Memes and GIFs for Writing Development
By Betsy Gilliland
Gilliland summarizes two articles about enhancing writing with memes and GIFS and suggests additional options for their use.
The first article describes how memes were used in discussions about culture between two groups of college students: international students from China and students taking Chinese language classes. Some students chose memes from those readily available online while others created their own. The use of memes enabled the students to “…express their own multicultural identities.” The author proposes that memes could provide a starting point for discussing cultures in the classroom.
The second article suggests using GIFS as a means for students to more confidently analyze and respond to academic texts. By choosing GIFS to represent their reactions, students become more engaged with the text. This could be modified for reactions to other media as well.
Gilliland provides other options for students: using memes or GIFS to represent supporting points for a topic, inventing a story about a meme or GIF, telling a story with the memes or GIFS, or using these to describe their cultures.