A Study of Secondary School Students' Perceptions of Fictional Characters

Autor/inn/en	Sen, Erhan; Karagul, Sedat
Titel	A Study of Secondary School Students' Perceptions of Fictional Characters
Quelle	In: International Journal of Educational Methodology, 7 (2021) 3, S.433-446 (14 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Sen, Erhan) ORCID (Karagul, Sedat)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2469-9632
Schlagwörter	Secondary School Students; Student Attitudes; Fiction; Literary Devices; Personality Traits; Childrens Literature; Experience; Reader Text Relationship + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Sekundarschüler; Schülerverhalten; Fiktion; Literaturarbeit; Individual characteristics; Personality characteristic; Persönlichkeitsmerkmal; 'Children''s literature'; Kinderliteratur; Erfahrung
Abstract	Fictional characters give literary works a sense of reality. The actions of fictional characters play a crucial role in children's personality development. Young readers who lack critical reading skills are more likely to incorporate fictional characters into their lives because they have a hard time telling reality from fiction. Therefore, we should determine how children perceive fictional characters and teach them that they are imaginary figures. In this way, we can help them approach those characters' actions from an external and critical perspective. This study adopted a qualitative research design (case study) to investigate secondary school students' perceptions of fictional characters. The sample consisted of 45 secondary school students (28 female and 17 male). Data were collected through interviews and document review techniques. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Results showed that participants were more likely to be interested in and identify with characters with appealing personality traits. They had four types of approaches to fictional characters: (1) Wanting to change the storyline depending on what the fictional character goes through, (2) being influenced by them, (3) seeing them as role models, or (4) ignoring them. They wanted to change the storyline, especially when the villain got what he wanted or when the hero or the victim was unhappy, suggesting that they mostly took the protagonist's side (the good guy). While most participants attributed an ontological meaning to anthropomorphic characters, the symbolic meaning became of secondary importance. They were more interested in and identified more with characters with good living conditions and no death experiences. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Eurasian Society of Educational Research. 7321 Parkway Drive South, Hanover, MD 21076. e-mail: publisher@ijem.com; Web site: https://www.ijem.com/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01