce qui a trait à leur enseignement et évaluation de l’écriture — et les personnes ayant le plus influencé leur pratique d’enseignement de l’écriture — sont des éléments d’informations supplémentaires sur lesquels nous nous appuyons pour formuler certaines implications pour les initiatives de formation et de développement professionnel des enseignants
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