Getting a BANG! Out of Comics: Using Graphic Novels to Improve Literacy

by Amy Shultz

I must confess. I was a comic book snob. That is, until the day my boys brought home a stack of library books including: Benjamin Franklin: An American Genius, King Arthur: Excalibur Unsheathed: An English Legend and Cesar Chavez: Fighting For Farm Workers. “Wow,” I thought, pride swelling in my heart, “My sons are becoming so well-read!” As I opened the covers, I was shocked to discover these titles came from Graphic Library, a nonfiction series written in graphic novel format. (A graphic novel is a full-length text, in comic book format.)

What is intriguing about these graphic novels is that they have my voracious bookworm discussing the Revolutionary War and Jane Goodall with my struggling emergent reader. How did that happen? I watch my younger son as he reads -- first, he carefully looks at each picture on the page, and then he goes back and deliberately works to sound out words, relying heavily on visual clues. When he gets stuck, sometimes he turns back a few pages to reference a prior event; at other times he asks his big brother for help. I observe a struggling reader, highly engaged by pictures and not threatened by too much text on a page, carry on a confident conversation with an extremely fluent reader. As an educator, I am fascinated by what I see, and no longer am I a comic book snob.

Apparently, I’m not the only comic book convert. Stephen Cary is a second language learner specialist and author of Going Graphic: Comics at Work in the Multilingual Classroom. Cary (2004) cites the research of linguist and educational researcher Stephen Krashen (1994) who argues that students will acquire a second language when they receive understandable messages (comprehensible input) and when their levels of anxiety (affective filters) are low enough to allow those messages in. According to Cary (2004), “Comics provide both the needed input and positive affect. Abundant visual clues increase the amount of comprehensible input and consequently boost reading comprehension and L2 (second language) acquisition. Increased comprehension, in turn, keeps the affective filter low by eliminating or considerably reducing the anxiety and frustration many students feel when confronting … text that is miles above their current independent reading level” (p.13).

These advantages also carry over into the realm of writing and literary analysis. According to Gretchen Schwarz (2006), a former English teacher, “Educators have … urged the use of comics as an alternative, appealing way for students to analyze literary conventions, character development, dialogue, satire, and language structures as well as develop writing and research skills" (p.58). A diverse classroom of readers gains from the opportunity to equally discuss and respond to graphic novels, with some students relying more heavily on text, and others on pictures. Graphic novel adaptations of classical literature are available in different forms. Educators can often choose from different versions: an original, unabridged text; a "plain English" version; or a “quick text”, with simpler dialogue. Imagine students of all levels gaining access to the works of Shakespeare, Brontë, and Dickens, and then being able to respond in different forms of writing.

According to Traci Gardner (2007), contributing editor of the NCTE’s Inbox Blog, "Graphic novels and comic books provide rich opportunities to explore multimodal literacy. They’re anything but simple. The sophisticated relationships among images and words and layout encourage deep thinking and critical analysis” (n.p.). I’m a believer and would encourage teachers to consider using graphic novels in their classrooms.

Ways to Incorporate Graphic Novels and Comics into Language Curricula:

• Evaluate comics and graphic novels found in school or public libraries based on literary quality and accuracy. Write reviews, and research new titles for the library to consider purchasing.
• Analyze literary elements such as plot, character development, foreshadowing, irony, stereotyping, flashback, metaphor, symbolism, and imagery. Examine the effect of visual elements such as color, shading, panel layout, perspective, and lettering style on meaning.
• Identify social, political, economic, or environmental current event issues embedded in graphic novels, comic books, and comic strips. Use a current event as a basis for an original comic strip.
• Share comic journals. Clip favorite or interesting comics from the paper, and tape into notebooks. Pass the journals between teacher and student. Encourage comments about plot, characters, humor, and how the comics relate to life (Cary, 2004, p. 98).
• Use blank dialogue comics to experiment with story-line and dialogue. Translate dialogue into direct quotes, concentrating on correct punctuation. Transcribe several quotes into indirect quotes, playing off the visual clues in the pictures. (Cahill, 2000)
• Create family oral histories in graphic novel format. Challenge students to work within the confines of “frames” to develop well-organized narratives (Cahill, 2000).
• Use comics as a tool for teaching the five-paragraph-essay. Give students five blank frames to use as a paragraph. Have students begin each frame with a caption (the main idea of the paragraph). Incorporate the paragraph’s supporting details in the illustration (Cahill, 2000).
• Add a new character to a favorite comic strip.
• Examine the way images work as a persuasive tool. Have students create lists of questions for a graphic novel (e.g., “How were the photographs chosen? How do the cartoon figures affect the reader, especially the satirical figures? How were the facts chosen and connected? How does the lettering affect the reader?”). Rotate leading class discussions (Schwarz, 2007).
• Write an original graphic novel or comic book. Use the resources at Read Write Think to learn about comic book production. Interesting resources include:
  • The Comic Book Primer
  • Comic Book Scripting Techniques
  • Sample Comic Book Script and Visualization
  • Comic Strip Planning Sheet
  • Online Comic Creator

References:

Cahill, D. (2000).

Literacy in comics. Multiple Perspectives: Mulitimedia in the Classroom. Retrieved April 25, 2008 from http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/step/ep301/Spr2000/multimedia/litcomics.HTM

Cahill, S. (2004).

Going graphic: Comics at work in the multilingual classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Carter, J.B. (2005).

Comic Book Scripting Techniques. Read-Write-Think. Retrieved May 19, 2008 from http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson921/ScriptingHandout.pdf

Carter, J.B. (2005).

Comic Strip Planning Sheet. Read-Write-Think. Retrieved May 19, 2008 from http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson195/comic-strip-planning.pdf

Carter, J.B. (2005).

Sample Comic Book Script and Visualization. Read-Write-Think. Retrieved May 19, 2008 from http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson921/SampleScript.pdf

Carter, J.B. (2005).

The Comic Book Primer. Read-Write-Think. Retrieved May 19, 2008 from http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson921/ComicBookPrimer.pdf

Gardner,T. (2007, April 9).

Getting graphic. NCTE Inbox. Retrieved April 23, 2008 from http://ncteinbox.blogspot.com/2007/04/getting-graphic.html

Online Comic Creator. (n.d.).

Read-Write-Think. Retrieved May 19, 2008 from http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/comic/

Schwarz, G. (2006).

Expanding literacies through graphic novels. English Journal, 95 (6), 58-64. Retrieved April 25, 2008 from http://www.ncte.org/Library/files/Free/recruitment/EJ0956Expanding.pdf

Amy Shultz

Amy Shultz, former fourth grade teacher, works as a facilitator for the Buddy Teaching and Learning Center. She also writes for The Write Connection newsletter and The Writing Site, under the Buddy System Project.

This featured article appeared in Volume 3, Number 4 issue of the Write Connections quarterly newsletter. View other archived newsletters , a topical organization of all newsletters, or sign-up to receive notification when the next newsletters are ready to download.