English language acquisition through online fanfiction reading

Abstract

Online fanfiction exists openly targeted to fans, using the knowledge and affection that people have over the content they admire as a form of easing them into the habit of reading in a second language. Therefore, this study aims to define how the online fanfiction reader believes this kind of reading affects the acquisition of the English language and whether online fanfiction readers seek English content with the purpose of acquiring the language. To build a theoretical overview of the themes presented in this research, we explored the psychological and linguistic influences of motivation, multiple intelligences and the affective filter (DÖRNYEI, 1998; GARDNER, 1991; KRASHEN, 1982) on informal language acquisition, while also bringing forth the concept of reading comprehension and its influence in informal language acquisition (KRASHEN; BLAND, 2014; RENANDYA; JACOBS, 2002). We gathered a brief history of fanfiction as a genre by Coppa (2006) as well as its characteristics (BLACK, 2006; TOSENBERGER, 2014) to justify the importance of the genre in language development. With the goal of expanding the understanding of online fanfiction and its influence on second language acquisition, the instrument chosen for this research was a questionnaire, shared through the platforms commonly used by fanfiction readers, reaching over 100 responses from a diversity of participants of various ages and a total of 34 countries. With this variety of responses, the habits of fanfiction readers as well as their informal language acquisition input and views on language learning were assembled and analysed, investigating to find the approach used by fanfiction readers to acquire language. We also inquired their motivations behind it, which proved to be mostly based around their interest in the genre and not in the language. The importance of the genre in the participants’ vocabulary development and written skills, along with the improvement in the use of the language in a natural and informal context, were also affirmed.