Affective literature, effective literacy: a case of “affect turn” among preservice teachers in Spain

Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 101 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 Guichot-Muñoz, E., y De Sarlo, G. (2023). Affective literature, effective literacy: a case of “affect turn” among preservice teachers in Spain. Tejuelo, 38, 101-130. Doi: https://doi.org/10.17398/1988-8430.38.101 Affective literature, effective literacy: a case of “affect turn” among preservice teachers in Spain* Literatura afectiva, alfabetización efectiva: un caso de “affect turn” entre futuro profesorado en España Elena Guichot-Muñoz Universidad de Sevilla [email protected] ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6017-8837 Giulia De Sarlo Universidad de Sevilla [email protected] ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7204-258X DOI: 10.17398/1988-8430.38.101 Fecha de recepción: 15/09/2022 Fecha de aceptación: 12/03/2023 * This research was developed within the framework of the National R&D Apertura Project "Literacy as a social practice in infant and primary education (5-7 years): Research and design of intervention in children at risk of social exclusion in urban contexts," financed by the Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness of Spain (Excellence Plan 2018-2020, code EDU2017-83967-P).. Esta obra está publicada bajo una licencia Creative Commons Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 102 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 Resumen: Emotional education is an area increasingly highlighted by legislation; nevertheless, the teaching of emotions does not seem to find its rightful place in the curriculum for preservice teachers. This lack is particularly noticeable in the context of the teaching of language and literature, despite the fact that in this field the role of emotions has been recognised as crucial for decades, at least on a theoretical level. This study proposes a replicable and functional intervention in the teaching of emotions as a springboard for affective and effective literacy in preservice primary school teachers’ curriculum. The pedagogical tools used are analysed and the scope of their application is studied in a group of 66 students of the BAin Primary Education at the University of Seville, examining their impact through a triangulation of data (adhoc questionnaire and an evaluation of students’ learning diaries). The results showed that the intervention facilitated the link between affective and cognitive perspectives and created the need to claim a new type of multimodal, artistic, and collaborative literacy in the teaching and learning of L1, as an instrument of knowledge and self-knowledge. Keywords: didactics of emotions; emotional education; didactics of literature; primary education; multimodal literacy. Abstract: La educación emocional constituye un área cada vez más destacada por la legislación; sin embargo, la didáctica de las emociones no parece encontrar el lugar que le corresponde en el currículum formativo del futuro profesorado. Esta carencia es especialmente notable en el contexto de la didáctica de la lengua y la literatura, a pesar de que en este campo el papel de las emociones se reconoce como crucial desde hace décadas, al menos a nivel teórico. Este estudio propone una intervención replicable y funcional a la didáctica de las emociones como resorte para la alfabetización afectiva y efectiva en el currículo del futuro profesorado de educación primaria. Se analizan las herramientas pedagógicas utilizadas y se estudia el alcance de su aplicación en un grupo de 66 estudiantes del Grado en Educación Primaria de la Universidad de Sevilla, examinando su impacto a través de una triangulación de datos (cuestionario ad-hoc y evaluación de los diarios de aprendizaje de los alumnos). Los resultados muestran que la intervención facilitó la vinculación entre las perspectivas afectiva y cognitiva y creó la necesidad de reivindicar un nuevo tipo de alfabetización multimodal, artística y colaborativa en la enseñanzaaprendizaje de las L1, como instrumento de conocimiento y autoconocimiento. Palabras clave: didáctica de las emociones; educación emocional; didáctica de la literatura; educación primaria; alfabetización multimodal. Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 103 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 Introduction One of the most radical changes proposed by the most recent Spanish education reform, the LOMLOE education law (2020), is the explicit, consistent and precise inclusion of emotional education in the educational itinerary of students at all levels, especially in the primary education stage (Lozano & Arroyo, 2022). Already in the basic primary curriculum of the LOMCE (Real Decreto 126/2014) terms such as affective skills, attitudes of self-confidence, peaceful conflict resolution, etc. were alluded to; nevertheless, in the new education law LOMLOE (2020) we also observe the following significant advances: emotional education appears in the pedagogical principles (p. 19), personal and social competence is a key competence and it is explicitly stated in the primary decree that “emotional education and education in values and creativity will be worked on in all subjects” (p. 32). And yet, as Lomas Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 104 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 et al. (2015) and Coll & Martín (2021, p. 36) among others underline, to this day all these proposals have met with complications and resistance when it comes to reaching the classroom, and this is especially true when it comes to language and literature teaching. In the early 1990s, Cassany et al. pointed out the changes that language teaching and learning in Spain were undergoing, referring to the revision of the national Primary Education curriculum design: “The ultimate goal of language teaching and learning must be to reach a personal, autonomous, and creative use of oral and written language” (1994, p. 55). In this sense, the relationship with any text, whether literary or not, should also be at the service of this literacy process, which must be personal and creative: however, when using a literary text, there is still a tendency to resort to the norm and observe the literary production from an uncreative, fixed and unemotional point of view. It makes no sense, since literary texts more than others are a reflection of society (Colomer, 1996), and therefore should be handled in a coherent way to the changes society is facing (Regueiro Salgado, 2014, p. 384). In spite of this, a historicist and fixed vision seems to prevail, and traditional terminology continues to be used to explain contents that are merely cultural constructions, and therefore are not exempt from change. The inevitable question is then, “Why do students draw and paint in art class, but do not produce texts beyond comments and exams when in literature class?” (Cassany et al., 1994, p. 515). In other words, language and literature teaching does not make an effort to set creative trends for the main skills of this speciality: listening, speaking, writing, and reading, from an emotional and personal perspective. It is worth asking why, and probably one of the possible answers is the lack of preparation of teachers to include the development of emotional competencies in the day-to-day life of the language and literature classroom, as underlined by Álvarez-Álvarez & Pascual-Díez (2020). This is not due to a lack of reflection on the subject from a theoretical point of view: authors such as Colomer (1996, 2005, 2020) or Dueñas Lorente (2013) have been reflecting since the end of the last century on the need to include creativity and Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 105 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 emotions in the context of the teaching of language and above all, in the case of these authors, of literature. However, it is urgent that these theoretical reflections are put into practice and allow for an experiential vision of these dynamics in university classrooms (Colomer & Munita, 2013; Dueñas et al., 2014). The inclusion of this kind of preparation through the university course itself, then, becomes even more urgent. 1. Theoretical approach Well-established theories state that emotions are fundamental in order for children to mature (Goleman, 2006), as confirmed by neuroscience (Caballero, 2017; Gagen, 2015; Mora, 2014; Hook & Farah, 2013; Crawford, 2005). The development of emotional competence has direct consequences in adult life. Saarni (1999) argued that an emotionally regulated person is more likely to thrive in life, as emotional self-regulation facilitates interpersonal relationships and directly affects cognitive factors (see also Bisquerra & Pérez, 2007; Wolff et al., 2002). In addition, emotional competence has been proven to decrease confrontation in toxic or harmful situations, with the consequent willingness to avoid social obstacles in adulthood (Brackett et al., 2011). This competence is undoubtedly developed both at school and at home (for the Spanish context, see Márquez-Cervantes & Gaeta- González, 2018); however, studies also recommend developing both social and emotional competencies in institutions aimed at teacher training (Appl & Spenciner, 2008; Palomera et al., 2008; Weare & Grey, 2003). It is clear, therefore, that the education system must, in fact, seek to inculcate emotional literacy (Ripley & Simpson, 2007; Álvarez et al., 2000; Goleman, 2006; Vallés, 2000). This key concept implies the recognition of emotions (both inner and outer) as the basis for developing prosocial behaviours. One of the most accessible vehicles to develop this competence at school, proposed by Riquelme & Munita, is reading mediation, which is using “a text that allows us to name and recognize mental states of others, but which are also linked to our own Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 106 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 experience, [...] a world of fiction as a meta-representation of the real world” (2011, p. 272). This is the basis of empathy, understood as a personal ability to connect respectfully and sincerely with the feelings and emotions of another person (López, 2007; Harwood & Farrar, 2006). It is essential to acquire empathy during childhood (Fireman & Kose, 2010; Hinnant & O’Brien, 2007). In addition, literary didactic from an integral perspective in children’s school stage develops emotional competencies such as empathy and social interaction (Lonigro et al., 2014; Thexton, Prasad, & Mills, 2019; Venegas, 2019). Indeed, it makes a substantial contribution to the construction of a childhood that transfers “images, desires, fears, and conflicts that occur in the current intergenerational coexistence” (Leibrandt, 2011, p. 2): as Sanjuán Álvarez underlines, it is essential to stimulate personal reading, which establishes deep emotional links between the thematic content of the text, its ethical and social values, and the conflicts or situations experienced by individual readers, children or adolescents who are forming their personalities, their conception of reality and their behavioural patterns, which does not mean treating this ethical content separately from the aesthetic characteristics of the works. (2014, p. 56) Poetry can be particularly effective in approaching emotional education (Agrelo-Costas & Piñeiro Casal, 2021), but fiction has been used on a larger and more systematic scale, at least in some contexts such as the Northern American one (Roza & Guimarães, 2022): actually, any genre can be shared with children (and adults too) with this aim, since literature itself encodes and represents reality, making it available to every reader in order to emotionally prepare them for a larger number of vital experiences (Colm Hogan, 2010). In connection with this, the concept of “mediated reading” arises from a reconsideration of the emotional world linked to the field of cognitive motivation (Riquelme & Munita, 2011, 2017; Riquelme & Montero, 2013). It is a process in which the “adult reader operates as a mediator of the ‘fictional’ emotional experience of the characters in the narrative, the story, and those real processes that characterize the Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 107 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 context and vital experience of the children” (Riquelme & Munita, 2011, p. 269). The narrative does not have the utilitarian character of “showing” a particular emotion; however, its nature causes it to be seen (Longo, 2019). Indeed, emotional competencies and empathy are predictors of literacy competence (Llorent García et al., 2020). Although this link is evident in literary theory, teacher training remains a fundamental axis for the “adult reader” to be able to combine and implement literary and emotional skills in the classroom. Therefore, socio-emotional competencies must be integrated into the academic curriculum and teaching practices (Jones & Boufard, 2012). Thus, references to new literacy studies cannot be avoided, taking into account the importance that these studies give to the concept of “affect turn” as something that “provides a response to this beating pulse of literacy—the energies and qualities of our engagement with texts” (Leander & Ehret, 2019, p. 8). This new stream of research considers the need to accentuate the immaterial aspect of literacy, or “how texts bring us to another (im)material relationship: the relationship between texts and subjective or felt experience” (Burnett et al., 2014, p. 14). Any literacy exercise is framed as a socio-emotional practice (Knobel & Lankshear, 2007), with the consequent transformation of the concept of literacy (Bearne & Wolstencroft, 2007). In order to insert these processes that affect the link between the emotional and language and literature in teacher training, an intervention based on this approach was analyzed within a course of the BA in Primary Education at the University of Seville, Spain. 2. Methodology The aim of this study is to fill the gap in the training of preservice teachers with regard to the strategies of emotional and literacy development from an eminently practical point of view. It will be done by examining the experiences of a group of 66 Primary Education BA students during the practical classes of one of the compulsory courses offered by the Department of Didactics of Language and Literature of Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 108 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 the Faculty of Educational Sciences. The activities developed during the course will be thoroughly described, in order to be systematized and replicable, and their impact on learners will be analyzed according to two basic dimensions: the language and literature used in the teaching and learning process and students’ emotional growth. The methodology is constructivist, understood in the frame of a conceptual change that is both cognitive and affective (Thagard, 2008). The pedagogical approach is based on educational trends that encourage creativity, such as arts-based research (Barone & Eisner, 2012; Acaso & Mejías, 2017; Oladimeji, 2018) and creation-based learning, as they represent “an experience in which students project themselves in creative actions” (Caeiro-Rodríguez, 2018, p. 163). Therefore, we observe whether interventions that relate to emotions and literature develop different aspects in the field of language and literature teaching. The research questions were as follows: Did language and literature didactic methods develop emotional literacy in pre-service teachers? Did pre-service teachers perceive a development in their language skills? Did pre-service teachers perceive a development in their emotional competence? In what areas of emotional competence was there the greatest development? 2 1. Assessment Methodology 2.1.1. Participants The pedagogical intervention was implemented in the language and literature course in the primary education BA at the University of Seville, Spain. This included 66 second-year students enrolled in the Primary Education BA offered at the University of Seville, Spain, during the 2017/2018 academic year. Participants were between 18 and 23 years old. Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 109 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 2.1.2. Research instruments Students were asked to keep a personal learning diary composed of the narratives of the experiences lived in practices, organized based on the assessment tool proposed by Van Manen (2016). The diaries were applied to the specific intervention and involved different thoughts on the reasons that have stimulated learning, lectures on the ways in which learning is taking place, and possible successes and failures of the intervention. Furthermore, in order to organise the information received from the participants in a more systematic way, an ad hoc questionnaire was designed, taking into account the absence of an appropriate model that includes dimensions directly related to our objectives (see Table 1). The questionnaire consisted of 10 items grouped into two dimensions: the teaching and learning process of language and literature and the emotional dimension (Bisquerra Alzina, 2003), a closed questionnaire scored a 5-point Likert scale, in which the subjects expressed their level of agreement with the achievement of different objectives after the intervention: from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (5) (see table 2). 2.1.3. Data analysis In order to show the complexity of the multimodal experience of the students, a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology was used, facilitating data triangulation (Yin, 2015), particularly necessary in the field of language and literature teaching (Trigo & Romero, 2018). An attempt has been made to address all the variables of validity, trying to provide the most reliable context possible, developing research instruments of various kinds and different approaches to the variables analyzed, and carrying out constant negotiation with those involved before, during, and after. Statements and notes taken from personal diaries were catalogued and complemented the questionnaire analysis, following Van Manen’s (1990) selective reading approach: we describe and interpret students’ experiences, and we pay attention to their recognition and pedagogical importance. We also coded the categories Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 116 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 dimension, indicating the need to work with all of them in order to address the different areas of the emotional dimension. In this sense, it could be said that the experience with activities related to language and literature increases their emotional competence and emotional intelligence. These results must be combined with the highlights drawn from the personal learning diaries, the instrument we used to evaluate student reflections on this experience. The practices show how the experience of reading and writing affectivity plays a crucial role, together with the environment, the people involved, and the time dedicated to the creation of the artefact: “Not only were the practices full of emotions (poems, trips to the past, and sharing with our partners), but also, when we would return home, we would transcribe the emotions to this diary, so what we felt really turned ours” (Participant 31). The effort of collective creativity in the classes was combined with the self-reflection experienced later at home using the diary. The literacies took place inside and outside the school: The learning diary gives me a feeling of nostalgia because it reminds me of when I was a little girl who wrote in my own diary the tasks I was doing and the things that were happening to me throughout my day. So, I can establish a similarity between both diaries (my childhood diary and this learning diary). The learning diary is a way of disconnecting from the stressful routine and moving for a moment into the past, into our childhood. This diary makes me reflect on the aspects worked on in each class and, based on this, I draw my own conclusions while assessing whether or not a certain practice contributes something to my work as a future teacher. (Participant 3) In relation to the activity of The Thread of Memory, it is striking that almost no one recalls figures of teachers as narrators. Most students refer to their grandparents, or their parents, as the most important storytellers of their childhood. The emotional context of oral language and literature learning is often linked to the home, rather than the school. An example of one of the stories is shown below: The first story I was told was “The three little pigs”. My aunt María came to see me at home when I was sick with chickenpox and gave Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 117 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 me this story, that same night she read it to me. My aunt made many gestures; she used two kinds of voices, one very sweet and the other more serious when she imitated the big bad wolf. It was a moment before I went to sleep, the one that I didn’t want to go to bed because of the discomfort I felt due to the fever I had. We were sitting up in bed, it was a summer night, and all we could hear was the crickets singing out the window. I was very enthusiastic about the story; it was like an endless adventure as my aunt put a lot of emphasis on the different situations in the story. In some parts, I remember laughing a lot, and in others, I felt a bit scared, especially when the part where the wolf could eat some pigs came up. The story had everything: adventure, fear, nice moments, intriguing moments, and so on. (Participant 45) Likewise, the creation process constitutes an unexpectedly motivating challenge for students, since it was considered part of an artistic discipline and students did not expect to find it within the study of language and literature. The students agreed that the idea of creativity seemed to be parcelled, or exclusively related to “artists”, understood as “only an elite capable of creating original and own texts” (Participant 54). Another student highlights this artistic element as a way of enhancing emotional competence: Also, thanks in part to the dramatic aspect of the activities, we have worked on the ridiculous, an element that a priori seems absurd to us, but which constitutes an important piece in emotional management and in the teacher’s work of keeping students interested. Moreover, losing the ridiculous makes students want to flow emotionally as well. Let us remember that the teacher plays the role of an actor every day in their classes. (Participant 12) In addition, the dramatic strategies used for the elaboration of the Living Stories developed students’ knowledge of their own and others’ emotions (“I feel like I belong to a group”, Participant 15), building a true learning path through the gaze of others. In addition, the experiences demonstrate that even a text that is not specifically about emotions produces the same results, as it is the expressive faculty of the poetic image that leads to interactions of human discourse, regardless of the topic. For instance, in the Thought Tunnel exercise, a fable was used that does not strictly mention any particular emotion. However, the activity awakened a student’s awareness and need for empathy: Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 118 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 The frog text makes us reflect on how we are always thinking about what others will say about us, becoming or doing something we don’t really want. So, we must think about what we really want to do and be. It is also important to think about others and try not to tell them or do something they might feel bad about. In relation to my life, I remember that in my 3rd-year class, there was a child with autism who didn’t relate to his classmates and had some problems. I remember some children in the class laughing at him, making jokes, and so on. I felt very bad about the things they did to him, and I don’t want to imagine how he might have felt. In my 3rd year class, it would have been very important to do activities like the frog. (Participant 25). In general, students noted in their diaries that they were surprised by this methodology, which activated their more heterodox side. One student compared the practices to “eating with your hands” (Participant 63), as they explain that the exercises broke all the formality and historicist vision that the language and literature classes had implied until then. The student continues by clarifying that this causes “people not to look at Instagram during the classes, and that Facebook does not have as much of an audience during class hours” (Participant 63). 4. Discussion A notable issue is that all the techniques developed in the practices are linked to some of the objectives of the emotional dimension, confirming their importance in addressing different aspects of emotional growth. In this sense, activities related to language and literature have been perceived as fundamental in order to developing emotional competence and emotional intelligence. This is not surprising, as the link between literature and emotional intelligence has been noted in previous studies (Alonso Ferres et al., 2018). One of the aspects that stands out in the personal learning diaries is the discovery of how literature can be used not only to teach but also to release anguish and provide affection (Leander & Ehret, 2019). In addition, the absence of teacher references in the Thread of Memory activity leads us Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 119 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 to reflect on how and why stories are told in school as well as the insufficient presence of oral language content in the Spanish university curriculum of future primary teachers (Santamarina & Núñez, 2018). It is also important to note that the texts used in the intervention do not have to be explicitly emotion-related. As Riquelme & Munita state, “It is in the context of reading and dialogue where the emotion is situated” (2011, p. 274). This makes us understand that the literary mind is sustained only by being able to imagine another's perspective (Leverage et al., 2010). Emotions already reside in the very nature of literature (Longo, 2019); we only need to guide the process that leads to them. Starting from this methodology inspired by the workshop format, it is observed how these literacy strategies lead students to a process of “cognitive breakdown” of the established schemes related to the language and literature area. Students feel that something has broken their patterns, as seen in one student's reference to “eating with your hands”. This rupture is related to new pedagogical currents that underline the necessary “discomfort” or “estrangement” that must occur in the classroom to favour a transformative educational process (Acaso & Mejías, 2017) through the use of tools, instruments, and methodologies that come from the artistic field. Based on the social and emotional aspects of these practices, our proposal is related to the new literacy studies that underline the “affect turn” of literacy. This means that the literacy event is not observed exclusively from the cognitive point of view, but is studied as an “affective encounter” (Leander & Ehret, 2019) between the text, person, space, and everything that happens at that moment. The humanizing influences and affective dimensions that can occur in school with this perspective of the literacy role are evident at both the individual and collective levels. This emerged as a consequence of “the digital era, the arrival of a new type of language called multimodal, which integrates textual, audiovisual and digital sources” (Martos, 2013, p. 32), and transforms the concept of literacy completely (Bearne & Wolstencroft, 2007). In addition, “this thinking has foregrounded the liveliness of literacy Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 120 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 practices, complicating readings of the social and cultural by attending to fluidity, affect, and emergence” (Burnett & Merchant, 2018, p. 2). The practices analyzed in this paper promote this type of literacy, whose rules and norms are “more fluid and less abiding than those we typically associate with established literacies” (Knobel & Lankshear, 2007, p. 9). Likewise, the inclusion of art as a form of “deautomatisation” of the discourse is being valued and implemented in the new literacies (Albers & Harste, 2007). Since the exercises are performed using artistic languages, such as body language and soundmusical language, a “socio-personal practice […] as a means of communication” is obtained (Núñez & Navarro 2007, p. 227). Dramatization also facilitates writing and works as a blank mind disengagement (Cremin et al., 2006). Conclusions All of these results have deep consequences in social aspects that are becoming especially important according to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Report. The definition of “reading comprehension” given by the 2009 PISA reading test (OECD, 2009) is particularly significant in this sense: “The individual capacity to understand, use and analyze written texts in order to achieve their personal goals, develop their knowledge and possibilities and participate fully in society” (Jiménez, 2014, p. 69). This approach is further expanded in the 2015 edition as socioemotional competencies “associated with the student’s personality, such as critical ability, initiative and skills to solve problems collaboratively with other students” are added (Bergós, 2015, p. 1). This is in line with what was stated by Larrañaga & Yubero: The reading and writing habit manifests itself as a behaviour of free choice and, as such, becomes part of the scale of values of a society: it is, therefore, acquired during the socialisation process of individuals and their cultural incorporation into a specific society (2003, p. 146). Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 121 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 In conclusion, our proposal has shown that the design and application of positive learning environments that take into account the emotional dimension contributes to the creation and development of affective and relational links with the reading and writing process, which is considered a necessary basis for the development of the reading habit (Agrelo-Costas & Casal, 2021; Álvarez Ramos et al., 2021; Mora, 2019): as Sanjuán Álvarez states, a reading approach that emphasises only the cognitive aspects of the process without recognising the fundamental role of the emotional component is doomed to failure (2011). This proposal is also relevant to the scarcity of resources for higher education that links affective emotional learning and communication since there are few teaching manuals at a university level that combine affective or emotional learning and the teaching of literacy (Andersen & Guerrero, 1997; Planalp, 1999), with none available in Spanish in 2023. Moreover, from a more general point of view, this didactic experience can make up for the excess of theory and the lack of experientiality that occurs in the introduction of the didactics of emotions in preservice teachers (Hernández-Amorós & Urrea- Solano, 2017). Moreover, as stated above, both literature mediation and reading intervention (Jiménez, Alarcón, & Vicente-Yagüe 2019) encourage the creation of a link between cognitive and affective skills (Riquelme & Munita, 2017; Foncubierta & Fonseca, 2018): the analyzed practices avoid the disaffection of students toward language and literature subjects and turn them into real protagonists of the teaching and learning process. Moreover, teachers regain the pleasure of letting their imaginations run wild. If they do not succeed in rescuing the attachment of the imagination in their childhood, they will never be able to give this satisfaction to their students: “It becomes about growing the radical imagination of teachers, so they can potentially grow the radical imagination of the children and young people with whom the work” (Tailors, 2018, p. 442). Tejuelo, n.º 38 (2023), págs. 101-130. Affective literature, effective literacy… 122 | Página ISSN: 1988-8430 It should also be mentioned that these practices contribute to inclusive socio-emotional development (Álamos et al., 2017), as an experience of well-being in the classroom facilitates developmental processes, avoids segregation, and contributes to a mental health perspective in school (Nussbaum, 2011; Denham, 2001). As Leander & Ehret note, “we wish to tell out loud the secret that teachers seem to know—that most of what happens, on our best days, cannot be explained in rational frames. We are moved, and our students are moved, and we cannot explain just how or why” (2019, p. 2). Bibliographical references Álamos, P., Cifuentes, O., Milicic, N., Pizarro, M., Rosas, R., Ulloa, D., & Véliz, S. (2017) Construcción de cuentos: ¿Qué pueden aportar al desarrollo socioemocional inclusivo? Estudios pedagógicos, 43(1), 7–17. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-07052017000100001 Álvarez-Álvarez, C., & Pascual-Díez, J. (2020). 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