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Reimagining Narrative and Literacy through Tabletop Role-Playing Games: A Multimodal Activity System Approach

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Title: Reimagining Narrative and Literacy through Tabletop Role-Playing Games: A Multimodal Activity System Approach
Language: English
Authors: Alexandre Lalonde
Source: English Teaching: Practice and Critique. 2026 25(2):123-141.
Availability: Emerald Publishing Limited. Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley, West Yorkshire, BD16 1WA, UK. Tel: +44-1274-777700; Fax: +44-1274-785201; e-mail: emerald@emeraldinsight.com; Web site: http://www.emerald.com/insight
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 19
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Evaluative
Descriptors: Language Arts, Games, Game Based Learning, Role Playing, Story Telling, Cooperative Learning, Verbal Learning, Reader Text Relationship, Social Behavior, Teaching Models, Literacy
DOI: 10.1108/ETPC-09-2025-0216
ISSN: 1175-8708
Abstract: Purpose: This paper aims to reimagine narrative in English language arts (ELA) through tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) by framing them as sites of multimodal, collaborative storyworld construction. It challenges print-based models by showing how narrative emerges through play, tool use and shared authorship. Design/methodology/approach: As a conceptual paper, it integrates cultural-historical activity theory and multimodal social semiotics to theorize narrative as an emergent, participatory process shaped by semiotic resources and social interaction. Findings: This paper introduces narrative models for solo and multiplayer TTRPGs that account for recursive meaning-making, distributed authorship and the stabilization and revision of shared storyworlds. These models illustrate how semiotic inputs and outputs circulate to generate narrative, offering a new lens for understanding literacy as a process rather than a product. Research limitations/implications: Although theoretical in nature, the paper proposes a framework for future empirical work on narrative participation, mediation and power in classroom gaming contexts. Practical implications: The framework supports ELA pedagogy that values improvisation, collaboration and multimodal expression. By making narrative architectures (rules, genre defaults and division of labor) visible and revisable, educators can design for disciplinary aims while using student-created artifacts as authentic assessments of understanding. Social implications: The framework positions students as recursive co-authors of narrative, enabling them to interrogate dominant story logics and collaboratively imagine more just futures. Originality/value: This paper extends narrative theory to analog game spaces and provides original models for understanding storytelling as multimodal and tool-mediated. By advancing a multimodal activity system approach to story construction, it contributes to ongoing conversations about critical gaming literacies, narrative theory and English education.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1508761
Database: ERIC
FullText Text:
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  Data: Reimagining Narrative and Literacy through Tabletop Role-Playing Games: A Multimodal Activity System Approach
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Alexandre+Lalonde%22">Alexandre Lalonde</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22English+Teaching%3A+Practice+and+Critique%22"><i>English Teaching: Practice and Critique</i></searchLink>. 2026 25(2):123-141.
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  Data: Emerald Publishing Limited. Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley, West Yorkshire, BD16 1WA, UK. Tel: +44-1274-777700; Fax: +44-1274-785201; e-mail: emerald@emeraldinsight.com; Web site: http://www.emerald.com/insight
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+Arts%22">Language Arts</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Games%22">Games</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Game+Based+Learning%22">Game Based Learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Role+Playing%22">Role Playing</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Story+Telling%22">Story Telling</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cooperative+Learning%22">Cooperative Learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Verbal+Learning%22">Verbal Learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Reader+Text+Relationship%22">Reader Text Relationship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+Behavior%22">Social Behavior</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+Models%22">Teaching Models</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Literacy%22">Literacy</searchLink>
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  Data: 10.1108/ETPC-09-2025-0216
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  Data: 1175-8708
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
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  Data: Purpose: This paper aims to reimagine narrative in English language arts (ELA) through tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) by framing them as sites of multimodal, collaborative storyworld construction. It challenges print-based models by showing how narrative emerges through play, tool use and shared authorship. Design/methodology/approach: As a conceptual paper, it integrates cultural-historical activity theory and multimodal social semiotics to theorize narrative as an emergent, participatory process shaped by semiotic resources and social interaction. Findings: This paper introduces narrative models for solo and multiplayer TTRPGs that account for recursive meaning-making, distributed authorship and the stabilization and revision of shared storyworlds. These models illustrate how semiotic inputs and outputs circulate to generate narrative, offering a new lens for understanding literacy as a process rather than a product. Research limitations/implications: Although theoretical in nature, the paper proposes a framework for future empirical work on narrative participation, mediation and power in classroom gaming contexts. Practical implications: The framework supports ELA pedagogy that values improvisation, collaboration and multimodal expression. By making narrative architectures (rules, genre defaults and division of labor) visible and revisable, educators can design for disciplinary aims while using student-created artifacts as authentic assessments of understanding. Social implications: The framework positions students as recursive co-authors of narrative, enabling them to interrogate dominant story logics and collaboratively imagine more just futures. Originality/value: This paper extends narrative theory to analog game spaces and provides original models for understanding storytelling as multimodal and tool-mediated. By advancing a multimodal activity system approach to story construction, it contributes to ongoing conversations about critical gaming literacies, narrative theory and English education.
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        StartPage: 123
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Language Arts
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Games
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Game Based Learning
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Role Playing
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Story Telling
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      – SubjectFull: Cooperative Learning
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      – SubjectFull: Verbal Learning
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      – SubjectFull: Reader Text Relationship
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      – SubjectFull: Social Behavior
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      – SubjectFull: Teaching Models
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      – SubjectFull: Literacy
        Type: general
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      – TitleFull: Reimagining Narrative and Literacy through Tabletop Role-Playing Games: A Multimodal Activity System Approach
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              Y: 2026
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