http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-975477.mp3
Albany, NY – In today's Academic Minute, Dr. Katie Monnin of the University of North Florida reveals how the use of graphic novels in the classroom can improve reading comprehension and attitudes about reading among young readers.
Dr. Katie Monnin is an Assistant Professor of Literacy at the University of North Florida. She has written extensively on the use of graphic novels in the classroom. Her publications include Teaching Graphic Novels (2010), Teaching Early Reader Comics and Graphic Novels (2011), Really Reading with Graphic Novels (2012), and Teaching Content Area Graphic Novels (2012). She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Kent State University.
Dr. Katie Monnin - Literacy and Graphic Novels
One fascinating aspect of teaching literacy during the greatest communication revolution of all time is the swiftly changing attitudes students have about what counts as literature in contemporary classrooms. Focused specifically on one of the most popular new literacies available for young adults, this research focused on early reader graphic novels.
In the late 1970s, the graphic novel, a distant cousin of the comic book, was created to be a high-brow, literary-level text; opposed to its cousin the comic book, the graphic novel purposely seeks to tell deeper levels of story that consider the key elements critical to teaching English Language Arts and traditional, canonical literatutre.
With the early reader graphic novel, and our current time and place amidst the greatest communication revolution of all time in mind (which places equal emphasis on reading print-text literacies alongside image literacies), this study was set within a second grade classroom, and measured two key components to teaching contemporary English Language Arts: Students' attitudes about reading an early graphic novel, and students abilities to comprehend an early reader graphic novel. The methodology for this study was grounded in two staple, familiar literacy-learning tools. To measure reading attitude, this study used The Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (McKenna and Kear, 1990. To measure comprehension, this study used Guided Reading Strategy (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996.)
After assessing the results of the attitude survey and the guided reading comprehension strategy, this study found that students reading attitudes significantly improved, becoming much more positive reading and comprehension of the early reader graphic novel increased.
As a result, the implications for this study are that contemporary, modern texts like early reader graphic novels can be used to increase attitudes about reading and contemporary, modern texts like early reader graphic novels can help increase student comprehension.