DOCUMENT RESUME ED 056 591 FL 002 694 AUTHOR Elkins, Robert J.; Bruggemann,christian TITLE Comic Strips in the Teaching of English as aForeign Language. PUB DATE Feb 71 NOTE 20p.; Paper presented to a conference onthe teaching of English, Kassel, West Germany,February 5-6, 1971 EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS *American English; *Cartoons; *ClassroomMaterials; Cultural Context; *Cultural Education;*English (Second Language); Humor; InstructionalMaterials; Language Enrichment; r'.eadingMaterial Selection; Satire; Second Language Learning ABSTRACT American comic strips and cartoons canbe useful in English-as-a-second-language classes. Theyintroduce variety and provide an inside look into Americanlife and thought. Many current popular comic strips have cultural,social, and political significaace. and discuss the American wayof life, society, and the individual. The English-as-a-second-languageteacher must consider certain evaluative questions beforeusing a particular comic strip. Technical problems about vocabularyand use of colloquialisms must also be kept in mind. (VM) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION& WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION r-4 THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCEDEXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE POINTS OF VW OR OPMIONS Cr PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINAIINGIT. OFFICIAL OFFICE Of EDUCATION LrN STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT .0 mninoNOR POUCY. c:) COMIC STRIPS IN THE TEACHING C:3 LAJ OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Robert J. Elkins and Christian Erliggemann Language teachers as well asother teachers are constantly searching for new methods andtechniques to improve their teaching them in effectiveness. Often the materials which could assist their task are flaunted in theirfaces without teachers being aware comic strips of them. Such potential material exists in newspaper and cartoons. Not only would the efficient useof these forms of mass media lend anenjoyable variety to the classroom,but also their introduction would offer thestudents an inside look into American life and thought, theAmericans' preoccupations, their idiosyncracies and some of theircharacteristics, all in concentrated or capsule form. Comics, although known throughoutthe world, do not enjoy the popularity in other countries to the extentthey do in the United Journalism, states that, ',IThe States. Bohd, in An Introduction to latest published statistics proclaimthat 82 per cent of men readers J. and 78 per cent of women readersdaily devour the comics. Scarcely any American paper, no matterhow small, devotes less than one page daily tocomic strips. Sundays, ene finds 4 to 12 full York pages of comics in color. Of ths larger papers, only the New "Times includes no comics. 2 should not and could not languageteachers take advantage of this form of mass media to increaseinterest and appeal in their classes? An example of the comicstrip's effectiveness and potential value to teaching is pointed out byAlvin Silvei-man in The American Newspaper, "So many people in Americaread the comics that, during World War II, the strips were used toteach men and women in the 2 help service- armed forces." Their major use at that time was to men learn foreignlanguages. When American comics were introduced into Bolivia and rtzched the areaswhere the Indian population was largely illiterate, there was an increasein the desire to learn to Indians wished to know read. The reason was found to be that the 3 what such characters as "Mutt" and"Jeff" were saying. Business- men have also recognizedthe potential of comIcs and oftendevelop 4 their advertisements in the formatof the comic strip. For the purposes of this paper,the comic strip will be separated from the older version, thecartoon, and subsequently been dealt with exclusively. A number of various definitions have presented for the comic strip. Silverman says, "a comic strip is a series of picturesin a rAated order.A single picture is called a 6 5 cartoon." Bond considers the cartoon tobe a "pictured editorial." The American College Dictionary statesthat a cartoon is "1) a sketch or drawing as in a newspaper orperiodical, symbolizing or caricaturing some subject or personof current interest, in an (17 exaggerated way. 2) . 3) a comic strip. 2 3 The word cartoon does notinherently imply humour although Spencer states that it does. "The very word cartoon implies humor, Yet the topics dealt with are notparticularly or necessarily humourous. Spencer continues by stating,"the humor varies, some grim, some pathetic, some sad, someironic, some bitter but all 9 portraying a measure of truth." Comic on the other hand connotes "humour" or "funny" with the result that thecomics are often referred to as "the funnies" or the"funny papers."Comic strips are not all humourousbut often handle topics dealingwith crime, adventure, or mystery. In this paper, cartoon is used todescribe a single panel booed upon a contemporary event or acaricature of a current public figure and dependent upon thereader's knowledge of current facts and events. These cartoons, basically politicaland generally found on the editorial page,will not be dealt with sincestudents must first be given current backgroundinformation and such information could not be prepared by a textbookwriter or teacher beforehand. Once the event is in the realm ofthe past, the value usually diminishes or becomes non-existent. The writers of this paper do recognize the value of cartoons,however, and recommend that they be utilized whenever applicable. Their value has been demonstrated by their recognition by thePulitzer Prize Committee which has yearly awarded the "Pulitzer Prizefor Editorial Cartooning" since 10 comic strip should prove 1922. For the classroom, the comic or more practical and canbe prepared for in advance. If well chosen, 4 comics do not become out-dated aseasily as cartoons. The single picture which neither caricatures acurrent public figure nor is based upon a contemporary event will beclassified as a comic rather than as a cartoon. At one time, one could havespurned comic strips as something degrading, something "low-brow," somethingfor the illiterate. Today, however, many of the more than500 American comic strips are "..leaning towardsophisticated satires of American life, or H11 of humanity in general. The Basic Types of Conic Strips In order to select good comic stripsand to prepare background material, the teacher must be familiarwith the basic types of comic strips. One way of categorizing them wouldbe according to down into four basic length. In this manner they can be broken types. Each panel or set of pictures is 1) Totally Self-Contained. totally independent of the previous orfuture panel. The topic may, and usually does, varyfrom day to day with no formal connection. The reader need not have read the previous day's comic strip toappreciate the current one. "Beetle Bailey" or "Blondie" are representativesof this type of strip. self-contained 2) Quasi-Self-Contained.The panel is basically and can be understood withoutreference to the previous 4 5 day's or the following day's strip. The comic strip artist lets the strip revolve around onetopic for a number of days until the public is ready for achange or until he has virtually exhausted the2ossibilities of that topic. Although the reading of the previousday's strip is not necessRry, it may enhancethe comprehension of the reader. The creators of "Peanuts" and"B.C." often draw their strips in this manner for a number ofdays and then revert to the totally self-contained typefor a short period. 3) The Short agues_ice. In the short sequence, it is necessary for the reader to follow the stripfor a number of days to determine the point. Often there is little humour in this type of strip, but rather, onefinds a mystery, crime, or adventure story being unfolded which issupposed to maintain reader interest at a high level. Two strips which fit this category are "Dick Tracy" and"Lil'l Abner." itx The Continuous SeqUence. In the continuous sequence there doesn't seem to be any real crisis orclimax with the situa- tion being resolved and a new sequencebeing started as in the shorter sequence. The reader is taken through the daily life of the characters almostwithout beginning or end. An example of such a strip is"Gasoline Alley," in which characters are born, growold and die as in life itself. 5 6 It is basica:1y the former two typesthat appeal universally to the youngster, to the adolescentand to the adult; to the young- ster and adolescent because of the humouroussuperficiality and the artful drawings and to the adult on the basisof the subterranean connotations and their criticism of same aspectof society or human nature. It would also be possible to compare comicstrips to the various literary genres; the short and long sequence to theshort story and the novel, and the self-contained to the poem. A poem makes the most efficient use of alimited number of words. Each word is chosen for its maximum effectiveness. So too, the self-contA7ined strip attempts as briefly andpregnantly as possible to depict a story with a limited amountof language, but driving home with full force that which is used. An example of such a strip is "B.C," drawn by Johnny Hart. If we look at one of his four picture panels, we can see thefollowing: 1) The first panel depicts a cave man standing at thefoot of a hill. At the top of the hill a huge boulder has broken loose and is starting to roll down thebill. 2) The second panel shows us the cave man whohas become fully aware of the rock and the danger it holdsfor him, and his tribe. 3) In the third, he is rushing homewardscreaming "Rock:" with all the emotional force of dangerportrayed in it. 7 4) In the final panel, we see his tribesmenall lined up to help him, each having recognized the danger andthe immediacy of the emergency, and each with a rock inhis hand.