What´s up with Wattpad?
Explore the potential of free mobile reading and writing on
your laptop or smartphone!
Whenever
I tell people I am doing a graduate degree in ESL, they nod and say, “That’s
really interesting!” Now, they usually say this with a high pitched tone which
tells me they are probably really thinking, “wow, you are kind of insane! What’s with packing your brain full of
teaching theories?!” I must confess that sometimes, especially when
cross-referencing multiple educational theories, I do wonder about the same thing. But theory does help with actual
application in the classroom and the latest course that I took on different ESL
teaching methods proved to be quite fascinating and useful. We were to explore
and critique the use of technology and multimodality in the ESL classroom and
that’s when I came upon the wonderful Wattpad.
The following is an adapted snippet of my project which would hopefully entice
you to explore Wattpad for yourself
or even your students.
What is
Wattpad?
Wattpad is a Canadian website that allows users
to read and share original stories. Two core beliefs of the founders are that
“everyone has a story to tell” and that the website should bring writers and
their readers closer together.
In a nutshell, Wattpad is an interactive website with an unlimited amount of
stories in multiple genres. Users can access and update their stories anytime,
anywhere.
Features
of Wattpad that may be useful for ESL
students and teachers:
a)
Accessibility for ESL students – Students can gain free
access to millions of stories on the website via Internet access at home or at
school and on their mobile phones. The average reading level of most stories
(that I have sampled and put through readability tools) range from grades 4 to
10.
b) Multiple
choices – Readers have stories of over sixteen genres at
their fingertips.
c) Interactive
– Like the Kobo Reader, readers can
leave comments and questions for the authors and discuss the work with other
readers at the touch of a button.
d) Room
for creativity – Writers and their fans can
create attractive and meaningful book covers to be displayed with the published
works. To make reading even more exciting for readers, users can produce “book
trailers” on YouTube.
e) High
user input- You might be wondering if students can
potentially be exposed to “bad writing” on this website. Yes! Yes, they will!
But this is why our Albertan curriculum dictates that we educate students and
challenge them to think critically and to evaluate the authenticity of information
from the Internet and other sources. With guidance from language teachers,
students can use the stories on the website to critique ideas, sentence
structure, and so on.
Speaking of critique, all users are encouraged
to leave feedback and to vote for stories, book covers, and book trailers that
they love. Every year the website hosts the Watty
Awards and participants take the quality of writing and art production very
seriously. This is certain no popularity contest because award winners and
runners-up usually all obtain over a million comments and votes from members of
the Wattpad community!
e)
Nurturing environment for budding writers- Unlike
many story websites, users leave very constructive and positive feedback which
not only acknowledges the writers’ efforts but also encourage them to improve
on their work. ESL students would definitely benefit from such comments if they
want to publish their works.
f)
Multilingual stories – Although stories in English
dominant the Wattpad landscape there
is a great smatter of stories in Spanish and other languages. Since we now know
that it is very useful for our students to continue to develop their first
languages, perhaps this could be a platform for them to write and read in their
mother tongue.
Before
you dive into Wattpad…the “safety” and
“legal” stuff…
a)
“Readers discretion is advised” - As you can see, the
website has many genres and it is probably a matter of time before students
come to face with potential sexual or violent content. There may also be
“cultural” content that may offend certain readers. Therefore, it is important
that teachers and parents discuss the parameters of use beforehand. Many
students likely are unaware of potentially “unsafe” or “offensive” content
until they digitally open the book but teachers can lead discussions on common
vocabulary that one can screen for in plot summaries and so forth so students
are better prepared.
b)
Privacy issues – It is important for teachers,
parents, and students to fully understand the ramifications of putting
information onto the Internet. While Wattpad
publically states that it the authors have full copyrights to their stories
school districts and parents may frown upon or forbid the publication of
materials on such websites. Therefore, teachers must explore these issues
before allowing publication of students’ stories in the classroom. If students
are publishing stories privately, they should be made aware of the risks as
well.
Final
words…
There are obvious pros and cons to using Wattpad in the classroom. For a website
that Margaret Atwood has claimed may be saving the endangered species (aka “new
generation of young readers”), this website has great potential. Indeed, Atwood has joined forces with Wattpad to encourage young writers and readers to explore their literary potential. It is
estimated by Techvibes (2013) that readers are now spending a staggering three billion minutes a month in total on
Wattpad. With 1.5 million new stories updated per month, we are bound to find
something entertaining and educational for everyone. But of course,
sifting through the stories and using what criteria would be the next steps of research!
Want
more potential teaching applications for Wattpad?
Click HERE for the original project. Your feedback is
very welcome!
References
The National Post à
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