Fanfiction as a creative writing practice: a classroom experience report in textual production

Abstract

This article examines fanfiction writing as a pedagogical tool for enhancing textual production in the classroom. Grounded in the perspective of literacies, understood as social practices of reading and writing within specific contexts (Kleiman, 1995; 2007), the study explores the potential of fanfiction in educational settings as a means to bridge language instruction with students’ digital realities. Drawing on Jenkins’ (2008) concepts of participatory culture and media convergence, the research argues that the collaborative nature of fanfiction writing fosters creativity, argumentation, and mastery of diverse textual structures. The study presents a practice report involving seventy-three seventh-grade students in a Textual Production course, highlighting the impact of this approach on student engagement and learning. The findings suggest that incorporating digital genres such as fanfiction contributes to more meaningful language teaching, aligned with students’ contexts of action and personal interests. As conclusions, writing fanfics constitutes a literacy practice culturally aligned with the student and, from the teacher’s point of view, this practice adds value to the teaching of languages ​​and to the way of working on text production.