Affiliation:
1. Department of Educational Studies Goldsmiths, University of London London UK
Abstract
AbstractInteractive Fiction (IF)—a digital form of non‐linear narrative writing—requires readers to respond, to make choices that shape their reading experience. I argue that such choices can be put to use in the classroom, helping teachers to facilitate metalinguistic talk. In this article, I offer a clear conceptualisation of metalinguistic talk, drawing upon existing research to create a useful framework comprised of four characteristics. Using this framework, and with reference to interview data and field notes, I analyse and consider two transcripts of classroom talk in order to explore the extent to which a particular work of IF enabled me to facilitate metalinguistic talk with a class of 16–17‐year‐old English Literature students. The lesson in question formed part of an action research project exploring the possibilities for IF in the secondary school English classroom. I argue that the choices contained within A Great Gatsby, a work of IF which I designed via a process of critical‐creative textual intervention and using Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby as my source material, can help to scaffold metalinguistic talk—conversations about language.
Subject
Language and Linguistics,Education
Reference31 articles.
1. The teacher's soul and the terrors of performativity
2. Stylistics goes to school
3. Department for Education and Skills. (2004)Key Stage 3 National Strategy. Unit 11: Active engagement techniques. Retrieved fromhttps://www.ism.org/images/files/Pedagogy‐and‐Practice‐by‐DfES‐2004.pdf