Analysis: Digital Age Literacy Print Literacy

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Digital Age Literacy is a category of 21st-century skills that includes but is not limited to basic proficiency with print-based text. Other Digital Age forms of literacy include the ability to read visual and multimodal texts, as well as technological and information literacy (NCREL, 2003). In terms of basic print literacy, it is worth noting that through their fan-related activities, all three focal participants were able to practice and improve their English-language and composition skills. For example, each of these young women was able to find and work with a beta-reader when producing some of their texts. According to FFN, "A beta reader (or beta reader, or beta) is a person who reads a work of fiction with a critical eye, with the aim of improving Breitling Replica grammar, spelling, characterization, and general style of a story prior to its release to the general public" (Fanfiction.net, 2008, n.p.). Working with beta readers gave Grace, Nanako, and Cherrychan opportunities to receive explicit feedback on their writing and rhetorical skills.

Additionally, FFN, like many ...
... fan fiction sites, has a built-in mechanism to encourage audience feedback. Specifically, each text has an option for readers to submit feedback or a "review" of the fiction. Grace and Nanako, who are dedicated fan fiction authors, have received approximately 7,600 and 9,400 reviews respectively. Cherrychan, who infrequently updates her stories and leaves many of her fan texts unfinished, has received 650 reviews. It is important to note that most of these reader reviews are what, in a chapter exploring fan readers' feedback (Black, 2008), I have called "OMG Standards." These are a common type of review that begins with common Internet parlance of the acronym for Oh My God! and "consists of enthusiastic statements of appreciation for the fiction such as, 'OMG! I love this chapter!' These reviews provide authors with hearty encouragement to continue writing and can be a crucial element for helping ELLs feel comfortable composing in this space.

In addition to the short and sweet support of OMG Standards, other reviews are aimed at providing explicit feedback on grammar and spelling, as well as story elements such as plot, characterization, and adherence to genre. These reviews come in many different forms. YOT example some readers out sentence-level excerpts of the author's texts and explicitly discuss the errors in each sentence. Other readers will examine entire paragraphs, recasting the writing to make it more grammatically sound (see Black, 2008 for examples). Thus, the FFN community Breitling Bentley Replica Watches provides ELL youths with support for the development of traditional print literacy by encouraging interactions between writers and readers, promoting confidence, and helping authors to explicitly focus on different aspects of language and composition.

These basic literacy skills are building blocks of communication that are crucial to effective participation in online environments. However, it is worth noting that focal participants' fan-related compositions, while text-based, did not rigidly adhere to the standards and conventions of print-based English. For example, as mentioned previously, the ELL focal participants often had grammatical and spelling errors in their texts. Additionally, all three focal participants incorporated languages other than English into their prose, often using Japanese or Chinese to convey certain information or for effect.

Notwithstanding errors, within the fan community, focal participants were treated as legitimate participants and interlocutors in their own right. Moreover, their multilingual texts and diverse perspectives were viewed as meaningful contributions to the "fanon" or collective body of fan knowledge (Black, 2005). As ELLs, this acceptance was important to focal participants' literacy and language socialization for several reasons. First, it provided them with a sense of belonging in a community that was important to them. Second, this acceptance of their writing and attempts to communicate using English, notwithstanding errors, provided inspiration and I fierce for attempting additional and more com written and communicative endeavors. Finally, sense of acceptance and belonging enabled these authors to develop identities as accomplished ere; and users of English text.