Comics in Education; Can Comics Facilitate Reading Comprehension for ESL learners

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CULTURE-LANGUAGES-MEDIA

Independent Project with Specialization in English

Studies and Education

15 Credits, First Cycle

Comics in Education: Can Comics

Facilitate Reading Comprehension for

ESL learners

Serietidningar i undervisning; kan serietidningar främja

läsförståelsen för elever med engelska som andraspråk

David Jatta Kölin

Master of Arts in Upper Secondary Education, 270 credits English Studies and Education

2021-10-21

Examiner: XX

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Abstract

Följande kunskapsöversikt ämnar att undersöka effekten serietidningsliknande

läsmaterial har på läsförståelsen hos andraspråksinlärare av Engelska. För att undersöka detta formulerades följande forskningsfråga: I vilken mån kan serietidningsliknande

material påverka läsförståelsen hon andraspråksinlärare av Engelska? En prototypisk

definition av serietidningar (Mayer, 2007) användes för att tillåta denna

kunskapsöversikt att använda både studier som använde serietidningar och studier som använde seriestrippar som läsmaterial. I denna kunskapsöversikt kommer därför termen serietidningsliknande läsmaterial (Comic reading materials) användas som en

paraplyterm för de två mediumen. För att granska om serietidningsliknande material kan påverka läsförståelsen för andraspråksinlärare i engelska har nio vetenskapliga artiklar som behandlar ämnet valts ut. Studierna I denna kunskapsöversikt har delats upp beroende på om de använder seriestrippar eller serietidningar/grafiska noveller då dessa två material bör åkalla effekten av de kognitiva teorier som presenteras i studien. Studierna gav inte ett tyligt svar på huruvida läsmaterialen påverkade läsförståelsen bland deras deltagare. Studierna hade även olika definitioner av nyckelord så som läsförståelse, skilda metoder för att mäta läsförståelse samt variation i hur de utförde texter tester. De olika resultaten från studierna har lett till följande slutsatser.

Serieliknande läsmaterial har en potential som läromedel då de kan främja läsförståelse trots att det i fallet av de valda studierna inte alltid gör det. Det behövs vidare forskning i ämnet, då definitioner av nyckelbegrepp samt tester varierar i hög grad och detta gör det svårt att dra en tydlig slutsats.

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1. Introduction.

The interest for printed text has been on a downward spiral for years in Sweden, as written information has moved to the digital landscape of computers and phones (Statens medieråd, 2019). However the popularity of another medium is on the Rise. The popularity of comic book reading materials such as graphic novels, comic books and webcomics has risen the last ten years (ICV2 and Comichron 2019). The status of Graphic novels as a medium has also changed. It has gone from teenage nerd hobby to respected art form reflected by graphic novels such as Art Spiegelman’s Maus (1992) winning the Pulitzer price, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction. Swedish author and comic book artist Moa Romanova being nominated for the Leonard prize 2020 for her debut graphic novel Goblin Girl [Alltid Fucka Upp]. Neil Gaiman’s comic series The

Sandman (1989-1996) has also won multiple respected prizes, such as the World Fantasy

Award, Hugo Award for Best Related Work, and the Bram Stoker Award throughout its span as a series.

Eisner (1985) defines comics as “Sequential art, the arrangement of pictures or images and word to narrate a story or dramatize an idea”. Mccloud (1994) has developed Eisner’s definition of comics to “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence intended to convey information and / or produce an aesthetic response in the viewer” (p. 9). For this research synthesis a prototypical approach to defining comics will be used. According to Meyer (1997) prototypical approach strives to define through “… an established prototype, a particularly good example of the word, to which other examples of the word bear some resemblance,” (p. 3). The choice to use a prototypical definition is due to several studies using non sequential comic strips, or pictures. these studies, which use non sequential art are featured since their materials are compatible with the effect of the cognitive theories this study aims to investigate. The materials also resemble comics, and multiple make use of comic conventions, while failing to check all of the boxes for both Mccloud and Eisner’s definitions.

The grading criteria for 9th grade English (Skolverket 2018) has the following requirements for a passing grade related to reading comprehension. “Pupils can understand the main content and clear details... in basic texts in various genres.” (p.39).

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Lenz (n.d) defines reading comprehension as “the process of constructing meaning from text” further developing that “The process of comprehending involves decoding the writer's words and then using background knowledge to construct an approximate understanding of the writer's message”. Additionally Snow (2002) defines it “as the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language”. Skolverket, Lenz and Snow all define it as an internal process, in which the learner interacts with a text to construct meaning.

There are certain issues with measuring reading comprehension, as there is a need to measure student output through a test which can be affected by stress, and method of testing, Students could also encounter issues while performing tasks that are designed to measure their reading comprehension as their passive vocabulary might allow them to comprehend the text, while their active vocabulary might not allow them to discuss it. The difference of active and passive vocabulary can also have an impact on the results of measurements (Fan, 2000, Webb, 2008, Laufer and Paribakht, 1998). According to Laufer (1998) Active vocabulary is the ability to use the appropriate word in text or speech, and passive vocabulary is the ability to deduce meaning of a word from reading or hearing it. The differing levels of active and passive vocabulary is an important variable since Skolverket requires teachers to assess an internal process by external output.

Prior research has shown that comics has a justified place in education as an L1 teaching tool, and that it can improve the reading habits and reading comprehension of L1 students. According to Greaney (1980), children who read nothing but comic books develop their reading comprehension at an equal level of other children. Krashen and Ujiie (1996) report that children who read comic books spend more of their leisure time reading books than non comic readers. Furthermore the authors report that comic readers from low income families read at a higher rate than middle class non comic readers, which bridges the gap between the two groups. Boerman-Cornell (2013), argues that comic books doesn’t necessarily dumb down texts. He uses the example of Journey into mohawk

country (2006) to demonstrate this. the graphic novel is an adaption of the diary of the

dutch explorer Harman Van Der Bogaert, and does not change any of original text, but instead supplies the reader with additional context through the use of images. Furthermore Krashen (2004) claims that reading comics can lead to a boost in motivation and

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as one of the possible genres of text students should be allowed to interact with in their education (p. 13).

There are several cognitive theories which hypothesize the effects of reading materials that use both verbal and pictorial information. One of which is Paivios (1991, 2013) Dual Coding theory (DCT). DCT (Paivio, 2013) postulates that “Cognition involves the cooperative ability of two functionally independent but interconnected systems, a nonverbal system specialized for dealing with nonlinguistic objects, and events and a verbal system specialized for dealing directly with language” (p.33). According to DCT, a learner who is reading plain text, or is looking at pictures of an object, would only be using one of the systems. This would provide them with less input than if they were to read a text making use of images, which according to DCT would increase the possibility of them comprehending abstract information to a further degree, and recalling the information. Moreover Sadoski and Paivio (2001) have also claimed that the effects of DCT are universal.

It’s also in agreement with other cognitive learning theories such as Mayers Multimedia Learning Theory (2014). Multimedia Learning Theory similarly hypothesizes that it’s better to present information through words and pictures than words alone, as the combination is easier for our brain to organize than words or pictures alone. There is also the Mental model theory suggested by Cooper and Sweller (1996). The Mental Model Theory assumes that, readers construct a mental model of a text while reading. The mental model is a representation of spatial relations within the text and the readers compare this mental model to the text to assure themselves they have an accurate representation of the text. Images and illustrations can reduce the cognitive load of complex tasks as they offer assistance in building the mental model. They theorize this is because images rather than text can show spatial relationships, which means the students won’t have to spend as much time or effort constructing these mental representations of their own.

According to Mccloud (1994) separating text and image is a modern tradition.. He further develops this, asserting that there is a modern attitude that “truly great works of art and literature are only possible when two are kept at an arm’s length” and that “words and pictures together are considered, at best crass commercialism”, using the example of posters and packaging (p.140). He suggests this is an effect of the development of

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printing, which led to language being the dominant mode of communication out of necessity and practicality. Similarly Paivio (2006) claims that “Theories that emphasize the dominance of language arose from religious and educational opposition during the Renaissance.” Mccloud argues that the use of pictures to express clarity in a scene gives the author an opportunity to explore wider areas through text and image. (1994 p.157). there is no reason to treat comic books nor graphic novel as crass commercialism, nor genre of literature. According to Mccloud (1994) comics are a separate art form, borrowing the narrative aspect of literature and the pictorial elements of painting, without necessarily becoming worse in either aspect. The different modes of presentation also means that there is a need for instruction on the conventions of the medium (Butcher and Manning, 2004; Griffith 2010).

The narrative aspect of comics is another positive feature of the medium, as organizing events in the form of a narrative instead of an explanatory youtube video, or a text book assignment. According to Bruner (1991), “we organize our experience and our memory of human happenings mainly in the form of narrative-stories, excuses, myths...”(p.4). Clark and Rossiter (2008) believe that narrative “… is a twofold concept: fostering learning through stories and conceptualizing the process itself”, and that “Stories are powerful precisely because they engage learners at a deeply human level” (p.65). The narrative aspect also gives control to the learners and allows them to advance at their own pace. This also empowers them to exercise control of which pages, panels sentences, pictures, or words require extra attention. It also allows the students an opportunity to circle back to reread them. another positive aspect of using a comic is that it has the power to contextualize abstract concepts through its pictorial elements (Paivio 2006, p.5)

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2. Aim and Research question

The goal of this research synthesis is to evaluate if comic book reading materials benefits the reading comprehension of second language english students. This will be done by compiling, and reviewing current research on the effects of comic book reading materials on second language learners of English.

The following research question was composed to investigate this area of research: “To what extent does comic reading materials influence the reading comprehension of second language learners?”

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3. Method.

3.1 Search terms

The material for this research synthesis has been gathered from ERIC (Education resources Information center), ERC (Education Research Complete), and Google Scholar. All of the main sources used for the research synthesis are peer reviewed. All but one of the main sources used in this article are from the last 10 years as this research synthesis is supposed cover current research. The one exception from this rule is Liu (2004). This study was featured as it is cited in five out of eight of the other main sources, and is one of the most extensive studies that was found.

The terms used for this research synthesis are common words used for the objects of research. There are also some terms that while not directly related to the objects of research, were used to find research papers covering similar areas. These terms were: Literacy, and inference. The bibliographies of all studies were also used as resources to locate relevant scientific articles on the subject.

Search Terms

Term group 1 Term group 2 Term group 3

Graphic novel Reading comprehension ESL

Comic book Inference Second language Learning

Comic strips Literacy EFL

Comics Läsförståelse Second language instruction

Serieroman Litteracitet Andraspråksinlärning

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3.2 Inclusion criteria.

Among the included studies there are no exclusion towards any age or proficiency group. This is due to the heterogenous nature of Swedish classrooms, where the difference of proficiency might span from beginner level to native speaker (Kotiranta 2019, Sundqvist and Sylven 2012). multiple included studies also use comic strips, instead of graphic novels or comics, this choice was made since comics strips should offer the same cognitive visual stimuli as the other mediums, even though they offer it in a deconstructed manner. The goal of the study is to investigate how comic books influence the reading comprehension of learners, thus the inclusion criteria for all text was as follows:

 The study is peer reviewed. All of the chosen studies are from reputable databases and peer reviewed

 The study is from the last 15 years (one exception). All of the chosen studies are from a relevant time period except for Liu’s (2004) study. The reason for including the study is that; it’s one of the most extensive studies that were found; it’s cited by five of the other research papers, which led to the assessment that it was a relevant study about the subject regardless of its publication date.

 the study used comic books, Graphic novels or comic strips. Even though comic strips and comic books are very different mediums they should offer a similar cognitive effect for the students.

 One goal of the study was to measure reading comprehension. Many of the studies used in this research synthesis test for more variables than reading comprehension. However I have included them as long as measuring reading comprehension is one of the objectives of the study.

 The study tested student performance to measure the development of

reading comprehension. Many of the excluded text were excluded as the

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good for measuring non observable behavioral changes such as emotions and opinions, but are lacking when measuring observable information (Phillips, 2017).

3.3 Exclusion criteria

As previously mentioned, many of the excluded studies were conducted on first language learners or focused on the production of comics rather than reading. Other studies such as Ludewig (2017) and Pishol and Kaur (2015) were excluded, as their conclusions were drawn from first hand accounts of teachers, or students. During the process of writing Jones (2010) was discarded as a main source, due to the studies use of teacher and student surveys instead of testing student output.

3.4 search process.

The initial search was conducted by using all of the search terms. For the initial search all of the search terms were used in both Eric and ERC, this yielded 47 results. Out of these results five (Roozafai Sadat 2012; Mei-Ju, Yung-Hung, Ching-Chi 2015; Öz and Efecioglu, 2015; Simpson et al. 2016; Kennedy and Chinkoul 2020). studies were selected as they all fit the inclusion criteria. Following the initial search the same search terms were used in google scholar in different combinations which yielded two results (Merc 2013; Khoii and forouzesh 2010). Following the first searches the bibliographies of the chosen studies were searched for relevant research, from searching the bibliographies of the papers the last two sources were found (Liu 2004, Sabbah, Masood and Iranmanesh 2012). During the process of writing Jones (2010) was discarded as a main source, due to the studies use of teacher and student surveys instead of testing student output. After the decision to not use Jones, the final amount of studies used for this research synthesis ended at nine.

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4. Results

The following studies were chosen as the material to investigate; to what extent comic reading materials influence the development of reading comprehension in second language learners. To explore the research question, the studies will be compared and contrasted with one another to examine if any of the differences in methodology and materials have an effect on reading comprehension of the participants. The studies will be separated into two groups depending on if they use comic strips or comic books / graphic novels. Even though the two formats should offer the same cognitive scaffolding effect, they are different, as comics offer longer narrative. Comic strips on the other hand, are in general are shorter, or presented in a single panel with text on a separate sheet.

4.1 Studies using comic strips

Liu (2004) investigated the effects of comic strips on the reading comprehension of 107 ESL university level learners. The participants of the study were students from various ESL courses arranged by their university as a part of a summer language program. The students were divided into a lower intermediate or higher intermediate group based on their performance on an obligatory test needed to enroll in the summer program. The testing consisted of two texts: One text had simple syntax, limited vocabulary and low use of slangs and idiom; the second text on the other hand, had complex syntax, and freely used slang and idioms. The groups for testing looked as follows.

A. High proficiency, low level text only E. low proficiency, low level text only B. High proficiency, high level text only F. low proficiency, high level text only C. High proficiency, low level text with comic

strips

G. low proficiency, low level text with comic strips

D. High proficiency, high level text with comic strips

H. low proficiency, high level text with comic strips

After reading the texts the students wrote down what they remembered in accordance with a procedure known as immediate recall protocols (IRP). The results showed that the comic strips did not have an equal effect on all groups. The low level learners benefited from the comic strips, as they performed better with both the high level and low level

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texts. However the high level learners who read the high level text did not benefit from the comic strips.

Khoii and Forouzesh (2010) conducted a study on 62 homogenous female Iranian beginner level EFL students aged between 13 and 16. The students were administered an achievement test as a pre test, and the 42 students who scored closest to the mean were chosen as participants the study. The subjects were then divided into a control group and an experimental group. The treatment lasted for 3 months and consisted of working with passages from their beginner level course book. The difference between the groups was that the experimental group worked with comic strips while the control group worked with dictionaries. The students were later administered two post tests, one being a test they had previously done and the other to administer a test they were not familiar with. For the second post test the experimental group was also administered comic strips accompanying the test. The administered post tests showed no significant difference in the reading comprehension of the two groups, and the authors concluded that beginner level students reading comprehension did not benefit from the comic strips.

Sadat-Roozafzai (2012) conducted a study investigating the effect of comic reading materials on 60 Iranian female pre intermediate EFL students aged 18-30. The 60 students were randomly assigned to the control group or experimental group of the study. The proficiency level of the students were acquired through interviews, in which the researchers assessed the students proficiency by measuring their pronunciation, language use, fluency, discourse, ability to communicate, vocabulary, and grammar. The groups both participated in 20 lessons of studying units of their coursebook, with communicative language teaching as their teaching method. The difference between the groups was that the control group read sections of the coursebook to improve reading skills, while the experimental group read comic strips, and used pictures from a work book. they measured the students’ reading comprehension by implementing a post test consisting of 10 true or false questions and 10 multiple choice questions. The results implied that the students in the experimental group benefitted from the comic reading materials more than the control group benefited from the course book, as their performance was better than the control groups on the reading comprehension segment of the post test.

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Merç (2013). conducted a study based on Liu’s study (2004) where he investigated the effects of comic strips on the reading comprehension of 167 Turkish EFL university students. The students were either high proficiency (upper intermediate) or low proficiency (lower intermediate), and divided into four groups based on their proficiency and which reading material they used. The reading materials used in Merç study were the same reading materials which were used by Liu (2004).

A. High proficiency, low level text only E. low proficiency, low level text only B. High proficiency, high level text only F. low proficiency, high level text only C. High proficiency, low level text with comic

strips

G. low proficiency, low level text with comic strips

D. High proficiency, high level text with comic strips

H. low proficiency, high level text with comic strips

To assess in which manner the reading comprehension of the students was affected by the test they used an IRP. The results exhibited that all students who had comic strips as a supplement to their text performed better than their text only counterparts. Merç Concludes that the comic strips were beneficial for both high and low proficiency groups regardless of the texts difficulty.

4.2 Synthesis of studies using comic strips

The studies that covered the use of comic strips found varying results. The findings of Liu’s (2004) study indicates that proficiency level plays a part on the effect of comic strips on ESL learners, as only the low proficiency group benefited from using comic strips. Merç (2013) conducted a similar study to Liu, which used the same method of testing (IRP), as well as the same comic strips and accompanying text. However, Merç’s results were different from Liu’s as all of the participants in Merç’s study regardless of proficiency level and text difficulty seemed to benefit from using the comic strips. Both authors agree on the point that the results of their studies imply the validity of DCT, however, Liu does reflect on the universality of the theory. Liu hypothesizes the students who did not benefit from the comic strips were at a level of proficiency which led to the visual information being redundant. Liu further assumes that the simplified input of the comic strips might be the reason for the redundancy. One possible explanation for the different results in the two studies could be that all of the learners in Merc’s study were

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at an appropriate proficiency level to benefit from the comic strips.

Sadat-Roozafzai (2012) and Khoii and Forouzesh (2010) conducted similar studies with differing results. Firstly the experimental group and the control group worked the same units of the course, parallel of one another, with the latter using their respective conventional means of language instruction instead of comic strips. Secondly, both groups were quite homogenous of similar age, with the same cultural background, and same first language. Thirdly, both studies use similar a similar treatment method as both groups used their own teaching method for 20 sessions (Sadat-Roozafzai) and 18 sessions (Khoii and Forouzesh). All though their studies were similar their results differentiated from one another. Sadat-Roozafzai found that the treatment of teaching using comic strips and pictures from the learner book for 20 consecutive lessons had a positive impact on the lower intermediate level study participants. On the other hand Koii And Forouzesh found no evidence of their experimental group benefitting to from using the comic strips for three months, as they scored similarly to the control group on the post test. however the experimental group still performed at an equal level of the control group, who were treated with the conventional teaching methods of their school, meaning that while comic strips did not have a positive effect on the results of the experimental group, it did not have a negative effect neither.

The main difference between the two studies were the method of instruction during the treatment period, and the level of proficiency between the two student groups. Khoii and Forouzesh’s student population were all beginner level learners with a limited active vocabulary. Prior research (Fan, 2000) has shown that there is a big difference between passive vocabulary, and active vocabulary in L2 learners. There is a possibility that the comic strips did not provide any support for the students during the post test as their active vocabulary was not at the required level to verbalize any of the visual properties of the text. Khoii and Forouzesh offer another explanation, citing Cooper and Sweller’s (1996) mental model theory, claiming that there is a possibility their comic strips did not reflect the texts linguistic complexities, making the comic strips redundant.

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in materials and methodology, Sadat-Roozafzai and Khoii and Forouzesh’s participants used the comic strips for a prolonged period of time, while Merç, and Liu’s participants only used them for the test. Secondly None of the authors clearly define or problematize the term reading comprehension, which could mean there are varying definitions. This could lead to varying learning outcomes being measured. Lastly there are differences in the populations and proficiency of each study, which could have an effect on the outcomes. However the effects of these assumptions are purely speculative.

4.3 Studies Using Graphic Novels / Comic Books

Sabbah, Masood, and Iranmanesh (2012) conducted a study investigating the effects of graphic novels on malaysian year 5 student’s reading comprehension. The authors define reading comprehension as “the degree which to which one understands what one reads and grasps the meaning of text” (p. 148). The students were sorted into two groups depending on if they fit the profile of visual or verbal learners. This categoryzation was made by using Felder and Solomons Index of Learning styles (1999). The testing consisted of four consecutive days where the students read a text and answered questions related to the text of the day. They read one simple textual novel, one difficult textual novel, one simple graphic novel and one difficult graphic novel. The students were allocated 10 minutes of reading and 20 minutes of answering questions for each text, and were awarded 1 point per correct answer and 0 points per wrong answer. The results showed no significant difference between the visual, nor verbal students comprehension of the simple graphical novel. Secondly, the visual students outperformed the verbal students with the difficult graphic novel. The results of the study also indicated that the reading comprehension levels were significantly higher for the textual novel than the graphic novel.

Mei-Ju, Yung-Hung, and Ching-chi (2015) conducted a study on 28 eighth grade Taiwanese students who spent nine weeks working with three comic books. The treatment consisted of the students reading one comic book every three weeks. The students were divided into a high proficiency group and a low proficiency group. The testing consisted of comparing a pre and post tests on reading comprehension. The tests was based on a Taiwanese standardized test which students use to apply for high-school. The results displayed an increase in reading comprehension for both the high proficiency group and

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the low proficiency group, however only the high proficiency group improved to an extent that was statistically significant. The authors conclude that the comic book reading program helped improve the reading comprehension of EFL junior high students.

Öz and Efecioğlu (2015) conducted a study on graphic novels as a tool for teaching EFL. In the study two 15-16 year old international baccalaureate classes were randomly assigned to read a plain text version or graphic novel version of Shakespeare’s MacBeth. All of the students had a high proficiency in English, which was demonstrated in their Prep IB scores in which all students scored a minimum of 4/5 the prior year, as this was the requirement to advance to the next year. The students also showed a positive attitude towards reading in general. The treatment consisted of 15 hours spread over five weeks. during the treatment period both the experimental group, and the control group did the same pre, during, and post reading activities on either the plain text version or graphic novel version of MacBeth. The students were administered a post test to measure the differences in multiple skills connected to their reading of the MacBeth narrative. the results of the post test showed no significant differences of the different groups ability to answer the reading comprehension questions of the post test.

Simpson et al. (2016) conducted a research study on 188 Chinese university psychology students. The study investigated differences in the reading comprehension performance of students after they read pure text and graphic novels. The graphic novel was created specifically for this experiment by a major in visual art to ensure the information gained from both formats was identical. The students were sorted into different groups based on reading ability, which they based on prior grades, and the students’ cognitive reading style. The students cognitive reading styles were assessed by a VICS test. The VICS test indicates whether the students has a preference for textual or pictorial information, or if they show no preference (Bimodal). After completion of the VICS test the students were added to 9 different groups to account for their different cognitive styles and grading level. The groups were as follows:

Verbal Preference High Proficiency

Bimodal High Proficiency Visual Preference High Proficiency

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Verbal Preference Low Proficiency

Bimodal Low Proficiency Visual Preference Low Proficiency

The students were tested with 13 open-ended inferential and factual questions related to the learning material. Firstly researchers examined the groups performance, which displayed that the variable that affected the results of the students the most was the presentation format (Plain text vs Graphic novel), as all students who used the graphic novel instead of plain text performed better than their counterparts. Secondly the cognitive styles of the students did not effect their results, and the students with a verbal preference preference performed just as well as the other two student groups. Thirdly the proficiency level of the students did have an effect on their results, as the high proficiency students performed better than the average and low proficiency students.

Kennedy and Chinokul (2020) investigated the effect of a scaffolded reading experience (SRE) with a graphic novel on grade 10 Thai EFL students. SRE is a framework which helps teachers pick reading materials fitting for the students. SRE also helps the teachers implement scaffolding pre, during, and post reading activities which aim to help the students reach a higher level than they could attain without assistance. The test was carried out without a control group. The treatment lasted for twelve lessons, and out of the twelve lessons 10 were instructional while the other 2 were for the pre and post tests. The two first lessons were used to introduce the students to the conventions of graphic novels to assist them as they moved on to the following 8 lessons of reading instruction with the graphic novel Frankenstein (Shelley 2010). The authors adopted the International Baccalaureate (IBO) Organization’s language acquisition criteria for their scoring system to measure the reading. The IBO scoring system has two attainment levels (0 and 1), to reach attainment level 1 students will have to:

“-clearly identify basic facts, messages, main ideas and/or supporting details

- have excellent awareness of basic aspects of format and style, and author’s purpose for writing

- engage thoroughly with the written and visual text by identifying ideas, opinions and attitudes “

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If said goals were not met the students got a 0 score. The pre and post test used for the study consisted of the same 15 questions. The results of the post test showed a significant increase of the reading comprehension of the students, and the authors deduce that the visual elements of the graphic novel improved the reading comprehension of the students.

4.4 Synthesis of Studies Using Graphic novels / Comic

Books

Similarly to the studies on comic strips there are varied results from the studies treating graphic novels. Neither Sabbah, Masood, and Iranmanesh (2012), nor Öz and Efecioğlu (2015) studies found any evidence of the graphic novels improving the reading comp-rehension of their participants, compared to a textual novel. Öz and Efecioğlu’s study showed no significant difference in answering comprehension questions compared to the control group. However Öz and Efecioğlu does not use a clear definition of reading comprehension for their study. They also tested skills such as foreshadowing, and inferencing. One could argue that both of those skills are related to Skolverket’s (2018) definition of reading comprehension, as one must be able to understand main content and clear details to be able to infer or foreshadow. However drawing conclusions based on the test questions is problematic as these are not available.

One aspect of Kennedy and Chinokoul’s (2020) study that differentiates it from the others is that they treat comic reading as something dissimilar to reading textual novels that requires practice and knowledge of certain conventions. They used two out of the 10 lessons allocated to working with their graphic novel to teach the students about the conventions of graphic novels. Yildirim (2013) argues knowledge of the conventions of graphic novels is essential for educators if they want to use graphic novels as teaching tools, since students need both visual and textual literacy to deal with the comics. However, it’s hard to draw conclusions from their results, as the Kennedy and Chinokoul study similarly to the study conducted by Mei-Ju, Yung-Hung, and Ching-chi (2015), does not make use of a control group. The lack of control group presents issues with deducing wether the graphic novel helped the students more than a textual novel would.

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Simpson et al. (2016) study investigated wether variables such as proficiency or cognitive style had an effect on the extent graphic novels helped facilitate reading comprehension. They found that the presentation format of their graphic novel was beneficial to all of the participants of the experimental group, and that proficiency level rather than cognitive style had the most significant effect on the results. Simpson et al. Speculate “... all of the students possessed good metacognitive skills enabling them to recognize and benefit from the use of comic conventions in the graphic novels.”(p. 422). on the other hand Sabbah, Masood, and Iranmanesh (2012) conducted a study which also took the cognitive style of the participants into account with different results. In their study they found that their participants with a visual preference performed significantly better than the participants with a verbal preference. The authors argue that the difficulty of their difficult graphic novel did not take into account the students visual or verbal skills. This led to the information of the difficult graphic novel to be too abstract, thus hindering the students (who had no prior experience on the conventions of graphic novels) to obtain the information.

Just as the studies covering comic strips, the five studies investigating the effect of graphic novels or comic books were quite inconsistent with their methods of testing. Sabbah, Masood, and Iranmanesh (2012) and Kennedy and Chinokul (2020) both used similar scales for measuring the reading comprehension development of their studies student populations. Both studies made use of 0-1 testing which is problematic, since a student hypothetically barely failing and scoring a 0.99, and a student scoring 0.05 are measured as equal, ignoring differences in performance. The same issues persists for the students who get a passing score, as a 1.0 and 1.75 score would be measured as equal. However this assumes the questions are answered by written testimonies from the students rather than true or false recall questions, and since neither study had made their questions publicly available this is purely speculative.

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5. Discussion.

The studies that were investigated in this paper does not show cohesive results of the effects comic book reading materials has on the reading comprehension of second language learners. Greaney (1980), Anderson Fieldling and Wilson, (1988), Krashen (2004), Weiner (2004), and Cook (2017), have all made a case for positive effects comic book reading can have on language acquisition in an L1 context. However as the current studies show there is a lack of consistency in the research of these effects on second language learners. The mixed results of the studies in this paper does put the universality of DCT (Paivio, 1991, 2006, 2013, Sadoski and Paivio 2001) The Multimedia Principle (Mayer, 2014), and comics effect on mental model theory (Cooper and Sweller, 1996) into question, as one could argue all of the studies should find positive results as they use materials that should facilitate the effect of the theories. However few of the studies in this paper attempt to isolate the effects of these theories, and the studies that conduct experiments which should isolate the effect of DCT (Liu 2004, Merç 2013) have different results. Six out of nine studies did show that the use of comic reading materials had a positive effect on the reading comprehension of the participants. One reason for these discrepancies could be the varying methods of testing, varying definitions of key terms such as reading comprehension, and varying proficiency levels of the participants.

Due to the ambiguity of the results there is no clear cut answer for how the reading materials used in the chosen studies affect reading comprehension. This research synthesis does display that there is a need for further research of the effects of comic reading materials in a second language setting. The varying ways of instruction, and assessment does give credence for the necessity of a framework, or set of practices regarding comic book instruction in classroom settings. As previous research by Bucher and Manning (2004), Basal (2016) and Griffith (2010) has shown, working on the conventions of comics is essential to ensure the students comprehend the material. The results also indicate that teachers should approach the use of comics and comic strips to facilitate reading comprehension with caution, as the evidence of its positive effects are unclear.

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As previously mentioned in the introduction Skolverket (2018) requires that: “Pupils can understand the main content and clear details... in basic texts in various genres.”(p.35). Due to the varied or non existent definitions of reading comprehension in the studies of this paper, it¨s hard to draw a conclusion on wether or not comic reading materials facilitate this skill in second language learning. Since many of the studies in this paper seem to treat reading comprehension as collective term for a vast and complex set of skills without further expanding on what it means, it is hard to draw any conclusions on how the treatment in the studies facilitate reading comprehension in a way that is relevant for the Swedish School system. There is also a lack of consistent age groups and proficiency in the main sources. However Swedish ESL classrooms are heterogenous (Sundqvist and Sylvén, 2012, Kotiranta 2019) and it possible to find classrooms where there are both beginners and native speakers. If the possibility was available it would be of interest to use studies with participants who are more representative of Swedish year 7-9 students.

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6. Conclusions

The varied results of this research synthesis makes it hard to draw a conclusions on wether or not comic reading materials have an effect on the development of reading comprehension of second language learners. However, the studies used for this research synthesis seem to show that comic reading materials have potential as a learning tool. The results also reveals that there is no established practice method among for investigating the effect of comic reading materials in second language English education.

This study suffers from many limitations. Firstly, as previously mentioned this research synthesis lacks consistent means of testing and definitions of key concept. This issue persists in the chosen studies, which in turn has likely had an effect on the ambiguous results. Secondly, this research synthesis lacks in consistency of student demographics, and student proficiency, which causes issues with drawing conclusions relevant to Swedish year 7-9 english education. Thirdly, few of the studies used in this research synthesis publish the reading materials, and none have published there test questions. This has made it difficult to fully assess and draw conclusions from the studies. Fourthly there is no synthesis, comparing, and contrasting the differences between the studies using comic strips and comic books / graphic novels. This is due to practical limitations of time and the word limit of the paper. Lastly, this research synthesis is lacking in consistency of the reading materials used in the studies, even though comic strips and comic books resemble on another, and should give similar benefits according to the cognitive theories presented in this paper, they are still different mediums and should be treated as such.

After investigating this body of research I have found that the bulk of research for comic reading materials in second language learning is thin and inconclusive, with many articles investigating different objects. I would like to conduct further research on the effects using english comic reading materials instead of textual novels to facilitate the language acquisition of Swedish students. If possible, and practical I would also want to create a framework for teachers who want to use comics in their instruction, as I believe the medium has potential as a learning tool, as a conduit for approaching heavier text, and as

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