Does the use of comics and graphic novels within the primary literacy curriculum undermine the values of the classroom or do they offer opportunities for learning?

Children grow up surrounded by multimodal texts, meaning that by the time they experience texts in school they expect to read a mixture of images and print, and can readily draw on this experience to interpret and create multimodal texts. (UKLA 2005)

Comic book and graphic novel literature are controversial modes of texts, which attract a lot of criticism when their place within the primary classroom is discussed. “Visual literacy, except in its highest manifestations in the work of designers and classical artists, is rarely granted status within our education system.” (Millard & Marsh 2001:27) One of the arguments being that children the quality of the reading manner is not up to scratch with that of which children deserve. (Millard & Marsh)  However, many theorists believe that if a teacher purposely selects a comic or graphic novel with suitable content for the class then use of this text can be highly effective. (Stafford 2009) Therefore those who are now using these modes of texts are showing how diverse they are and the range of reading experiences they offer hugely enhance reading skills rather than undermine them. (Education Scotland)

Stafford discusses the importance of transmitting to children the literature within comic books is just conveyed in a different way but is still a ‘storytelling vehicle’. (Stafford 2009) The “flexibility” of a comic medium, as it’s well described by Education Scotland, is also used in graphic novels and allows complex stories and ideas to be presented in a different way. Layouts vary in their amount of text and this “versatility permits universal reader appeal”. (Education Scotland)

These modes of text do offer huge opportunities for learning as it firstly requires the pupils to read the pictures extremely closely to gain narrative information. Children need to be given time to absorb the page, look at the artwork and interpret it and talk about it in their own time. (Stafford 2009) It is a different form of reading and although it may not be the traditional form of continuous prose “the complexities of layout of comics and the reading skills demanded by them are by no means unchallenging.” (Millard & Marsh 2001:33) Within writing the scripting process can be introduced and children can see that this medium starts with writing, not drawing (Stafford 2009) and that a  “a variety of text cohesive devices: language, design, image and colour” need to be used in order to create a text of this sort.

Bibliography

·      Learning and Teaching Scotland: Graphic Novels in the Curriculum. [http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/resources/g/graphicnovels/intro.asp] accessed 30/01/2013.

·      Millard, E. & Marsh, J. (2001) ‘Sending Minnie the minx home: comics and reading choices’ Cambridge Journal of Education

·      QCA/UKLA (2005) More than words 2: Creating Stories on page and screen.  London: QCA

·      Stafford, T. (2009) ‘Teaching Comics’ in Duncan, D. (2009) Teaching children’s literature: Making stories work in the classroom. Abingdon: Routledge.