The feeling of thinking: social annotation with emojis

ABSTRACT

We extend research on social annotation in education by implementing a new annotation technique in the literature classroom. Over the course of one year, we invited students to socially annotate literary texts using emojis that reflected their affective responses to those texts. This approach was inspired by new functions of social annotation systems, discussions of affective pedagogy, and developments in literary theory. We used a coding scheme linked to the literary theory of Rita Felski to analyse students’ annotations and theorise our results. Via surveys and interviews, we inquired into students’ experiences of this annotation strategy. Students evaluated the experience positively, and our analysis suggests that this practice made contributions to their learning which align with Felski’s account of literary “attachment”. We conclude that annotating literature with emojis provides a concrete means of implementing affective pedagogy in literature education.

KEYWORDS:

• Social annotation
• tertiary education
• affective pedagogy
• teaching literature
• disciplinary literacy

Acknowledgments

This research was conducted as part of “The HUMBOL Project: Promoting Blended and Online Teaching in the Humanities to Enhance Students’ Learning: Increasing Readiness, Resources, Innovation and Effectiveness,” organized by Wang Lixun and Timothy Taylor at the Education University of Hong Kong. We appreciate the support of project team member Grace Wong. Ethical review of our teaching implementation and the resulting data was conducted as part of this grant.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Promoting Blended and "Online Teaching in the Faculty of Humanities to Enhance Students’ Learning: Increasing readiness, resources, innovation and effectiveness." A project of the Central Reserve Allocation Committee, Education University of Hong Kong..

Notes on contributors

Jeffrey Clapp

Jeffrey Clapp is Associate Professor in the Department of Literature and Cultural Studies at the Education University of Hong Kong.

Bidisha Banerjee

Bidisha Banerjee is Associate Professor in the Department of Literature and Cultural Studies at the Education University of Hong Kong.