“I am Cristiano Ronaldo, and I want to be a teacher!”. Motivating L2 English learners through fan fiction-inspired writing

Abstract

This thesis presents a qualitative study based on a lesson plan that introduces fan fictioninspired writing to pupils. Two classes in a lower secondary school participated in the study and completed lessons which gave them the opportunity to choose a fictional character or a celebrity they are fan of and write two texts. The texts they wrote were a resume and a job application, and they were written as the character chosen by the pupils. The produced texts by 21 pupils were collected and analysed. Supplemented by information given by their teacher, these texts serve as empirical data for the study.

The goal for this study is to examine whether pupils experience the use of their own interests as motivational while writing. The research aims to find elements in the pupils’ texts that indicate factors of motivation, by looking at how they use their self-chosen character in their texts. The findings are measured against relevant theory and previous research on fan fiction, pupils’ L2 writing and motivation. The study and its findings may contribute to a wider understanding of factors that motivate lower secondary school pupils to write in L2 English.