Popular Series in English Language Education E-Book
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- Herausgeber: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Serie: narr Studienbücher LITERATUR- UND KULTURWISSENSCHAFT
- Sprache: Englisch
English language education that wants to be relevant for today's learners in a media-influenced social environment needs to include series and serials. Our publication enables (future) language teachers to implement series and serials in their English language classrooms purposefully and equip their learners with series_serials literacy, i.e. the ability to deal with series and serials in an autonomous and critical manner. Three introductory chapters provide substantial theoretical and conceptual considerations on serial narratives, objectives and methods of teaching series and serials. Subsequently, experts in the field of language teaching introduce 17 selected series and serials from different genres, ranging from comedies to sci-fi. Each chapter provides in-depth analyses of the chosen example as well as practical teaching suggestions which are accessible online.
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Jan-Erik Leonhardt / Britta Viebrock
Popular Series in English Language Education
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24053/9783381107025
© 2025 • Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KGDischingerweg 5 • D-72070 Tübingen
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ISSN 2627-0323
ISBN 978-3-381-10701-8 (Print)
ISBN 978-3-381-10703-2 (ePub)
Contents
About This Volume
Watching series and serials is an important part of learners’ leisure time activities. Media studies such as the most recent German JIM-study from 2023 with 1,200 participants aged 12 to 19 underline the popularity of both serial narratives as well as the rise of streaming services: 86% of the respondents have access to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and the like, with numbers growing each year. Streaming services have for the first time overtaken traditional TV channels in popularity ratings in Germany. Our own research further substantiates these findings: Results show that series and serials are very popular with lower secondary learners, with 51% of them watching episodes daily and an additional 32% watching them at least once a week.
Our findings also stress the importance of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education in this context as learners regularly consume content in English: Depending on their age, up to two thirds of the learners watch films, series, and serials in English. However, it also becomes clear that series and serials are no regular material in EFL classes: Less than 10% of the participants claim to have dealt with at least one series or serial in their EFL classes. This seems to be an undue discrepancy between the significance of series and serials in pupils’ daily lives and the importance they currently have in EFL classes, which is why we would like to argue for a regular inclusion of popular series and serials in English language education and have put together this versatile compilation.
In this volume, we have decided to include series and serials that make visible perspectives and voices that have been and still are underrepresented in both society as a whole as well as the cultural industry: those of women, members of the LGBTQ-community, and People of Colour, or all of the above. We also have decided to include challenging topics such as mental health, police brutality, colonialism, and climate change. With our selection, we thus mark our understanding of foreign language education as content-focused, rather than merely functional, and especially valuable when it offers room for critical and transformatory approaches.
This volume is structured as follows: The first three chapters serve as general introductions to different aspects of working with series and serials in the context of English language education. In the first chapter, Jan-Erik Leonhardt and Britta Viebrock reflect on prerequisites as well as meaningful objectives. Based on a systematic literature review as well as their own research results, they suggest a model of ‘series_serials literacy’ and elaborate on its function as a guiding concept for teaching choices. The second chapter by Britta Viebrock and Jan-Erik Leonhardt serves to complement the first one with more practical considerations: the authors suggest and discuss selection criteria, teaching methods, as well as assessment issues. In the third chapter, Carola Surkamp focuses on the representation, reception, and reflection of characters in series and serials. Characters are of particular importance as the audience gets to know these very well over the course of many episodes and seasons. The following chapters focus on individual series or serials and explore their use in the context of foreign language education. Each chapter is accompanied by extensive teaching materials, which are accessible online.
The second part of the volume covers the perspective of young learners and shows two examples for encounters with series and serials in primary and early secondary English language education. Grit Alter discusses the potential of the animated series Ada Twist, Scientist, featuring a young black girl and her group of friends, who have a particular interest in science. In addition to language learning considerations, the author particularly focuses on introducing the learners to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Annika Janßen and Viviane Lohe address mental health as one of the challenging topics of our times. Using The Healing Powers of Dude as an example, which features a support dog for a boy with social anxiety disorder, they show how serials can be used to bring diversity issues into the classroom.
A substantial part of teenage series and serials relies on well-established sitcom formulas. The contributions in part three, however, show that many shows are not just funny but lend themselves well for the reflection of more serious topics, too. Jan-Erik Leonhardt investigates the police procedural comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine for both its humour techniques as well as its representation of gender and race. While the show has been lauded for its diverse cast and characters, it has also been criticised for neglecting broader systemic issues in US policing, hence offering potential for critical classroom discussions with intermediate and advanced learners. Britta Viebrock examines the potential of Never Have I Ever for the (upper) secondary EFL classroom. Apart from the expected transcultural teenage struggles of an Indian-American girl, the serial enables the study of the representation of female Persons of Colour, the choice of specific aesthetic features (voice-over narrators), and the use of product placement in popular series. A multilingual perspective is highlighted by Carmen Herrero in her chapter on Jane the Virgin. The bilingual serial provides an illustration of language ideology and multilingual practices both in the production and reception of audio-visual media in shifting cultural and linguistic contexts. Another diversity dimension is taken up by Rieke Dieckhoff and Karoline Thorbecke, who reflect on how to address the representation of queerness in Sex Education. The serial has been praised for transgressing heteronormative structures in several ways and celebrating gender diversity. While the degree of explicitness that is established may be challenging for educational contexts, the authors suggest several ideas for working with the serial in a productive way. The legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland is at the core of Maria Eisenmann’s considerations on Derry Girls in the (upper secondary) EFL classroom. The serial, which is based on fictional plot lines but incorporates several references to actual events, serves as a good example to access historical happenings that are increasingly distant in time to today’s learners.
The detective and crime genre is the main focus of the contributions in part four. Both Ariadne Geiling and Celine Göbel relate to the famous detective stories of Sherlock Holmes. Ariadne Geiling looks at the teaching potential of Detective Conan, a Japanese anime adaptation of the traditional narrative. Not only does Ariadne Geiling provide fundamental generic consideration on manga and anime, she also analyses two episodes of the chosen example in detail and suggests versatile teaching materials. Celine Göbel focuses on the BBC series Sherlock. She explains how this is a transmedia adaptation of the original narrative and which technology adaptations can be observed. In addition, she includes a close analysis of the relationship of Sherlock and Dr Watson and how this is represented in the different media formats. Isabelle Vanderschelden’s chapter on Strike, another distinctive detective, complements this part. She argues how the study of the relationship between this detective and his assistant lends itself for examining British culture and society, in particular regarding the aspect of class. Accordingly, Isabelle Vanderschelden’s suggestions for teaching activities mainly incorporate a Cultural Studies perspective.
Part five of this volume turns to future worlds and includes two contributions based on dystopia and the Sci-Fi genre. Sandra Winkelmann elaborates on The Handmaid’s Tale, a highly acclaimed serial adaptation and expansion of Margaret Atwood’s novel. Sandra Winkelmann shows how the dystopian imagination of misogyny and women’s rights is highly relevant for contemporary political developments and offers a great potential for reflecting on gender equality. Marta F. Suarez examines differences and conflicts portrayed in The Expanse, a future universe where additional planets have been populated and new social hierarchies have developed. In her chapter, the author analyses the societies on three different planets and explains ways in which these communities shape different ideas of class, labour, and culture.
The series and serials compiled in the sixth and final part of this volume focus on additional dimensions of (de-)constructing difference, namely gender and race, and fostering social change. Nikola Mayer and Lena Schwarz explore what they call ‘Heartstopper moments’ in both the serial as well as the graphic novel of the same name. They focus on gender diversity issues that are made topical in a very inclusive and positive way and reflect upon how these topics can be addressed with teenagers in EFL classrooms. Natalie Güllü, Mareen Lüke, and David Gerlach explore the serial Dickinson from an intersectional perspective. They show how feminist concerns of the narrative mainly remain upper class white concerns, while broader views of race and class are hardly addressed despite the society being impacted by slavery and exploitation. Taking this observation as a starting point, the authors argue how these potentially critical phenomena may serve as an opportunity to discuss white feminism in English language education and introduce the concept of intersectionality. A critical approach is also at the core of the chapter by Katharina Delius on the mini-series When They See Us, which deals with a biased justice system, coercive police work, and sensationalist media coverage. The author shows how the aesthetic choices made in the fictional representation of a real case effect the viewer and how this fictional representation can both reflect and impact socio-cultural discourse. Race and racism are also important categories for critical reflection suggested in the chapter by Lena Hertzel and Thorsten Merse on Dear White People. In their approach, they combine critical perspectives with the detailed analyses of serials as multilayered texts. The chosen example addresses racist incidents that occur on a fictitious university campus and retraces how the characters negotiate (intersectional) racist experiences while establishing a sense of Black agency.
Some chapters contain additional material that you can download from the narr eLibrary. Links leading to the material can be found at the end of the respective chapter. Buyers of the print version receive a code granting them free access to the ebook and the additional material. Please refer to the instructions on how to access the material on the first page of the book.
At this point, we would like to thank all the contributors to this volume for their creative ideas and productive cooperation in the editing process. Thanks also to our editor from Narr Publishing House, Kathrin Heyng, who has been very supportive from the very moment we voiced the idea of putting together this compilation. We would also like to thank Mariella Veneziano-Osterrath for her meticulous proofreading as well as our brilliant student assistant Charlotte Sophie Metternich, who has gone above and beyond in the process of designing the accompanying online teaching materials to each chapter, checking references and copyright issues, as well as contributing info boxes with background information on the series and serials referred to in this volume.
We hope reading the book and applying some of the ideas in English language education proves to be as much fun for students, teacher trainees, in-service teachers, and university colleagues as we had putting it together.
Frankfurt/Germany, June 2024, Jan-Erik Leonhardt and Britta Viebrock
Part I: Introduction to Teaching Series and Serials in Foreign Language Education
1Series_Serials Literacy as an Objective in English Language EducationJan-Erik Leonhardt/Britta Viebrock
This chapter serves as an introduction to the concept of series_serials literacy in the context of English language education. Working with the term series_serials, we will allude to the spectrum between audio-visual series with self-contained episodes, serials with continuous narration, as well as hybrid formats in between (known as flexi-narratives). In this chapter, we will first explain the rationale for including audio-visual series and serials in English language education and provide a research review. We will then explore the characteristics of series and serials and shed some light on the historical developments of serial narratives. We will proceed to define the notion of series_serials literacy as an objective for working with series and serials in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education and propose a model encompassing the different dimensions of this objective.1
1.1The rationale of teaching series and serials in English language education
In spring 2021, the South Korean Netflix serial Squid Game caused international worry among parents, teachers, and schools alike. In the dystopian world of Squid Game, the main character takes part in a TV show out of desperation. In the show, the players participate in imitations of popular children’s games, such as ‘red light, green light’ and ‘tug of war’.2 However, each candidate failing in a game gets killed in a horrific manner until the final participant of the show wins an exorbitant amount of money. Given Squid Game’s popularity, even young schoolchildren followed the serial and started imitating the brutal games during school breaks. School boards and teachers reacted and, in many countries, voiced concerns regarding parents letting children watch Squid Game.3 While the dystopian serial itself offers a powerful social criticism, it is more than questionable if a young audience is able to recognise this on their own. Instead, the audience may only revel in the serial’s suspense and depictions of violence. This example shows the cultural significance of series and serials that make topical relevant political and social issues and at the same time permeate learners’ lives. While certainly not suited for a young audience, the complexity of Squid Game also highlights the relevance of education: children and young adults need to be able to autonomously, critically, and responsibly engage with audio-visual contents (including series and serials) they are confronted with on a regular basis.4
Our publication aims to contribute to this mission from the perspective of English as a foreign language (EFL) education, a subject we understand to go beyond teaching functional language skills but instead putting forward a content-based approach that enables learners to participate fully in social, cultural, and economic life (The New London Group 2000; cf. also Elsner/Viebrock 2013). One central aim of language education is fostering multiliteracies, a term which expands traditional literacy practices of reading and writing and aims at learners’ “[…] understanding and competent control of representational forms that are becoming increasingly significant in the overall communication environment, such as visual images and their relationship to the written word […]” (The New London Group 2000: 9). Multiliteracies are needed to critically and autonomously deal with a variety of multimodal texts. We thus expand the argument Viebrock (2016: 14) has made for film: “[…] if relevance, topicality, and meaningfulness determine the appropriateness of teaching and learning content”, also series and serials must be considered by educators. Media studies such as the annually conducted German JIM-study with 1,200 participants aged 12 to 19 show the popularity of series and serials with learners (mpfs 2023). The JIM-study also confirms the rise of streaming services: 86% of the respondents have access to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and the like, with numbers growing each year. Streaming services have for the first time overtaken traditional TV channels in popularity ratings in Germany.
Squid Game is a South Korean Netflix serial. Its main character, who struggles with gambling addiction, receives an invitation to a mysterious game show as a last chance to settle his debt. The show, however, is a murderous game, leaving only one participant alive at the end. Squid Game shows a dystopian world and harsh critique of capitalist society.
Our own research on the use of film in the EFL classroom further substantiates these findings. Leonhardt’s dissertation study (2024) includes a questionnaire that surveys the learners’ media consumption with regard to film, series, and serials. The questionnaire was answered by 671 pupils at three German secondary schools attending grades 6, 8, and 10. Results show that series and serials have all but overtaken feature films in popularity, with 51% of the participants watching episodes daily and an additional 32% watching them at least once a week (cf. figure 1).
Fig. 1: Results from Leonhardt (2024) (n=671)
The findings in Leonhardt’s study also stress the important role EFL education has for the consumption of series and serials, as participants regularly consume content in English. While approximately 90% of the learners in grades 6, 8, and 10 watch films, series, and serials in German, a large number also does so in English: Already 44% of the learners in grade 6 watch content in English. Numbers keep increasing with age: 68% of the learners in grade 8 and 10 watch films, series, and serials in English. However, the study also shows that series and serials are hardly ever used in EFL classes. Only 9% of the participants claim to have dealt with at least one series or serial in their EFL classes in the school term before the study was conducted (January 2021 until June 2021). This proves a gap between the significance series and serials have in pupils’ daily lives and the importance they currently have in EFL classes.
1.2Research review
Bearing in mind the popularity and cultural significance of series and serials, as well as the fact that many of them originate in the English-speaking world, it is striking that no systematic reflection of their potential within foreign language education has yet been published. Reviewing the relevant literature, it becomes clear that publications mainly focus on practical ideas for implementing specific series and serials in the EFL classroom (cf. Finck von Finckenstein 2017; Henseler/Möller 2017a, 2017b; Henseler/Schäfers 2018; Kreft/Lohe 2020; Merse 2017a, 2017b). In addition, several publications can be found in literary studies that fundamentally analyse series and serials’ narrative strategies and generic characteristics (cf. Allrath/Gymnich 2005; Blanchet et al. 2011; Geilert/Voorgang 2017; Kelleter 2017a; Lynch 2021). In the field of teaching German (as a first language), the concepts of seriality and serial narratives have been reflected upon in view of the classroom context and the target group of school age learners (cf. Anders/Steiger 2016; Fröhlich 2018; Surkamp 2018).
The existence of empirical evidence on the use of series and serials in the EFL classroom, however, is sparse. A study by Finck von Finckenstein (2022) shows how learners construct meaning, how they emotionally react when watching a serial, and how the specific example House of Cards contributes to their growing interest in politics and critical media reflection. Nevertheless, in view of the central concept that is examined in this study it becomes clear that there is room for more conceptional clarity and terminological improvements: Finck von Finckenstein works with the concept of film literacy, which has been accepted and discussed as an important objective of English language education (cf. Henseler et al. 2011; Lütge 2012; Thaler 2013, 2017; Viebrock 2016). Strictly speaking, the pursuit of film literacy presupposes the existence of a solitary film which may either be a short film of less than 30 minutes or a feature film of 90 minutes or more which present a more or less completed story. Whereas an episodic series may share more similarities with a film, the nature of serials is quite different as the episodes have to be watched continuously to follow overarching plot developments and understand the story. These formal peculiarities and salient stylistic elements of serial narratives should be appreciated in their own right (cf. section 3).
As a consequence of these findings, we have identified the need for integrating both theoretical and practical considerations on implementing series and serials in English language education. We also argue that the specifics of series and serial storytelling must be taken into account when dealing with the medium. We hereby consider series and serials to be an important new asset for language teaching and learning among more established formats such as novels, plays, short stories, or films. Through series and serials learners can discover and learn to critically scrutinise elements of audio-visual design and seriality. As culturally significant texts, series and serials furthermore can make topical relevant social, economic, and political issues which are able to spark classroom discussions and allow teachers to integrate learning a foreign language in meaningful ways.
House of Cards, which ran for six seasons from 2013–2018, is a US-American political thriller serial based on a 1990 BBC mini serial (four episodes) and Michael Dobbs’ novel of the same name. The serial’s title alludes to existing political institutions and is a pun on The House of Representatives, The House of Lords, etc.
1.3Characteristics of series and serials
TV series and serials, or those distributed through digital streaming services, have a number of salient characteristics concerning structural elements, stylistic devices, and the cultural practices of storytelling. Strictly speaking, most of these characteristics are not only valid for popular series and serials, but for serial narratives in general, which have a much longer tradition (cf. section 4). The focus of this chapter, however, will be on popular audio-visual formats.
To start with, some terminology needs to be clarified: Both series and serials denote (audio-visual) narratives that are released in a serial manner. Series rely on “repetitive variation” (Kelleter 2017b: 12) in what are otherwise self-contained episodes; in contrast, continuous serials work with “progressing story arcs” (ibid.). Series are thus characterised by recurring characters, settings, or plot structures, but no continuous storyline (e.g., The Simpsons). The episodes can be watched in any order, which makes series an example of ‘vertical narration’ (cf. Henseler/Möller 2017b). Serials, in comparison, are an example of ‘horizontal narration’ (ibid.), where each episode relies on the previous one and needs to be watched in the designated order to grasp the storyline (e.g., Atypical). Kelleter (2017b: 12ff.) argues that when thinking about serial narratives as part of commercial storytelling, it might be more helpful to take a process-oriented approach and look at the related cultural practices instead of structural definitions, which rely on a product-oriented understanding of serial narratives and tend to be too formalist to cover all types (e.g., flexi-narratives that combine self-contained episodes with a progressing storyline). Kelleter suggests setting serial narratives apart from ‘complete compositions’ – even though these might be released in a serial manner – and identifies ‘evolving narratives’ as one of the defining elements of seriality. Evolving narratives are process-oriented both in view of their production and reception. They are characterised by the interaction of the narrative’s reception with its continuous development and the potential involvement of the viewer:
Repeated temporal overlap between ongoing publication and ongoing reception allows serial audiences to become involved in a narrative’s progress. In more general terms, seriality can extend – and normally does extend – the sphere of storytelling onto the sphere of story consumption. (ibid.: 13, italics in the original)
Kelleter’s definition of seriality does not extend to narratives that have already achieved closure when being serialised. It explicitly rules out so-called mini-series (or serials for that matter), which consist of a limited number of episodes (e.g., When They See Us). It also rules out literary works (e.g., novels) that have been turned into serials as both represent complete compositions. Examples such as 13 Reasons Why, however, whose first season relied on a complete composition (Jay Asher’s novel of the same name), but which then further evolved in the following seasons, or Heartstopper, whose first season relied on the initial two parts of Alice Oseman’s four-part graphic novel, but has then been announced to be continued by (at least) two seasons that might or might not go beyond the source material, show that Kelleter’s definition is not without ambiguities. It might only be applied in retrospect or from an advanced point in time in the development of a serial narrative. What is more, from the perspective of teaching English as a foreign language in school contexts, which relies on the reduction of complexity, complete compositions such as mini serials may be attractive because of the fact that they have achieved closure and that all their narrative options have already been decided and materialised. Closed serial narratives offer an opportunity to analyse salient aesthetic features and stylistic devices, nonetheless.
Moreover, serials based on literary works may lend themselves for additional objectives such as the study of ‘transmedia storytelling’ (Jenkins 2012), i.e., the realisation of the same story or content in different media (cf. also Gymnich 2009). Transmedia considerations also play a role in another characteristic of popular seriality identified by Kelleter (2017b): ‘proliferation’, which describes the extension of serial narratives through side formats (e.g., a new serial based on a minor character of the original as in Better Call Saul) or beyond their original medium (e.g., serials turned into computer games as in The Walking Dead, Southpark). Such proliferation may concern authorised spin-offs or unauthorised formats such as fan fiction or fan videos. From a methodological point of view, the proliferating nature and transmedia expansions of popular serial narratives are interesting because they allow for greater variation in teaching and learning as well as extended generic reflections (Hallet 2016; Viebrock 2022). They also enable the participation in real-world discourses, e.g., by producing contributions to fan fiction (Goldmann 2016) or online discussion forums.
Reflecting on these terminological elaborations in view of our context, the EFL classroom, we employ a product-oriented understanding of serial narratives that upholds the structural distinction between series and serials but is also aware of the process-oriented aspects of serial storytelling. Hence, our definition includes serialised complete compositions, which comes at the expense that not all characteristics of serial narration, in particular the need to align each evolving episode with the simultaneously evolving overall narrative, may be studied from this perspective. Questions of alignment are less likely to pose a challenge in serialised complete compositions as the narrative has already achieved closure and all storytelling decisions, both concerning the overall story arc as well as each episode, are geared towards the established ending. Similarly, as opposed to ongoing serials, the narrative of serialised complete compositions may only evolve within pre-defined margins as the ending has already been established. Yet the aspect of proliferation can also be focused on in serialised complete compositions.
The characteristics of popular series and serials are also reflected in specific aesthetic choices and stylistic devices such as cliffhangers, voice-overs, flashbacks, flashforwards, outlooks, or recaps. A cliffhanger describes the interruption of the narrative at a point of great suspense to keep the viewer’s interest for the next episode. Voice-overs are off-camera narrations that are not part of the action (non-diegetic). They provide additional information or explanation. Flashbacks and flashforwards are used to link the narrative across several episodes by either looking back at scenes and reminding the viewer of what has previously happened or by looking forward at scenes to come and attempting to keep the viewer’s interest for a longer period of time. Recaps and outlooks work in a similar way but cover longer sequences or a greater selection of scenes. Recaps provide a summary of what has previously happened in a serial up to a certain point, outlooks provide information on how the narrative will develop. These elements cause the audience to stay hooked. The release of entire seasons may also provoke a specific consumption behaviour as it allows ‘binge-watching’ several episodes in one sitting. Last but not least, audience retention is reinforced by enabling long-lasting relationships with the series’/serials’ characters whose development takes place over a much longer period of time (for a detailed discussion cf. Surkamp in this volume).
The Simpsons is a US-American animated sitcom which satirically depicts the life of the Simpson family. The series serves as a parody of American life and enjoys great popularity. Having been introduced in 1989, the animated, yellow-skinned characters enjoy iconic status today.
The Netflix comedy-drama Atypical focuses on how the protagonist, 18-year-old Sam Gardner who has been diagnosed with autism, has his first experiences with dating, love, and sexuality.
When They See Us (2019) is a four-part mini serial produced by the streaming service Netflix. It explores the lives of five Black and Latino teenagers in New York who were wrongfully suspected of a rape assault.
13 Reasons Why tells the story of high school student Hannah Baker and – by way of numerous flashbacks – the events that led up to her suicide. Four seasons were released between 2017 and 2020. The serial sparked some concerns regarding a teenager audience’s mental health because of its graphic representation of challenging issues (cf. Kreft/Lohe 2020).
The first season of Heartstopper was released by Netflix in 2022. It is a coming-of-age story of two queer teenagers in a homosexual relationship and based on a web comic and graphic novel of the same name by Alice Oseman.
The serial Better Call Saul tells the background story of the notorious lawyer Saul Goodman who first appeared in the Breaking Bad franchise.
Based on a comic book series, The Walking Dead franchise features a post-apocalyptic world in which zombies threaten the existence of humankind. The franchise consists of several serials, accompanied by board games, video games, novels, and more.
The animated series South Park satirically depicts the lives of four children in a fictional US American town. Known for its aggressive humour, the series often tackles controversial topics. The South Park franchise extends from the original series to feature films, music, video games, and more.
1.4A historical perspective on serial narratives
As mentioned in the previous section, seriality and serial narratives are by no means a product of the digital age. Streaming services have popularised series and serials and made them easily accessible. Serial narration as a concept, however, is as old as storytelling itself. It was already present in early oral storytelling traditions where longer narratives had to be divided into several parts (which could be called episodes in today’s terminology), and professional storytellers could use such extended narratives to secure their audience over a prolonged period of time (which is not at all dissimilar to our current understanding of subscription). The Middle Eastern folk tale collection One Thousand and One Nights (also known as Arabian Nights) dating back to the 8th century is often considered to be a prime example of serial narration (cf. Fröhlich 2018: 6f.; Schleich/Nesselhauf 2016: 14f.). Not only does the written documentation of the folk tale contain elements of oracy, which point towards serial storytelling traditions, but also the narrative itself can be seen as an expression of seriality: It relies on stories-within-the-story. The frame narrative concerns King Shahryār, who, after learning about his wife’s infidelity, has her killed. Projecting his bitterness onto all women, Shahryār marries a succession of virgins only to have each of them executed after the first night, before they have had the chance to dishonour him. When marrying Scheherazade, she appeals to Shahryār’s (as well as the reader’s/listener’s) curiosity by telling him a tale that does not end for the eponymous one thousand and one nights and, therefore, spares her from execution.
A substantial popularisation of serial narration can be observed in 19th century England with the emergence of newspapers, magazines, and periodicals. Charles Dickens in particular has contributed to this development with the serial publication of his novels The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1836–1837), The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1838–1839) or The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger (1849–1850). Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes (which consists of four novels and 56 short stories published between 1887 and 1927) is another example of a popular serial narrative of the late 19th and early 20th century. Other Victorian authors such as William Makepeace Thackeray, Wilkie Collins or William Harrison Ainsworth have resorted to serial publications, too.5 The advancements in printing technology as well as distribution opportunities made the narratives accessible to much larger audiences, which in turn were able to afford the shorter volumes of serialised publications as they could spread the costs of the equivalent of a novel over a longer period of time. While some authors have published what was intended to be an original and complete (book-length) novel in instalments, others have aligned with the serial format during the writing process and let the narrative evolve alongside its publication. As a consequence, influences of serialised publishing could be seen in the writing style, which included much repetition and stretched out texts, plot lines that were not fully coherent in retrospect as well as overly dramatised characters.
Visual serial narratives spread towards the end of the 19th century with the rise of the comic that was initially published in short strips in American newspapers. They were consolidated with the popularisation of the cinema, which screened silent films until the 1920s and talking films after that. The proliferation of radio series and serials commenced with the increasing technical opportunities of the 1920s. Denson and Mayer (2018: 66) argue that this medial proliferation is complexly and materially entangled with media and society transformations of the first half of the 20th century, i.e., that there is a mutual influence of available media formats and the development of serial narratives:
Serial feuilleton novels augmented newspaper sales, for example; color comic strip series promoted new four-color printing processes. Similarly, early radio and television series worked towards attracting an audience to the then new media, motivating potential media consumers to purchase expensive equipment and then getting them hooked with ongoing content. Popular seriality is thus closely connected to a media modernity under constant pressure to innovate. (ibid.: 71)
TV series and serials began to spread as of the 1950s. Not only were they connected to the necessity to own new media equipment, but also to new economic entanglements. The daytime screening of soap operas, for example, was characterised by several commercial breaks for promoting specific products. The term ‘soap opera’ originates from the sponsoring activities of soap manufacturers (originally in radio series, later also on TV) who were able to produce their own series and serials that were interfused with commercials addressing a predominantly female audience in their function as housewives. The influence of commercial activities on the production of series and serials that could only then be subsequently consumed for individual entertainment becomes particularly clear.
The 21st century saw a shift towards subscription-based screenings of series and serials that were exclusively produced by pay-TV broadcasters. Apart from exclusivity, their main characteristic was a specific distinction from ordinary TV by trying to stretch established boundaries through portraying more nudity or using explicit language. The pay-TV broadcasters’ attempt to develop their own, easily recognisable signature format proved to be very successful (cf. Fröhlich 2018: 9). The rise of the Internet has offered yet new opportunities for the distribution of series and serials through on-demand streaming-services, which often release entire seasons at once and cause new forms of consumption behaviour. On account of the technical opportunities of the Internet, consumers can also easily become producers and contribute to the proliferation of serial narratives and transmedia storytelling (cf. section 2) as well as the creation of ‘storyworlds’, which refer to the shared universe of a narrative (with regard to characters, settings, plot) across different media (Herman 2005: 105).
1.5Series_serials literacy: Aims and objectives
In this section, we will elaborate on the aims and objectives of employing series and serials in English language education. Several important components of series_serials literacy have already been collected by Henseler and Möller (2017b: 6). To further systematise series_serials literacy, we will also draw on previous theoretical considerations on film literacy, especially focusing on the model introduced by Viebrock (2016: 17) and empirically substantiated by Leonhardt (2024) (cf. also Donaghy 2019; Henseler et al. 2011; Lütge 2012; Thaler 2013). In general, series_serials literacy has some overlap with the notion of film literacy in the sense that series and serials also rely on filmed material, characterised by an integration of moving images and audio elements, which need to be analysed and interpreted. Like film literacy, series_serials literacy can be seen as an element of multiliteracies (cf. section 1). Yet as explained in section 3, series and serials also have distinctive features which require a different knowledge base and different competences to be fully understood. Hence, we suggest several adaptions to the model of film literacy in order to sketch a more accurate model of series_serials literacy that mirrors the peculiarities of their aesthetic design (cf. figure 2).
Fig. 2: Model of series_serials literacy
At the core of the model, we define series_serials literacy as the learners’ ability to use audio-visual series and serials (as well as any hybrid serial formats and flexi-narratives) critically and autonomously in the context of English language education. While ‘using’ series and serials often refers to their reception, learners increasingly need to be able to produce audio-visual content as well (cf. Reid et al. 2015). Series_serials literacy thus includes dealing with series and serials productively, although it should be noted that this does not refer to a professional production but rather to experiencing how series and serials are produced within the confinements of educational settings.
Similar to Decke-Cornill and Luca (2007) we distinguish a cognitive and analytical approach for a deeper understanding and a holistic perception for entertainment purposes for dealing with series and serials. As shown in the inner ring of our model, the reception of series and serials oscillates between a holistic approach, which focuses on the individual perception and the entertaining nature of series and serials, and a cognitive approach, which focuses on detailed analysis that deconstructs their composition and aesthetic design. Such detailed analysis is an important goal in language education for recipients to understand how any text conveys its meaning.
Perceptive competences, which are required for a general understanding of the interplay of image and sound composition, serve as the foundation of the model. To accommodate the specifics of series and serials (as opposed to other forms of audio-visual storytelling), we have added generic knowledge as a basis for dealing with this format. As elaborated in section 3, serials are perpetual and dynamic narratives, whose individual episodes are screened before fully knowing how the plot will develop or the story will end. The audience can exert a considerable influence on the progression and proliferation of a serial by their viewing behaviour. Sherlock (cf. Göbel in this volume) may serve as a case in point. The BBC series presents one of many adaptations of the original tales written by Arthur Conan Doyle. The famous detective appears in film, comics, music, plays, and other series and serials (cf. Geiling in this volume), all of which have different aesthetic means of (re-)telling the story. At the same time, they are an expression of proliferation, which influences the viewers’ perception of the story in the sense that they may know about it in other formats. BBC’s Sherlock highlights the perpetual narrative as new seasons and episodes have been released without certainty about further continuation. Due to the show’s popularity, fans are still hoping for new episodes to be released and may adapt their viewing behaviour accordingly. Finally, the popularity of the show and the original stories spark co-creation through fan fiction stories, and online memes, again possibly influencing viewers’ understanding of the show.
The second ring of the model contains the notions serial narration and serial composition. Serial narration focuses on the story a series or serial tells, and we describe the ability to analyse this story as narrative competences. Narrative competences encompass the analysis of a series or serials’ genre, plot, characters, and setting within the possibilities of a serial format. For example, the analysis of a character in a series or serial will be influenced by the show continuing over several episodes or seasons – instead of being confined to the narrative of a singular film (cf. also Surkamp in this volume).
Next to analysing serial narration, learners need to be familiar with elements of serial composition. Serial composition focuses on the question of how a series or serial tells its story and on the specificities that set series and serials apart from other forms of storytelling, such as cliffhangers, repetitive variation, progressing story arcs, proliferation, and recursive progression (cf. section 3). It is important to note that the question of what story is being told and how it is told are interrelated (as shown by the arrows in our model). Analysing a series or serials’ story or characters would be incomplete without looking at elements of cinematographic and dramatic design as well as the specifics of seriality (cf. info box 4).
To analyse serial composition, learners first need aesthetic competences that focus on the recognition of cinematographic features and their effects. For this, learners need to be able to analyse the specifics of serial design. For example, for working with Brookyln Nine-Nine, this may include an analysis of the iconic cold opens that start off each episode with a short comedic sequence and end with the opening credits that show snapshots of the show’s characters. Each opening uses the same theme music that is immediately recognisable to their audience (cf. Leonhardt in this volume).
The narrative level of design contains a series or serials’ genre, plot, characters, and setting.
The cinematographic level of design includes a series or serials’ lighting and colour, sound and sound effects, camera perspective, camera focus, camera movement, shot size, and editing.
The dramatic level of design refers to a series or serials’ set, costumes, make-up and props that actors and actresses use, as well as their acting.
The specifics of serial design contain the analysis of elements such as cliffhangers, flashbacks, flashforwards, outlooks, or recaps, repetitive variation or progressing story arcs, proliferation, and recursive progression.
Second, to analyse serial composition learners require critical competences. Series and serials can be especially valuable in the context of EFL education if they make topical class, race, gender, or any other markers of difference and oppression. Consequently, they might be explored from the critical perspectives of Cultural or Feminist Studies. For example, the serial Dear White People takes viewers to the world of POC students at a fictitious elite university and retraces how they negotiate racist experiences. What is more, the presence of queer protagonists in the serial sheds light on the intersectionality of racial and queer self-identifications, making the serial a valuable resource in EFL education that goes beyond teaching functional language skills and instead explores texts as vehicles of cultural expression (cf. Hertzel/Merse in this volume).
However, critical competences also denote the learners’ ability to recognise that, as vehicles of cultural expression, series and serials display fictionality (to varying degrees) and are to be analysed as intentionally created products. A serial that illustrates this particularly well is The Crown, which tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II. It is based on real characters and events and might as such educate its audience about the historical period and the political and social circumstances at the time. On the one hand, The Crown has achieved widespread acclaim for its costumes, acting performances, and cinematography. But on the other hand, it has been severely criticised for historical inaccuracies and obscuring the distinction between fact and fiction (cf. Jenkins 2020). Thus, the viewer needs to be particularly aware of fictional and factual elements in the representation of real-world events (cf. also Viebrock 2024). When being unable to perform immediate reality or referentiality checks of characters or events, the viewer might maintain a factual understanding of what is presented in a series or serial while it might be highly fictionalised. Consequently, learners need to be able to take a critical position towards series and serials to detect possible manipulative influences in their design. Hereby, it is not sufficient to ask what message the series conveys and how its design allows it to transport this message. One also must ask for which purposes it has been created and whose purposes it serves (cf. Gerlach 2020; Leonhardt/Viebrock 2020): In the case of The Crown, one might ask, for example, if it supports positive or negative attitudes toward the British royal family and to what effects.
Finally, critical competences also include analysing series and serials as part of the cultural industry. Popular series and serials are large commercial endeavours with increasing worldwide turnover rates. Not only does the subscription model of streaming services rely on a large selection of series and serials, it also requires a regular renewal or extension of this selection to offer customers new products and keep the subscription attractive. Also, series and serials offer manifold opportunities for product placement, thus advertising tech-products, cars, and much more to their audience (often without viewers’ awareness). One example of this is Never Have I Ever that implicitly advertises several clothing brands, Microsoft computers, and Subaru cars (cf. Viebrock in this volume). Hence, the commercial foundations of series and serials production are highly sophisticated and should be a crucial part of the objective of series_serials literacy.
Returning to the fundamental components of our model of series_serials literacy, communicative competences are both a prerequisite and an objective of literacy development. Communicative competences are needed to understand the dialogues in series and serials, which usually consist of everyday speech and are characterised by idiomology, regional vernaculars, dialect, and accents. Even more than in films, dialogues in series and serials are characterised by a high speech rate, an extensive play on words and demanding stylistic features (irony, puns, etc.), or they may even rely on slapstick elements. In this respect, the dialogues in series and serials have not been created for language learning purposes and might pose additional challenges to learners, even more so when they lack context knowledge. In addition, well-developed communicative competences are also needed to talk about and more deeply analyse series and serials. Our model of series_serials literacy thus uses Cummins’ (2008) distinction between basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). The language competences needed for a more general understanding of and conversations about series and serials are an expression of BICS, which are characterised by a context-embedded and concrete use of every-day language. The language competence aspired to be the outcome of a series and serials-based teaching unit is in the realm of CALP, which is characterised by an abstract, context-reduced, and cognitively demanding use of language including technical terminology which is needed to adequately analyse a series or serials’ design.
Communicative competences are further to be complemented by multilingual competences and mediation. Like films, series and serials offer potential for multilingual approaches in multiple ways (cf. Blell 2016). Most prominently, they can be multilingual themselves, featuring characters that speak multiple languages on screen. Competences in mediation, i.e., the transmission of a message from one language to another, may be needed to comprehend a multilingual series or serial, or to convey its content to someone else. For example, in Jane the Virgin, several characters speak mainly in Spanish while the show itself is mainly in English. Jane the Virgin thus allows to foster learners’ multilingual competences by exploring the use of multilingualism in the show and how its representation matters in today’s diverse society (cf. Herrero in this volume).
Sherlock is a BBC series that adapts the original Sherlock Holmes stories to a modern London setting. Each episode focuses on one case, which Sherlock solves in his inimitable fashion.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine tells the story of a team in the New York police force. While being a comedy, the show tackles serious topics such as gender and racial inequality.
In Dear White People, the main character starts a student radio broadcast which addresses racist incidents occurring at a fictitious university campus. The Netflix series hereby retraces how students negotiate racist experiences within their life contexts.
Also a Netflix production, The Crown tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II, starting in 1947 and with her marriage to Prince Philip.
The comedy-drama Never Have I Ever depicts the life of an Indian-American teenager who has to deal with the sudden death of her father. Typical coming of age issues (school life, friendship, love) are intertwined with grief, therapy, and reflections of identity.
The comedy-drama Jane the Virgin is loosely based on Juana la Virgen (2002), a popular Venezuelan telenovela. Set in Miami, this remake follows three generations of women: Jane Villanueva, a young, hard-working Venezuelan-American who is accidentally artificially inseminated; her single mother, Xo; and Alba, her religious grandmother who is a first-generation immigrant.
1.6Summary
In this chapter, we set out to explore the concept of series_serials literacy in the context of English language education. We have explained the rationale for including audio-visual series and serials in English language teaching by drawing on insights into young people’s media use and viewing behaviour. Furthermore, we have provided a research review that revealed a lack in both empirical studies as well as fundamental conceptual considerations whereas it showed a considerable amount of publications on the practical implementation of series and serials. We have then explored the characteristics of series and serials and shed some light on the historical developments of serial narration. In this part, it became clear that there is some overlap between series and serials and other forms of audio-visual storytelling, but that several stylistic features and viewing options are specific to series and serials. To mirror these specifics, we have defined the notion of series_serials literacy as an objective for working with series and serials in EFL education in a systematic way and proposed a model.
The next chapter of this book will serve as a complementary part focusing on practical and methodological considerations when using series and serials in the context of English language education, where we will explore criteria for choosing series and serials, discuss approaches and methodological choices for classroom use, and consider questions of assessment.
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2Practical and Methodological Considerations on Fostering Series_Serials Literacy in English Language EducationBritta Viebrock/Jan-Erik Leonhardt
This chapter complements the previous one on the concept of series_serials literacy and introduces practical and methodological considerations when using series and serials in the context of English language education. We will explore criteria for choosing series and serials, discuss approaches and methodological choices for classroom use as well as questions of assessment.6
2.1Selection criteria for series and serials
Starting out, it is important to note that the selection of series and serials is indeed not trivial as educators make decisions on which topics are represented in their classrooms and which are not. Choosing certain series or serials thus not only marks a conscious choice of the teacher to include or exclude representations of certain topics, communities, or individuals; it is essentially a political choice, even if not intended as such (cf. Leonhardt/Viebrock 2020: 37). To further elaborate our selection criteria for series and serials, we draw again on previous considerations on feature films (Viebrock 2016; cf. also Henseler et al. 2011: 32f.; Lütge 2012). The selection of series and serials for language education depends on the aspired teaching objectives, as well as content-related and aesthetic criteria (focusing on selected episodes, entire seasons or even aspects of transmedia storytelling; cf. Leonhardt/Viebrock in this volume). Other criteria may be language-related or pragmatic.
To determine teaching objectives
