The Handbook of Informal Language Learning

9Fan Fiction and Informal Language Learning

SHANNON SAURO

Introduction

This chapter explores fan fiction, defined as stories that reimagine or reinterpret existing stories, characters and universes found in other texts and media, and the informal language learning that reading and writing fan fiction support. It begins with an overview of fans, fandom, and various fan practices found in online affinity spaces, including both affirmational practices (e.g. the consumption of media, discussion, debating) and transformative practices (e.g. fan art, amateur translations, spoiling). While many of these fan practices have also been found to support informal language learning or the development of other skills and knowledge, it is fan fiction that has received the greatest attention both in popular culture and in educational research. This chapter then offers a crash course overview of different genres of fan fiction before examining and discussing research which has looked at the informal language learning that occurs through the reading and writing of fan fiction.

Fans, fandom, and fan practices

What precisely is a fan? This is a question often raised by my students when I introduce them to the concept of fan fiction for language learning. Do you have to write fan fiction or spend hours debating disputed plot points in the latest science fiction blockbuster on internet forums to be a fan? Can you still be a fan of a novel if all you have ever done is read it 12 times? What about ...