English language teaching in the digital age: narrative across the media, multiliteracies, and blogs

Abstract Narrative, a distinctly human activity, is the reason the species is sometimes labelled the storytelling animal or homo narrans . Research indicates that stories are characterised by features that mirror the functioning of the human brain. The digital transformation, with narratives proliferating across media formats and thriving in multimodal contexts, supports a “narrative turn” in English language teaching (ELT), since narrative can effectively contribute to the language acquisition process both in- and outside the classroom. Consequently, English teacher education in the twenty-first century ideally focuses on narrative when teaching multiliteracies. In a specific university setting, student teachers use a blog to report on their analyses of narrative media formats and thus create a resource for others and for their own future teaching. This assignment is motivated by the insight that learning should not only lead to present performance but should also result in future usage on digital platforms that permit global visibility and a worldwide audience. The data consists of these entries, combined with questionnaires completed by course participants, and the qualitative guided interviews of selected students. Reflexive thematic analysis permits first insights into the learning about narrative, multiliteracies and the affordances of a public blog.