While skills in one or more foreign languages (FL) or second languages (L2) and ICT skills are fundamental for a wide range of educational and professional opportunities, school education is not always successful in developing both to a desirable level. However, language, and especially creative genres such as fiction, can help foster empathy and understanding of context and culture – crucial for 21st century skills in a plurilingual and pluricultural world. In informal online learning, language, culture and ICT are often intertwined; examples include fan fiction writing, a form of creative writing that transforms popular media in some way, and the development of interactive fiction, a form of non-linear literature that verges on the world of gaming. In language education, however, language, culture and ICT are usually separated. FanTALES addresses these gaps by developing, evaluating and disseminating technology-mediated fan fiction-based and multilingual interactive storytelling tasks. These tasks are aimed at the telecollaborative teaching and learning of languages and cultures, for English as a FL, and for Swedish, Dutch and German as L2s. Through a collaboration of teacher training departments at universities with secondary schools in Belgium, Sweden and Germany, the project mainly addresses adolescent language learners in school contexts (14-18 year old) and their teachers (in-service and pre-service). The learning materials and activities developed by this project are intended to develop skills in reading, creative writing, written communication, intercultural dialogue and ICT skills through a learning-by-doing (task-based) approach. The project activities and results include (1) identifying popular source texts (youth literature, graphic novels, films, TV series, ...) in the different local cultures through the learners and teachers involved; (2) developing learning through doing modules for raising awareness and knowledge about fan fiction, multilingualism and interactive storytelling practices; (3) producing video tutorials for developing skills in these areas; (4) developing and evaluating tasks, evaluation rubrics, and a gamified web application for setting up, scaffolding and stimulating writing challenges; (5) preparing a handbook for teachers, and infographics kits for other stakeholders such as (educational) publishers and creative industries; and (6) organizing dissemination events in the respective countries, embedded in existing platforms for professional development of teachers. Using an iterative methodology, teacher trainers and at least 200 pre-service teachers, in consultation with in-service teachers at the partner schools, will develop the learning materials and other outputs. The materials will be piloted with at least 600 pupils in schools. Experts in fandom, interactive fiction and telecollaboration will be consulted as external advisors to help set up and monitor the project activities and outcomes. FanTALES aims to impact on language learning in secondary schools, particularly in terms of modernizing the teaching of literature and of other creative forms of linguistic and cultural expression; on the new media literacy of adolescents, adults, and teachers; on the attractiveness of teacher education for languages and the profession of language teaching more generally; and on the promotion of intercultural dialogue in a multilingual context. Sustainability of this impact will be achieved by using open tools for interactive storytelling such as Twine or the scripting language Ink, by making the learning materials available as open educational resources to schools and teacher training institutions, by encouraging community adaptation and sharing, and by deploying the project website and gamified writing challenge platform on a free-to-use web portal.
FanTALES stands for multilingual and interactive digital storytelling in the language classroom, done by fans of popular media, for a more inclusive world. Storytelling can help foster empathy and understanding of context and culture, which are critical in a pluricultural world. In online spaces (the so-called ‘digital wilds’), communities of people from different backgrounds and cultures tell stories to each other, discuss their stories and give each other feedback. A first example of such digital storytelling is fanfiction writing, a form of creative writing done by fans of popular media, which transforms stories in some way (for example, by changing the gender of a main character). A second example is interactive fiction, a non-linear type of story where the reader makes choices that can influence the story. At the same time, the internet is multilingual: it is a place where languages mingle, and where language users can draw on their full repertoire of languages to communicate with each other and to build their identities. So, in the digital wilds, storytelling practices promote plurilingual competence, tolerance, and intercultural dialogue, and thereby fit in well with the educational agenda of Europe. However, these practices are only slowly finding their way into formal language education. To bridge the gap between language, literary, and cultural learning inside and outside of formal language education, FanTALES leveraged practices from fanfiction, interactive fiction, and multilingualism to develop materials that support digital transformative storytelling in the European language classroom. The project mainly addressed adolescent language learners in school contexts (14-18 years old) and their teachers (student teachers and practicing teachers). Teacher trainers, researchers and secondary school teachers developed materials for teaching and learning, and evaluated these with at least 2300 students in Belgium, Sweden and Germany, with a view to creating impact on: - language learning in secondary schools, particularly in terms of modernizing the teaching of literature and related creative forms of linguistic and cultural expression; - the new media literacy of adolescent and young adult language learners, and their teachers; - the attractiveness of teacher education for languages and the profession of language teaching more generally; - the promotion of intercultural dialogue in a multilingual context. The materials for teaching and learning are designed to help develop skills in reading, creative writing, (intercultural) communication and dialogue, and ICT skills, and are grounded in communicative language teaching approaches. They are available in English, German, Swedish and Dutch, and comprise: (1) Learning through doing modules to familiarize language teachers and their students with fanfiction, interactive fiction, and multilingual storytelling practices. (2) Interactive storytelling tutorials to prepare students for making interactive fiction with Twine. The tutorials are based on source texts popular with our student population (for example, the Harry Potter stories), and also incorporate elements of multilingual storytelling. (3) Prompts and assessment tools that teachers and students can combine and use as a basis for creating multilingual interactive storytelling tasks based on fanfiction. The 32 generic prompts are exemplified by sample instructions for specific storytelling tasks. (4) An online platform for digital storytelling that incorporates the prompts and assessment tools, and an inventory of 99 source texts popular in Sweden, Belgium (Flanders), and Germany, annotated for use in the classroom. The platform supports collaborative writing of linear stories as well as interactive fiction in Twine, and is open (teachers and students can add new content). (5) A storytelling kit that contains cards with our interactive storytelling tutorials and storytelling prompts (both linked to our online platform), as well as a set of dice that supports activities contained in our modules and tutorials. The box is perfect for learning in groups. (6) A practical handbook and recorded teacher training seminar that prepares teachers for using FanTALES materials in their classroom. The project team has released all materials for teaching and learning for other schools and teacher training institutions in the form of open educational resources. Adaptation and sharing are encouraged. Access to all materials on the project website and to the online storytelling platform is free of charge.