Mary Long

ECI 307
22 October 2016

Fiction
Non-fiction

Fiction over nonfiction always. So many colorful images, whimsical characters,

fantastic beasts, and imaginary paradises to discover in this world of literature. With an everincreasing focus on nonfiction texts, classrooms leave touchy-feely fiction reading and writing
out to dry. However, fiction writing can help students reach certain learning objectives that nonfiction writing cannot. By increasing theory of mind processes and providing room for creative
freedom, fiction reading and writing should be considered highly beneficial literacy events for
any student.
A theory of mind process suggests that individuals know and understand their own
desires and beliefs, but can also accept the different beliefs and desires of other individuals.
Through research, Kidd and Castano discovered that reading certain fictional texts led to an
enhanced reader performance on theory of mind tasks (Kidd and Castano 378). One psychologist
said that reader attitudes shift to become more congruent with the ideas expressed in a
[fictional] narrative (Bartlett). For the United States public education system, this is an
important aspect of teaching diversity. Classrooms and schools are filled with assorted ethnic
populations of students. These children and teenagers need to be prepared to interact with
cultural maturity. Reading fiction texts by authors like Chimimanda Adiche, Sandra Cisneros,
and Khaled Hosseini, will allow them to gain new perspectives, insights, and understandings
about different cultures and ideologies. These worldly stories will provide more contexts that
students can personally connect with and begin to understand. After all, schools are not just

teaching children how to be fact-spewing robots, but also how to be understanding human
beings.
As students begin to grow in awareness and acceptance of different cultures through the
reading fictional stories, they can transfer this type of flexible thinking to writing. Creativity will
allow space for things like personal expression, self-exploration, and other types of thinking.
Using creative fiction writing as a means of expression could help many individuals learn how to
voice hopes, desires, fears, and dreams (just to name a few). In turn, as students learn how to
express these thoughts, new knowledge of the self comes to light. With self-exploration through
fiction writing, each child can begin to get a sense of his or her goals in life. Even the wellknown author of the Game of Thrones series says, A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.
The man who never reads lives only one (Martin, George R. R.).

Even though fiction reading and writing is not always firmly rooted in an exact reality of
the 21st century world, it still shows many patterns of relationships, interactions, and ways of
thinking. In no way are students limited when asked to read a fictional narrative or write a
creative fiction text for an assignment. By learning about other experiences through novels,
poems, and other mediums of text, students are able to gain life perspective and knowledge in a
very short time period.

Works Cited
Bartlett, Jonathan. "Why Fiction Is Good for You." BostonGlobe.com. The Boston Blobe, 29
Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.
Kidd, David Comer, and Emanuele Castano. "Reading literary fiction improves theory of
mind." Science 342.6156 (2013): 377-380.
Martin, George R. R. A Dance with Dragons. New York: Bantam, 2011. Print.