Fanfiction In-And-Out-Of-School Literacy Practice

Fanfiction, reading, and writing in online communities to build reading and writing skills.

- Reading comprehension and writing skills can be learned in many different ways. The more you read, the more language skills you develop, allowing you to explore writing in a more experienced form. Writing and reading work alongside in developing a person’s language and communication skills, which are useful for their everyday lives.

- Bahoric, K., & Swaggerty, E. (2015). “Fanfiction: Exploring In-And-Out-Of-School Literacy Practices”. Colorado Reading Journal, 26, 25-31. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elizabeth-Swaggerty/publication/280531703_Fanfiction_Exploring_in-_and_out-of-school_literacy_practices/links/563a5e4208ae405111a5864b/Fanfiction-Exploring-in-and-out-of-school-literacy-practices.pdf

1.

Fanfiction can teach analysis skills, critical thinking, and research skills. Writers research information regarding the source material, to ensure their fanfiction will be ‘lore-accurate’, while readers will research the source material to learn more about the story. Readers may also research words or terms they are unfamiliar with when they’re faced with it in fanfiction, allowing them to further develop their language and research skills.

2. Fanfiction among peers can build a community of exploring ideas, language, and information that can assist with skills in other areas of their lives such as reading comprehension, independent reading, and cooperative writing. This also allows the reader to learn a language easier, and in a more welcoming environment than might be given in a classroom.

3. According to Kelly Bahoric and Elizabeth Swaggerty (2015), “Young people are learning valuable literacy skills through reading and writing fanfiction. These skills are aligned with proficiencies that are taught in the classroom, thus making fanfiction a viable tool for teachers to implement for literacy