Engelbert Thaler
Lit 21 - New Literary Genres in the Language Classroom
Narr Francke Attempto Verlag Tübingen
For an in-depth definition of the dystopian genre see Sargent (1994) and Moylan (2000), as well as Basu et al. (2013).
Beck adds a transnational aspect to this approach, which also gives an interesting aspect to the principle of think global, act local: “The autonomy of the state has ceased to exist among the threats to self and others of world risk society […]. National sovereignty does not make cooperation possible; rather, it is transnational cooperation that makes national sovereignty possible” (Beck 2012 [2009]: 233).
A forthcoming study supports the argument that students would prefer reading young adult novels in class if these are offered as an alternative to novels written for an adult audience (see Matz/Rumlich forthcoming).
The blogger and journalist Dan Bloom may have coined this term, which is now commonly accepted as its own genre (see www.cli-fi.net/index.html). Not all climate (change) fiction necessarily qualifies as dystopian fiction, though, as the setting of these narratives might also be set either in today’s worlds or in the far-away future. So far, research in this field remains scarce.
Specific pre-, while- and post-reading activities for intermediate learners at Sekundarstufe I are provided and discussed in Thomson (2019), which focuses on Nina Schindler’s text-talk novel An Order of Amelie, Hold the Fries (2004).
The term was apparently first used in 2011 by Callè Friesen, Associate Professor of Education at Buena Vista University, Iowa, USA, who has specialized in Cultural Literacy Studies, 21st-Century Literature, and Teaching Literature to Young Adult Readers. In recent years, a number of different genre labels has surfaced, each unfortunately referring to and meaning something else (for instance, ‘e-mail novel’, ‘internet novel’, ‘digi fiction’, ‘medialized epistolary fiction’). While none of them is suitable to refer to the literary genre discussed here, the term ‘text-talk fiction’, however, allows the author of this contribution to subsume under this heading all of those generic variations discussed and referred to here without highlighting or excluding one form or another.
However, unlike Löschnigg (2018: 328), whose definition of ‘staged integration’ is restricted to electronic/digital/internet formats, this contribution includes all other incorporated forms of communication as well, because also non-electronic formats (like, e.g., a post-it, postcard or handwritten letter) are normally not physically incorporated in their original form but must be imitated on the printed novel page as well.
The two remaining sub-categories are ‘medial transposition’ (Medienwechsel) and ‘media combination’ (Medienkombination). According to Rajewsky (2005: 51 f.), ‘medial transposition’ refers to the transformation of a given media product (e.g. a novel) into another one (e.g. a film adaptation). ‘Media combination’ is defined as the combination of at least two distinct medial forms with each of these forms retaining its own materiality in the new medial product (e.g. visual poetry).
These terms, proposed here to distinguish between different quantitative manifestations of intermedial references in text-talk fiction, may serve as preliminary labels only. The use of the prefixes mono- and multi- is motivated by a similar differentiation made within the concept of modality in literary texts, i.e. between monomodal and multimodal novels (see feature (7) below).
For a discussion of typographic elements in multimodal novels see Hallet (2009: 138 f.).
See Thomson (2019: 16) for specific teaching suggestions as to how the interplay between different modes could be explored in Schindler’s An Order of Amelie, Hold the Fries.
Strictly speaking, the term ‘e-mail novel’ is not absolutely accurate, for in Kellaway’s book intermedial references are not exclusively made to the ‘e-mail’, but to two other formats as well. The author also ‘uses’ 12 sms and a fictitious Financial Times article, thereby actually turning her novel into a multi-intermedial narrative. Since the vast number of e-mails outweighs by far the other formats, ‘e-mail novel’ still seems to be a legitimate label for Kellaway’s book.
According to the Oxford Dictionary (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/binge-watch), binge-watching means watching multiple episodes of a show in rapid succession, typically by means of digitial streaming. In order to avoid the harmful implications of “binge” as in binge-drinking or binge-eating, the American film industry came up with the alternative term marathoning.
These kinds of paratexts are important tools for multi-coding, and also an important feature of series in the age of “Quality Television” (cf. Schleich/Nesselhauf 2016, 182).
For more information on terms regarding series see von Finckenstein/Thaler in Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht, 04/17.
In order to create continuity across seasons, Season 2 begins with Chapter 14 and Season 3 starts with Chapter 27 and so on.
Michael Dobbs (born in 1948) is a well-known British Conservative politician and author of the political thrillers House of Cards, To Play the King and The Final Cut.
In a study conducted by the author of this article, 15 students, who worked with Viewing Journals on House of Cards, were interviewed about their experiences: All of the pupils pointed out that they found the journals very helpful to understand the show and would recommend their implementation for teaching English.
House of Cards did, for example, portray an election campaign in 2016 – parallel to the real fight for the presidency between Trump and Clinton. Further examples of parallels between the series and reality are relevant topics like the fear of ISIS and terrorism, US-Russian relations, cyber espionage and the relation between politics and the media.
Stern number 4, 19/01/17.
Depending on the pupils, the teacher will have to choose a slightly shortened version of the text and include footnotes with explanations of difficult vocabulary.
In the case of Claire Underwood, this becomes particularly obvious in Season 3, when she is getting more and more frustrated about only being First Lady and standing behind Frank all the time. Claire Underwood wants to be more than a puppet in beautiful dresses.
Transcultural learning should be seen as an extension of intercultural learning (cf. Delanoy 2012, Eisenmann 2015). In this vein, Blell/Doff (2014) have expanded upon Michael Byram’s model of five ICC competences (knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction, education and attitudes), proposing a model of inter-/transcultural communicative competence.
Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan are planning to expand the cartoon into two full-length book versions, one for adults and one for children. Moreover David Lindsay-Abaire is developing the comic into a teleplay.
There have been several documentary comics in the last couple of years about refugee experiences. Examples include Kate Evans’s Threads: From the Refugee Grisis (2017) about refugee camps in Calais or Joe Sacco’s The Unwanted about the situation of refugees in Malta.
An in-depth discussion of how the graphic novel may be used to foster processes of environmental learning is provided by Siepmann (2015).
“So tragically, so many of these people, almost all of them that we see, are so poor and they are so black, and this is going to raise lots of questions for people who are watching this story unfold” (Wolf Blitzer, CNN anchor) (CNN 2005: web).
Panta rhei. The world is in motion. So is literary production. The “Big 5 -ation waves”, i.e. globalization, digitalization, visualization, diversification, and multi-optionalization, are rocking the literary boat by adapting traditional genres, spawning new text types and modifying demands put on contemporary readers. New literary genres like visual literature, transcultural imaginaries, crunch lit, doodle fiction, fanfic, clifi, cosmopolitan novels, text-talk fiction, email novels, twitterature and digi fiction are gaining ground, and should be evaluated as regards their foreign language learning potential.
For all these reasons, this book is dedicated to the use of Lit 21 in TEFL. As all edited volumes in the SELT (Studies in English Language Teaching) series, it follows a triple aim:
Linking TEFL with related academic disciplines
Balancing TEFL research and classroom practice
Combining theory, methodology and exemplary lessons
This triple aim is reflected in the three-part structure of this volume. In Part A (Theory), the topic of Lit 21 is investigated from the perspectives of three academic disciplines, i.e. from the viewpoints of TEFL, literary studies and media studies. Part B (Methodology) assembles four contributions on selected genres, media and techniques. Six concrete lesson plans can be found in Part C (Classroom). These lessons were designed by lecturer (editor) and students at university, then conducted and assessed by teachers at German schools, and finally revised by the editor. Each of these chapters is divided into genre (brief background information on the new text type), sample texts, procedure (source, synopsis, competences, topics, level, time, phases of the lesson), materials (texts, worksheets, board sketches), solutions (expected answers), and bibliography.
Part A is introduced by the TEFL perspective. Engelbert Thaler adopts a five-step approach to examining the didactic potential of post-millennial fiction in the language classroom: What is the 21st century like? Who are the 21st century readers? What are the features of 21st century literature? What new literary genres can be identified in the 21st century? How should you teach these genres in the 21st century language classroom?
The perspective of literary studies is adopted by Ansgar Nünning. First, his essay accounts for the cultural dynamics of generic change by providing a brief look at some salient contexts and new concerns which serve as catalysts for the transformations of new genres of Lit 21. Second, it gives a selective overview of some emerging genres and new trends in 21st-century British novels, including hybridization, ‘fictions of the Internet’ and the rise of fragmentary essay-novels. Third, the author proposes some reasons why reading and teaching contemporary fiction matter in an age dominated by digital and social media.
Thomas Strasser adopts the perspective of media studies. He investigates the potentials of digital storytelling and tag cloud applications in a blended learning context focussing on productive and receptive skills in the EFL literature classroom. His findings show that certain educational applications, which consider various dimensions of the teaching of literature, elicit motivating phases of L2-acquisition among the learners.
Part B is introduced by Frauke Matz. She makes students realize the ‘terrors’ of the 21st century by recommending dystopian narratives, as they offer fictional insights into global discourses and serve as suitable texts when pursuing global education. Her article informs us about the genre and its current developments as well as discusses ways of fostering critical thinking skills, global attitudes and democratic participation within the context of global education.
Katrin Thomson is convinced that text-talk fiction, which attracts especially a young adult readership, offers great, yet still mostly untapped potential for the EFL literature classroom. She explores the characteristic features of this genre, discusses the didactic and methodological implications of reading text-talk narratives in the foreign language classroom, and presents a series of specific classroom activities.
Sophia Finck von Finckenstein explains the Netflix effect and the narrative power of series 21 by turning to the political drama series House of Cards. Taking one of the first Netflix originals as an example, she demonstrates how to foster media literacy, political learning and literary competence (via allusions to Shakespeare tragedies) in advanced TEFL classes.
Claudia Deetjen uses comics journalism to help learners engage critically with the multi-modal ways of making meaning. When dealing with the graphic report of a Syrian refugee family or the account of Hurricane Katrina, learners may acquire multiple literacies, develop skills in selecting relevant information and critically assess multi-modal texts in terms of their constructedness.
Part C comprises six contributions, which demonstrate how new literary genres can be made use of in the English language classroom:
Shorties, to put it tautologically, are ideal texts for TEFL because they are short and narrative. Among the wealth of Shorties, also called flash fiction, skinny fiction, prosetry, short short story, or mini-fiction, we also find the sub-genre of drabbles, which consist of exactly 100 words. Valentina Kleinert has teenagers reflect on everyday life, stress, making ends meet, nature, and yearning for peace by reading a drabble titled What might not Happen.
Cherelle Hobson encourages learners to discuss similarities and differences between growing up in an Islamic and a Western culture by reading Persepolis. This autobiographical graphic memoir by Marjane Satrapi deals with her childhood and coming of age within a loving family living in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution and Iran-Iraq War.
Isabel Mair is convinced that digital picture books are among the most exciting innovations in literature for children in a long time. That is why she familiarizes us with the International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL), which makes children’s books from all over the world accessible, online and free of charge. To pave the way for the introduction of the ICDL in elementary TEFL classrooms, she suggests a lesson on The Jungle School.
Maximilian Leoson and Julian Schafroth are fans of fanfiction, i.e. a fan’s interpretation of a well-known text of popular culture, which leads to the creation of a narrative text produced by this fan. They intend to make learners become fans of Game of Thrones and write their own pieces of fanfiction.
Twitterverse can be a confusing place, especially when friends act differently online than they do in person. This painful insight is gained by Claire, a hopeless romantic, Lottie, who is determined to set up her BFF with Mr. Perfect, and Will, who wants his secret crush to finally notice him. Tweet Heart, a text-talk novel written entirely in emails, tweets and instant messages, is recommended by Eduard Gitt.
Anja Wahler introduces us to the innovative text type of digi fiction, i.e. fiction written for and read on a computer screen, combining visual, auditory and textual stimuli. The topics of immigration, intercultural encounters and refugees can be explored with the sample text of Flight Paths, which supports a multiliteracies approach in class.
The theoretical, methodological and practical contributions in this volume may open the doors a bit to accessing Lit 21 in our English language classrooms, so that we can strike a fair balance between pre-millennial fiction und post-millennial literature. As a matter of fact, there are not only the omnipresent DWEMs (Dead White English Males), but also the LANGs (Living Authors and New Genres). Cuncta fluunt.