Graphic Novels: Tools for Meaningful Literacy Practices

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GRAPHIC NOVELS: TOOLS FOR MEANINGFUL LITERACY PRACTICES

A Project

Presented to the faculty of the Department of English

California State University, Sacramento

Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

English Composition

Kaitlyn Myra Belle Ehrmantrout

SPRING 2017

Kaitlyn Myra Belle Ehrmantrout

GRAPHIC NOVELS: TOOLS FOR MEANINGFUL LITERACY PRACTICES

A Project

Kaitlyn Myra Belle Ehrmantrout

Approved by:

, Committee Chair Angela Clark-Oates, Ph.D.

______Date

, Second Reader Susan Fanetti, Ph.D.

iii

Student: Kaitlyn Myra Belle Ehrmantrout

I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this project is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the project.

______, Graduate Coordinator ______Douglas Rice, Ph.D. Date

Department of English

Abstract

GRAPHIC NOVELS: TOOLS FOR MEANINGFUL LITERACY PRACTICES

Kaitlyn Myra Belle Ehrmantrout

The focus of this project is to discover how graphic novels can provide

opportunities for meaningful reading and writing. Multimodal texts, like graphic novels,

can engage students in a significant experience, an experience that they can bring forth in

their college-level reading and writing practices. In the fall semester of 2016, I conducted a case study at a mid-sized western university in two First Year Composition (FYC) courses that explored the impact of graphic novels on students’ literacy practices. Three significant findings

emerged from the data: 1) students attributed traditional alphabetic text as meeting

academic standards and non-traditional graphic novels contradicted their prior

knowledge of what is appropriate for the classroom; 2) students used the analogy of

speaking another language and juxtaposed it to the ability to translate words into images;

and 3) despite knowing that artistic ability was not included in the assessment process,

students privileged known genre conventions over classroom practices.

, Committee Chair Angela Clark-Oates, Ph.D.

______Date

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project was made possible because of my parents, who have always encouraged me to go forward with my education and supported my love for anime and manga even when they only thought it was a phase. Love you mom and dad.

I also want to express my gratitude to my amazing committee, Dr. Angela Clark-Oates

and Dr. Susan Fanetti, who supported me throughout this process and let me explore my

passion.

To my school wife, Valerie, thank you for all of the emotional support and sushi dates.

Without your help, this project would not have been possible.

To my thesis-buddy, Jazmin, thank you for keeping me focused and letting me hash out

ideas during our coffee breaks.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

Acknowledgements ...... vi

List of Figures ...... viii

Chapter

1. REFLECTIVE COVER LETTER ...... 1

2. PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHING ...... 6

3. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 8

4. ARTICLE ...... 20

Appendix A Informed Consent [Study Participation] ...... 45

Appendix B Informed Consent [Pre-Assignment Survey]...... 47

Appendix C Pre-Assignment Survey ...... 48

Appendix D Literacy Narrative and Graphic Novel Assignment Sheet ...... 49

Appendix E Informed Consent [Focus Group/Post-Assignment Survey] ...... 53

Appendix F Focus Group/Post-Assignment Survey ...... 54

Work Cited ...... 55

vii

LIST OF FIGURES Figures Page

1. Have You Read Graphic Novels...…………………….……………………………… 32

2. Graphic Novels in College Classrooms……………………………….……………… 33

3. Student-1 Graphic Memoir Writing Sample Page 1………………………………….. 36

4. Student-1 Graphic Memoir Writing Sample Page 2………………………………….. 38

5. Student-1 Graphic Memoir Writing Sample Page 3………………………………….. 39

6. Student-1 Graphic Memoir Writing Sample Page 4……….…………………………. 39

7. Student-2 Graphic Memoir Writing Sample Page 1……….…………………………. 42

viii

CHAPTER ONE: REFLECTIVE COVER LETTER

I chose to earn my Master’s degree, in part, because my parents have always encouraged me to further my education, and I would also be the first in my family to achieve this level of degree. I chose the Rhetoric and Composition Master’s program because I aspired to be a romance novel editor. While I could have chosen to earn my

Master’s degree in Literature, I felt that the Literature program emphasized literary analysis, and as a field focused on writing and literacy, I believed the Rhetoric and

Composition program emphasized learning the mechanics of writing, which I knew I would need as a novel editor. I quickly discovered, in my first semester, that the Rhetoric and Composition program was a program designed to focus on the fundamentals of teaching in a writing classroom. This was significant because, at that point in my life, I was against becoming a teacher.

This was also significant because I believe that in order to successfully engage in learning there needs to be some form of a personal connection, and I failed to establish that connection in my first semester. My resistance to being a teacher caused a feeling of disconnect in my ability to actively engage with the course material. This disconnect stemmed from a struggle between what I wanted from this program versus what the program was designed for. This internal conflict almost caused me to walk away from graduate school; I felt that I was missing that “connection” that would validate my contributions to the Rhetoric and Composition program, and this feeling caused me to doubt my abilities. After my first semester, I decided to cut down on my unit course load and enroll as a part-time student; the benefit of this decision was immense. I was able to 2 manage my time more efficiently, which allowed me to designate more time to my coursework; designated time was necessary because it allowed me to read, annotate, and think about course readings without the anxiety of more readings waiting for me. With this decrease in pressure, I was able to actively engage with my peers and participate in class discussions and find my connection to Rhetoric and Composition.

I started to find my connection in the Rhetoric and Composition field in my second semester when I had the opportunity to take Teaching with Technology in the

Writing Classroom. This class showed me that there was no pre-determined definition of the field and that reading within a multitude of mediums, such as graphic novels, was permitted and directly correlates to writing. In this course, I was also introduced to multimedia learning theory and found my personal connection to the field of Rhetoric and Composition: graphic novels. As I discuss in great detail in Chapter 4, reading manga

(Japanese graphic novels), early in my schooling, helped me become a confident reader at a time when I was constantly told I was failing to meet the academic standard. I have treasured manga since my childhood, and throughout my graduate student career, I have attempted to incorporate it into every major assignment I have completed. This course was the first step in considering becoming a writing teacher.

My first attempt to incorporate graphic novels into the writing classroom occurred in my third semester of graduate school when I was enrolled the Rhetoric and

Composition program’s research methods course. This course allowed me to explore different methods of researching as well as types of research taking place throughout the 3 field. This course was essential to the foundation of my study because it provided me an opportunity to design my project.

The most significant impact during this research methods course occurred when I was researching articles for the annotated bibliography assignment (see Chapter 3).

During this assignment, I found an article that focused on the implications of incorporating graphic novels into a college-level composition class. This article was a guiding force behind the conception and structure of my project, and I spent the rest of the semester designing my study. I explored methods such as case studies, mixed methods, and self-studies; through this exploration, I decided to conduct a self-study because I would be teaching a FYC course as a teaching associate the following semester.

This self-study involved me designing a curriculum where students would be required to read a graphic novel and create a graphic memoir as a replacement for the narrative essay students traditionally compose while enrolled in FYC; during this process I planned to observe students interaction with the graphic novel through class observations, hold one- on-one audio recorded conferences with students, and collect writing samples. The goal of this self-study was to see how reading and writing a graphic novel impacted the literacy practices of my students.

Unfortunately, I later discovered that as a full-time university employee I was not permitted to concurrently teach and hold my position; this caused a direct conflict with the plans for my study, which called for me to be a participant-observer, adapting the study to the dynamic spaces of the classroom. In order to stay within my originally planned timeline, I changed my research design from a self-study to a case study research 4 project. After completing the research methods course I spent the following two semesters collecting and analyzing data for my study. In the fall semester of 2016, I spent the first five weeks of the semester collecting data in two separate FYC classes where my graphic novel unit was incorporated into the course curriculum. During this time, I administered pre and post-assignment surveys, collected ungraded, de-identified literacy narratives, graphic memoirs, and assignment reflection essays, and I also held two audio recorded focus groups. I then spent the spring semester of 2017 analyzing and writing up the quantitative and qualitative data I collected in the semester prior. My data analysis process consisted of tallying and color coding student responses in both surveys and the reflection essay. I then cross-referenced this data to the graphic memoir writing samples; the goal of this process was to better understand student responses to reading and composing a graphic novel and how these processes impacted their reading and writing practices.

As I was conducting my study, I was simultaneously taking a Feminist Rhetoric graduate course. This course allowed me to explore applying feminist theory in my pedagogy and to incorporate these theories into a composition classroom. Throughout this course, I was determined to integrate manga into each assignment in order to explore how manga and feminism could be applied to the writing classroom. There were two assignments that significantly achieved this goal and made the most impact on my pedagogy. The first assignment was a multimodal keyword project. Through a Prezi presentation, I chose the word manga and reimagined it through a feminist lens and applied this reimagining to how students could use manga within the writing classroom to 5 analyze feminist ideology. This keyword project was the starting point for the idea behind the second assignment, designing a syllabus, which made a significant impact on my pedagogy. The syllabus I chose to design was an upper-division senior seminar course called Manga Through a Feminist Lens. This multimodal syllabus had students read three different, yet similar, genres of manga targeted at women. Through their manga readings and secondary articles, students had to apply feminist theories explored throughout the course and analyze how female characters were portrayed and then connect their analysis to current issues women are facing in society. Designing this course helped me better understand the time, dedication, and process that goes into developing a course’s syllabus. This course developed my interest in becoming a writing teacher.

My time as a graduate student consisted of three years of growth and development. I grew as a writer through my research and the exploration of Rhetoric and

Composition theories with every course I completed. Through these constant explorations

I developed as an aspiring writing instructor through revising my pedagogy and finding ways to incorporate multimodality into my writing courses. I also developed as an instructor through collaborating with my colleagues and sharing how our lived experiences – women, teachers, students – connect to our teaching styles. Through my coursework, I was able to explore theories (such as the multimedia learning theory), share knowledge with my peers, and observe classroom practices. The Rhetoric and

Composition program helped me realize my potential as a college-level writing teacher. 6

CHAPTER TWO: PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHING

Students who have the capability to read and analyze a text learn how to become better writers. The goal of the composition class is to increase students’ abilities to engage effectively with a variety of text, whether written, visual, or verbal, students should be exposed to a variety of forms, genres, styles, and mechanics. As students read they have to encounter a variety of different patterns of writing and can then apply those patterns in their own writing in order to become both confident readers and writers.

In order to demonstrate the connection between reading and writing I utilize the

Multimedia Learning Theory. The Multimedia Learning Theory addresses how we organize information and advocates that the ability to process multimodal information aids in meaning making process. Multimodal texts engage students in meaningful reading and writing experiences because these texts allow them to make connections through the exploration of popular culture. As a significant component of the Multimedia Learning

Theory, popular culture is central to my pedagogy because it creates a space for students to use out-of-school knowledge to meet in-school expectations (Lawrence et al. 484). By incorporating popular culture into the composition class, students are not only engaged, but also learn ways to read and write that will be applicable to real world experiences outside of the classroom.

Working alongside the Multimedia Learning Theory, I choose to incorporate a grading contract as my primary assessment tool because it redirects students away from being overly concerned about their grades and allows them to engage in the learning process rather than the learning product. While the grading contract addresses out how to 7 achieve certain grades in my course, it also stresses the importance of writing process through peer review, revisions, and instructor feedback. Each assignment does not receive a point value/letter grade, rather, students are given feedback from their peers through workshopping and one-on-one meetings with their instructor. The goal with this method is for students to engage in collaborative learning by exchanging feedback with their peers, revising, receiving further feedback from me, and then further revising before submitting a portfolio of their work. The goal of this portfolio is to demonstrate the growth and progress students have made throughout the semester; this method not only demonstrates to students that writing, as a practice is recursive, but that their writing is never complete.

CHAPTER THREE: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, Sally. "A Blended Approach to Reading and Writing Graphic Stories." Reading

Teacher, vol. 67, no. 3, 2013, pp. 208-219. Wiley Online Library, doi:

10.1002/TRTR.1211. Accessed 14 Sep. 2015.

This article examines the impact of a nine-week graphic novel unit focusing on

the language and literacy skills of a diverse class of second-graders enrolled in a

Title I elementary school. Through mini-lessons, Brown demonstrates an example

of scaffolding reading comprehension as students were encouraged to notice the

ways in which the author’s progress plots in numerous settings using the same

characters. Brown finds that all students, especially those learning English,

demonstrated growth in regards to fluency and reading comprehension as

measured by pre-determined proficiency levels.

The goal of this article is to demonstrate the potential classroom use for

multimodal texts under the theoretical framework of new literacies. While

Brown’s study centralizes on K-12 learners, her study’s overarching assertion that

graphic novels are tools for teaching in a meaningful way parallels directly with

my research.

Carter, James Bucky. "Graphic Novels, Web Comics, and Creator Blogs: Examining

Product and Process." Theory Into Practice, vol. 50, no. 3, 2011, pp. 190-197.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/00405841.2011.584029. Accessed 14 Sep. 2015.

Focusing on graphic novels and Web comics, this article examines the

connections among young adult literature (YAL), the Internet, and multiple 9

literacies to demonstrate to educators how implementing these texts can help

students learn about process and product when considering young adult texts.

Carter suggests that new technologies are constructing new spaces flourishing

with “pedagogical, discursive potential.”

The goal of this article is to inform educators about how 21st century technology

is calling for a reevaluation of how educators view access, process, and product.

Despite Carter’s insightful discussion of new areas of access, he does not

demonstrate how graphic novels fit into his reevaluation outside of his claim that

“graphic novels as literature [are] written for, featuring, or of interest to

adolescents” which conflicts with my argument that graphic novels can be used

regardless of age without seeming remedial.

Comer, Kathryn. “Illustrating Praxis: Comic Composition, Narrative Rhetoric, and

Critical Multiliteracies.” Composition Studies, vol. 43, no. 1, 2015, pp. 75-104.

This essay promotes for the combined use of narrative theory and comic studies

that is compatible with literacy-focused pedagogies. Integrating comics into her

college-level advanced composition course, Comer focuses her study on graphic

memoirs because they produce a ‘heightened awareness of rhetorical construction

of narrative texts.” Comer suggests that analyzing and composing a graphic

memoir provides students with an opportunity to fine-tune their rhetorical and

critical awareness.

The goal of this essay is to demonstrate the potential for creating critical

engagement, refining rhetorical consciousness, and developing critical 10

multiliteracies. In comparison to the Gillenwater and Brown pieces, this essay

centralizes on college-level composition students which directly aligns with my

research and serves as a foundational text for my study.

Gillenwater, Cary. "Reading Images: The Phenomenon of Intertextuality and How It May

Contribute to Developing Visual Literacy with Advanced Placement

English/language Arts Students." Journal of Ethnographic & Qualitative

Research, vol. 8, no. 4, 2014, pp. 251-263.

This article analyzes the phenomenon of intertextuality between traditional novels

and graphic novels and how it may or may not contribute to the transference of

one literacy mode to another. Gillenwater defines intertextuality as all texts

sharing common elements; she applies this to graphic novels as they use many of

the same literary devices as traditional novels. In her findings, Gillenwater

suggests that while traditional literacy aids in reading, understanding, and

interpreting graphic novels, formal instruction may increase and refine students’

visual literacy.

The goal of this source is to demonstrate that graphic novels are a comparable

literary genre to traditional novels and that they can contribute to the transference

between literary modes. Similar to the Comer piece, this article further supports

my research because it analyzes both the instructor’s pedagogical choice to use

graphic novels and the outcome of the students’ visual literacy.

Lawrence, Salika, et al. "Summer Program Helps Adolescents Merge Technology,

Popular Culture, Reading, and Writing for Academic Purposes." Journal of 11

Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol. 52, no. 6, 2009, pp. 483-494. Wiley Online

Library, doi:10.1598/JAAL.52.6.3. Accessed 14 Sept. 2015.

Lawrence et al. encourage instructors to being students’ out-of-school knowledge

and experiences into the classroom as a means to meet in-school expectations.

This article describes a three-week literacy course offered to group of twelve

urban high school students. The authors found that linking reading, writing,

visual, and technological literacy offered students the opportunity to write for

broader audiences and to create genuine texts.

The goal of this article is to demonstrate that, by using popular culture, instructors

can support students’ academic engagement which will benefit them in making

connections between reading, writing, and technology. The authors call for a

redefinition of literacy in order to incorporate a multi-modal approach for students

who read less print-based text. However, the emphasis on technology and creating

comics is not something I am seeking to incorporate into this project so these

aspects will not be as useable for my current study.

Losh, Elizabeth, et al. Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing. Bedford/St.

Martin’s, 2014.

This book covers the commonly taught topics in first-year college composition

through a comic book format. The authors cover the following sections: Spaces

for Writing, Why Rhetoric?, Strategic Reading, Writing Identities, Argument

Beyond Pro and Con, Research, Revision, and Going Public. Each section 12

includes tips for writers such as organizational skills, identifying bias, evaluating

sources, and avoiding plagiarism.

Through a multimodal approach, the goal of this book is to engage students in

thinking about their identities, framework of their research, and effective writing

processes. In a field that traditionally targets young adolescents, this book is

unique in that the target audience is first-year college composition students.

Another unique aspect is the authors’ decision to write this book in comic book

format; this is significant because it demonstrates the rhetorical requirements of

writing for multimodal platforms as well as think of graphic design and visual

evidence as part of their basic communication skills.

Low, David E. “Spaces Invested with Content”: Crossing the ‘Gaps’ in Comics with

Readers in School.” Children’s Literature in Education, vol. 43, no. 4, 2012, pp.

368-385. SpringLink, doi: 10.1007/s10583-012-9172-5. Accessed 26 Jan. 2017.

This paper argues that, for young adolescents, comics offer comparable “gap-

filling affordances” as picture books. Low asserts that, in order to implement the

full potential of comics, educators need to explicitly focus on the gutters due to

the rich possibility of constructing meaning and provides several pedagogical

activities that demonstrate this possibility. Throughout his paper, Low addresses

the need for multiliteracies pedagogy because this practice “solidifies reading as

an active, imaginative, critical, and richly semiotic process of meaning making.”

The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the validity of teaching with comics with

a gutter focused curriculum. Emphasizing the gutter requires readers to fill in the 13

gaps that exist from one panel to the next and, in doing so, provides the reader

with an opportunity to “co-construct a meaning that cannot be said to definitively

exist on the page itself.” Low asserts that by adopting comics into our courses

serves as a counter-narrative to the prevailing discourse of single-definition

school literacy curriculums. While Low’s argument focuses specifically on young

adolescent readers and comic gutters, his overall assertion for multiliteracies

pedagogy parallels my pedagogical interests.

Luke, Allan. “Critical Literacy: Foundational Notes.” Theory Into Practice, vol. 51, no. 1,

2012, pp. 4-11. ERIC, doi:10.1080/00405841.2012.636324. Accessed 3 Nov.

2016.

This article discusses the need for a cohesive definition of critical literacy due to

the progressively cultured nature of texts and discourses. This article traces the

roots of critical literacy from Paulo Freire to poststructuralist theories. Topics in

this article include: educational antecedents, critical pedagogies, and discourse

analytic approaches to critical literacy.

The goal of this article is to demonstrate that critical literacy involves a process of

naming and renaming society, seeing its patterns, designs, and complexities, as

well as developing the capability to redesign and reshape it. This source pairs well

with Bruce, Brown, McCracken, and Bell-Nolan’s piece on feminist pedagogy

because there is overlap in terms of praxis for blending feminist pedagogy with

critical literacy in that both attempt to encourage students to read and question the

world. This source is helpful in that it covers a wide breadth of critical literacy 14

historically as well as provides suggestions for classroom implementation. This

fits with my project because the theoretical framework behind my course

implements critical literacy as a means of unpacking societal norms regarding the

depictions of gender, race, class, and sexual identity.

Matusiak, Krystyna K. “Image and Multimedia Resources in an Academic Environment:

A Qualitative Study of Students’ Experiences and Literacy Practices.” Journal of

the American Society for Information Science and Technology, vol. 64, no. 8,

2013, pp. 1577-1589. Wiley Online Library, doi:10.1002/asi.22870. Accessed 26

Jan. 2017.

This article discusses a qualitative case study exploring students’ experiences in

using images and multimedia for academic work. Matusiak concentrates on the

use of visual and multimedia resources in particular college-level classroom

contexts, such as lectures, discussion sections, as well as students’ project and

assignments.

The goal of this article is to demonstrate that digital technology facilitates wider

access to information resources and increases the opportunities for knowledge

representation while widening the variety of educational resources. While

Matusiak’s case study took place in a college-level geography course, she

provides in depth theoretical perspectives on the concept of literacy practices as

well as cognitive multimodal theories which are significant across disciplines. 15

Mills, Kathy A. “Multiliteracies: Interrogating Competing Discourses.” Language and

Education, vol. 23, no. 2, 2009, pp. 103-116. EBSCOhost, doi:

10.1080/09500780802152762. Accessed 26 Jan. 2017.

This paper examines the developing body of international research and literature

regarding multiliteracies and how educators have both adopted and resisted

principles of multiliteracies. Mills pulls her knowledge of multiliteracies from the

New London Group’s proposals. Using this knowledge, Mills addresses “three

logical reasons” why multiliteracies pedagogy causes unease in certain educators

with counterarguments supporting the incorporation of multiliteracies pedagogy.

The goal of this paper is to discuss the ways multiliteracies has been adopted

since its foundation by the New London Group. While Mills addresses issues

within the Australian educational system, her argument and analysis of

multiliteracies is both significant internationally as well as interdisciplinary. This

piece is significant for my research because it adds a layer of knowledge by

addressing why educators resist adopting multiliteracies.

Moeller, Robin. “Convincing the Naysayers.” Knowledge Quest, vol. 41, no. 3, 2013, pp.

12-17.

This short article is intended to convince those who believe that graphic novels

are not a legitimate form of reading to recognize that graphic novels are important

to both literacy and education. Moeller argues that students use both text and

images to create and process ideas and information; she applies this concept to the 16

idea that reading graphic novels develops an interest for reading that transfers to

other types of literature.

The goal of this article is to present the other side of the argument by recognizing

a couple of viewpoints on graphic novels in teaching curriculum. However, at

certain points, Moeller’s tone appears to be biased in her stance stressing the

legitimacy of graphic novels as a format of literature. Moeller’s sources provide

further opportunities to research the influence of graphic novels on reading

comprehension.

Rowland, Luke, et al. “A Multiliteracies Approach to Materials Analysis.” Language,

Culture and Curriculum, vol. 27, no. 2, 2014, pp. 136-150.

This article describes a process for English Language Teaching (ELT) materials

analysis emphasizing the knowledge process (KP) framework established in

multiliteracies pedagogy. This specific framework was used in order to identify

which knowledge processes are estimated in teacher-generated literacy materials.

From their findings, the authors disclose that the majority of studied materials

target the knowledge process of experiencing in comparison to other materials,

which require students to conceptualize or analyze information.

The goal of this article is to demonstrate how the KP framework can function as a

specialized materials analysis tool for illuminating the meaning-making

opportunities presented in to ETL literacy materials. This article is similar to the

Low piece in that the author’s assertion towards the need of multiliteracy

pedagogy as a means to develop students’ ability to critically engage with texts. 17

While the study conducted in this takes places in a Japanese university

specializing in English language programs, the author’s multiliteracies theoretical

framework directly connects to my own theoretical framework.

Schwarz, Gretchen. "Graphic Novels." Curriculum & Teaching Dialogue, vol. 12, no. ½,

2010, pp. 43-65.

This article calls for a new type of curriculum for the digital age including new

sites of possibility for learning and creating knowledge; Schwarz suggests graphic

novels as the medium. Schwarz claims that graphic novels can “drive current

traditional curriculum goals, teach new literacies, offer new topics with which

teachers and students can engage, and enable new ways of learning.”

Similar to other featured articles, this article successfully advocates for the

incorporation of graphic novels into teaching curriculum. This is especially

apparent in Schwarz’s argument that students need the opportunity to question

literary cannon. However, I disagreed with how Schwarz states that many graphic

novels are not appropriate for the classroom because it reverts back to the

challenge of “banned books” which I feel limits a student opportunity to explore

and analyze literary texts.

Serafini, Frank. "Expanding Perspectives for Comprehending Visual Images in

Multimodal Texts." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol. 54, no. 5, 2011,

pp. 342-350. Wiley Online Library, doi: 10.1598/JAAL.54.5.4. Accessed 14 Sept.

2015. 18

This article argues that “graphic novels require students to simultaneously process

written text, visual images, and elements of design to construct meaning.” Serafini

encourages educators to look past the traditional cognitive approaches often

integrated into instructional frameworks and proposes three additional

perspectives for comprehending multimodal texts: art theory and criticism, the

grammar of visual design, and media literacies. By adopting a progressive literacy

approach, education will open up “the interpretive spaces teachers provide

through the expectations they set, the responses they endorse, the texts they select,

and the strategies they demonstrate.”

The goal of this article was to stress the need for expanding current literary

approaches. Serafini achieves this goal by describing each of his proposed

perspectives and connecting them back to his main argument. His implications

demonstrate the effectiveness of his perspectives as well as provide educators

with tips on how to incorporate them.

Smetana, Linda, and Dana Grisham. "Revitalizing Tier 2 Intervention with Graphic

Novels." Reading Horizons, vol. 51, no. 3, 2012, pp. 181-208.

This article explores incorporating graphic novels into a Tier 2 Response to

Intervention (RTI) program for struggling readers located in an urban school. The

authors suggests that students who are engaged are “more likely to read and write,

participate in discussions, and make meaningful connections than nonengaged

readers.” Smetana and Grisham’s study found that graphic novels serve as an 19 opportunity to strengthen students’ vocabulary and comprehension skills as well as demonstrated increased progress in their fluency.

The goal of this article was to provide meaningful insight into how students in

Tier 2 programs can have the opportunity for improved reading comprehension by implementing graphic novels. This article provides helpful tools for implementing graphic novels and discussing their benefit. However, because the focus of this article is on elementary-aged students Smetana and Grisham only discuss graphic novels targeted for this age group versus high school or college level learners.

CHAPTER FOUR: PUBLISHABLE DOCUMENT

Introduction

Through the combination of image and text, graphic novels “bridge the gap between media we watch and media we read” (Yang 187). This bridged gap is significant to the college composition classroom because it allows students to bring their traditionally disregarded outside-the-classroom experiences into the classroom through their reading and writing opportunities; these opportunities allow students to create meaning through their lived experiences.

Background of Study

My desire to integrate graphic novels into First-Year Composition (FYC) classrooms stems from a personal experience. At nine years old, my language arts teacher declared that I was not at the proficient level of standardized reading comprehension and was at risk of being held back a grade level. At this age, I hated to read and preferred to write my own interpretation of whatever book I was reading, often placing myself in the story. As much as my mother tried to encourage me to read with easy readers and young adult novels, I avoided reading because I thought it was boring and I had a difficult time understanding words/phrases. Around the same time, I discovered the anime (Japanese animated cartoons) InuYasha and was fascinated by the adventures of an average girl whose life was turned upside down when she travels back in time to Japan’s feudal and meets the half-demon, Inuyasha; my fascination with InuYasha quickly morphed into a love of manga (Japanese graphic novels) after I discovered InuYasha was available in print. Manga was the driving force behind developing an interest in reading; I loved that 21 the stories were told with images and with words. Manga made me a confident reader; with the help of the stories’ images and small chunks of text, I began reading aloud to myself which prompted me to sound out words I could not comprehend until I had worked my way through my struggles and could read through a page without stopping.

I know my experience as a reluctant reader is not unique, and through years of research, I also now know that when teachers engage students with reading and writing through a multiliteracies approach they provide the opportunity to “introduce complex ideas in an easy to understand format and help transition students to more difficult reading material” and “motivate reluctant readers” (Hammond 10 and 12). Multimodal texts, like graphic novels, can engage students in meaningful experiences, experiences which they can bring forth in their college-level reading and writing practices. I define meaningful reading and writing as being actively engaged with a given material. As Dale

Jacobs writes, graphic novels “provide a complex environment for the negotiation of meaning…By embracing the idea multimodal literacy in relation to [graphic novels]…educators can help students engage critically with ways of making meaning that exist all around them” (Connors 5). Students who have the capability to read, analyze, and engaged with a text learn how to become better writers. And it is the space between my personal experience and my research which influenced me to design this study to explore how graphic novels can be used in order to engage first year college composition students in meaningful reading and writing opportunities.

Research Questions 22

 What happens when graphic novels are used in the First Year Composition

classroom?

 How can reading and writing graphic novels provide opportunities for meaningful

literacy practices?

 How are reading and writing practices impacted when teaching with graphic

novels?

Theoretical Framework: Multiliteracy Pedagogy and Graphic Novels

Interest in multiliteracies has led to what Frank Serafini termed a “semiotic turn” in literacy studies, which has prompted the exploration of how word and image work to create meaning (Connors 6). Defined broadly, literacy refers to a multifaceted set of cognitive skills and social practices that involve people’s use of one or more modes (such as print, image, music) to make meaning (Connors 6). These literacies support an inquiry- based learning approach to reading and writing, where students engage in using rhetorical knowledge to move beyond understanding writing, and reading, as solely constructing or decoding words (Brown 209). The ability to process multimodal information helps us create meaning. This notion is applicable to students through the Multimedia Learning

Theory which addresses how we organize information (Mayer 32). According to Roxana

Moreno, in order to bring the visual and the verbal together, “students must actively select discovery tools, organize keywords into search statements, and integrate visual material with verbal information” (qtd. in Beatty 36).

The interest in multimodality and multiliteracies has led to an advocacy for making space within academia for graphic novels (Connors 6). Graphic novels represent 23 literature that is both narrative and visual and integrating graphic novels into course curriculum offers a variety of materials and instructional approaches, which provides opportunities to better meet the needs of students by allowing them to make connections and explore popular culture (Lawrence et. al. 492; Moeller 14; Schwarz 53).

Dale Jacobs highlights compatibility with contemporary literacy pedagogy in middle school and college composition by arguing that “(1) reading comics involves a complex, multimodal literacy; and (2) by using comics in our classrooms, we can help students develop as critical and engaged readers of multimodal texts” (qtd. in Comer 76).

Graphic novels are a justifiable means for engaging students in meaningful reading because they offer new ways to achieve traditional educational goals and serve as new sites of possibility across the curriculum for educators (Schwarz 56). Essentially, graphic novels are an embodiment of multimodality. Both reading and composing graphic novels represent an opportunity to engage students in a meaningful literacy experience.

Review of Literature

The focus of my research is to discover how graphic novels can provide opportunities of meaningful reading and writing. The studies discussed in this literature address the significance of using graphic novels as a means to engage students into meaningful reading and writing. These studies build off of each other in a way that demonstrates the growth in the field of graphic novel studies. Most importantly, these studies connect to the overarching claim that graphic novels are an embodiment of multimodality. 24

Structured around the high school classroom, Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher’s curriculum introduces students to the possibility of redefining the traditional notion of an academic text; this is significant because it allows students to bring their outside-the- classroom experiences, in this case through popular culture, into the classroom in order to increase their engagement with reading and writing.

As Lawrence et. al. asserts, Frey and Fisher used students’ prior knowledge of popular culture, specifically graphic novels, to address deficiencies they saw in students’ reading and writing (484). Working in partnership with a class designed for struggling reader and writers, Frey and Fisher were interested in “enhancing literacy acquisition” of thirty-two student ninth-graders (Frey and Fisher 19). They found that using graphic novels was effective for teaching traditional elements of high school English curriculum, specifically in regards to reading strategies (Frey and Fisher 20).

Frey and Fisher found that using graphic novels to “scaffold writing instruction helped students practice the craft of writing and gain necessary skills to become confident readers” (23). Frey and Fisher report that the resulting works were “a fascinating lens on popular culture and its artifacts in adolescent writing” (23). Frey and Fisher conclude their study with realizing “the power [graphic novels] have for engaging students in authentic writing” as these forms of literature “provided a visual vocabulary of sorts for scaffolding writing techniques, particularly dialogue, tone, and mood” (24). While I did not use graphic novels as a tool specifically targeted towards enhancing the capabilities of struggling reading and writing students, Frey and Fisher’s article correlates to my 25 study through their decision to use graphic novels as a tool to engage students in meaningful reading and writing experiences.

Unlike Frey and Fisher’s emphasis on the high school classroom, Kathryn Comer conducts a study on the incorporation of graphic novels in her college-level composition classroom. In her article, Comer uses three concepts – narrative gaps, narration, and focalization – to produce a valuable pedagogical experiment which resulted in her students composing a graphic memoir. The pedagogical design of Comer’s graphic memoir experiment borrows from The New London Group’s recursive process, described as “available designs, designing, and the redesigned” (qtd. in Comer 77).

Comer reports that her students were enthusiastic about the idea of graphic memoirs. However, Comer suspects that their enthusiasm “no doubt arose from an expectation of fun rather than investment in the topic” (78). Comer found that most of her students were insecure about their visual literacies because visual composition was unfamiliar territory (82). Comer finds that her students’ graphic memoirs, including their project reflections, “provide evidence of the strategic invention, creative problem- solving, and rhetorical awareness” fostered from their experience (82-83). Comer concludes that her students’ “investment in this course easily surpassed typical student engagement in (required) composition courses, resulting in high attendance, active participation, and a positive workshop dynamic (100). Comer’s work served as a guide for how I could incorporate and use a graphic memoir to connect to students and encourage them to connect to their reading and writing experiences through their personal lived experiences. 26

Research Design and Methods

As mentioned earlier, I designed my study to understand the impact of using graphic novels in the composition classroom, which immerged from my personal experiences and because these multimodal texts have the potential to bring forth meaningful reading and writing experiences that students can use throughout their academic careers.

Participants and Setting

This study took place in two separate First Year Composition (FYC) courses at a medium-sized state university located on the west coast in the fall semester of 2016. Out of the fifty students enrolled in these courses, forty-five were recruited to participate in this study (see Appendix A). These courses were taught by first time teaching associates; both teaching associates were graduate students at the university, one earning their degree in English Composition (TA-1) and the other earning their degree in English Literature

(TA-2).

Prior to the start of the semester, I met with both TA-1 and TA-2 to discuss the graphic novel unit I had created and this unit was adapted to suit the individual needs of each teaching associate. The graphic novel unit was designed as the first unit for both courses and spanned for the first five weeks of the semester. My graphic novel unit began with students reading Little Fish by Ramsey Beyer, a graphic memoir about Ramsey’s first year in college. My rationale for choosing this particular graphic memoir was two- fold: 1) Surveys collected the semester before my study took place indicated that the majority of students enrolled in FYC do not regularly read graphic novels, 2) From this 27 finding, I wanted to choose a graphic novel that could be relatable to a first year college student’s situation with the objective that, due to its relatability, students would be more engaged.

Data Analysis

On the first day of class, students were provided a pre-assignment survey (see

Appendix B); the goal of this survey was to gage students’ opinions on graphic novels in a general sense, their opinions on whether graphic novels are appropriate in a college- level classroom, and discover how many students have and have not read graphic novels before taking their FYC course.

Mid-way through Little Fish, students were given the graphic memoir assignment

(see Appendix D); at this specific university, the first assignment students are traditionally asked to compose in their FYC course is a literacy narrative that addresses the students’ writing process while incorporating secondary readings focused on writing from the course syllabus in connection to their personal process. With the intentions of exploring how graphic novels can be used in order to engage students in meaningful reading and writing opportunities, my graphic memoir assignment asked students to write a literacy narrative essay that addressed how speaking, listening, writing, and reading (or a combination of these) changed their life in some significant way, impacted their journey to college, and gave insight into what shaped the literate person they have become. From this alphabetic essay, students were asked to compose, through their own drawings, magazine cutouts, web based images, a ten to fifteen page graphic memoir that reflected their narrative story; to assist students with the composing process, graphic novel pages 28 with various pre-set panels were made available to students through their course’s online portal. The goal of structuring the graphic memoir assignment in this way was to provide students with an opportunity to engage with their composing process on a personal level.

The final component of the graphic memoir assignment was a reflective essay which addressed the students’ writing, reading, and artistic composing processes from invention to production. The goal of this reflection essay was to better understand how the graphic novel creation process impacted the students’ reading and writing processes.

After the assignment was completed, I collected de-identified graphic memoirs and reflection essays before TA-1 and TA-2 provided graded feedback to students. I took observation notes on different stylistic choices such as character descriptions, when speech bubbles or labels were used, and if I could understand the flow of the story without reading the literacy narrative essay. I separated out samples where the graphic memoir was difficult to follow without the assistance of the literacy narrative and then cross-referenced both categories of graphic memoirs with their reflection essay by color coding for commons themes such as repeated words, phrases, or emotions that students individually brought forth in their reflections. The goal of this method was to determine how students engaged with their composing process.

The final method of data collection was a combination of two audio-recorded focus groups and post-assignment surveys (see Appendix F). The focus group consisted of eight student participants who completed the post-assignment survey as a group discussion. The goal of this method was to allow students a space to orally discuss their experiences reading and then creating a graphic novel as well as share their experience 29 with their peers. The post-assignment surveys were administered to the remaining student participants in class and did not include a group discussion. This method was chosen in order to collect the remaining students’ opinions and cross-reference them to the focus group participant responses in order to discover differences and similarities in recorded student experiences versus hand-written responses.

Limitations

Due to university policy, I was unable to teach a First-Year Composition course the semester I was collecting data because I held a full-time staff position and could not be a teaching associate at the same time. In order to maintain the ability to gather in-class student experiences, I decided to redesign the original self-study to a case study and situate myself in the role complete observer. Moving from self-study to cast study, there were two limitations that stemmed from not teaching these FYC courses. The first limitation was that I did not create the course syllabus. The structure of the course’s readings and class discussions was out of my control. This was significant because there were several instances where the students struggled to make the connection between reading and writing through reading a graphic novel. However, as an observer my responsibility was to be silent in the classroom and allow the students to experience the course as TA-1 and TA-2 structured.

My lack of voice in the classroom was another limitation. My presence in the classroom was, for the most part, ignored by the students; I was neither treated as an intruder nor as an authority figure. However, while I could assist TA-1 and TA-2 with clarification on the graphic memoir assignment outside of the classroom, I avoided 30 interacting with students during class because I did not want them to associate me with a classroom authority. The goal of this study was for students to be authentic throughout their graphic novel experience and if they perceived me as an authority figure, i.e. someone with the power to impact their grade, it had the potential to alter students’ experiences in order to “meet” my expectations.

Findings

One of the powerful attributes of graphic novels is the blending of images and words; this allows for the reader to use visual literacy to create meaning and connect to the written words. As a reluctant reader, graphic novels saved me from becoming a student who hated to read. However, despite the benefits afforded from reading graphic novels, stigmas against graphic novels in academia are still apparent and graphic novels are often dismissed as “lowbrow, popular culture” (Schwartz and Rubinstein-Ávila 42).

Finding One: Reading and Writing in Uncharted Territory

In his book, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud addresses how we are conditioned to engage with texts:

As children, our first books had pictures galore and very few words because that

was “easier.” Then, as we grew, we were expected to graduate to books with

much more text and only occasional pictures – and finally arrive at “real” books –

those with no pictures at all (140)

As the student engaged in the graphic novel unit, there were several occurrences in the focus groups and post-assignment surveys where students mentioned the phrase “hard literature” when discussing the types of readings they expected in college. In both focus 31 groups, I asked the students if they could explain what they meant by “hard literature” and how their definitions could be applied to graphic novels in college courses; I received a collection of confused looks and then one student explained, “I don’t know. Something that’s harder to read, maybe longer, but I’m not sure?” This connects back to several students’ opinions in the pre-assignment surveys where they felt that graphic novels did not meet the academic standards of college-level reading and, therefore, did not belong in college classrooms. At the same time, students struggled to describe attributes a graphic novel needed in order to meet these academic standards. After reading the post- assignment surveys, it was apparent that students attributed traditional alphabetic text as meeting the academic standard and the non-traditional graphic novel contradicted their prior knowledge of what is and is not a text appropriate for the classroom.

For many of the students participating in this study, this was their first time reading a graphic novel and, at the same time, this was their first time creating one. As figure 1 shows, over half of the participants reported that they had read graphic novels; however, many of the students wrote comments indicating that they had not read a graphic novel since elementary or middle school. This reinforces McCloud’s assertion that students have had little to no contact with image-word blended texts after a certain age. 32

Figure 1 : Have You Read Graphic Novels

36% Yes No 64%

Students’ lack of contact with image-word blended texts is significant because it reveals the timeframe in the students’ education where pictures in school texts became non-academic. While over sixty-five percent of the students in my study indicated in their pre-assignment surveys that graphic novels were appropriate for their college-level writing course and conveyed that graphic novels “make the reader more engaged with the text and structured in a way that is not boring,” students also reinforced graphic novel stigmas and reported that graphic novels did not belong in their college classroom because they are “unprofessional,” “too low of a level,” and that they are “what teenagers read and enjoy” (see figure 2). 33

Figure 2: Graphic Novels in College Classrooms

24% Yes No 9% Maybe 67%

These reinforced stigmas were further expressed in student responses when 52.8% of students used language that described the graphic novel as “easy.” However, students used the word “easy” in both a negative and positive context. Students liked that Little

Fish was “easy” to understand, but they responded that the graphic novel was “too easy” because, due to the lack of complex words, it “did not prepare [them] for hard literature.”

Students come into college and have certain expectations for what types of texts they will be reading and have been conditioned to expect “hard literature” in their college courses.

Due to this conditioning, students reinforce the stereotype that graphic novels are “too childish” for their college courses and fail to recognize them as a college academic text.

This conditioning also applies to students’ expectations of academic writing; in a post-assignment survey, one student wrote: “If I had to choose which of the assignments was the easiest to complete I would have to choose the narrative. I am a lot more comfortable with writing than I am with drawing.” Similarly, another student claimed they spent “most of high school writing the ‘five paragraph style’” and were concerned if what they were saying “was okay to put in an essay.” Students are demonstrating that 34 they have been taught that “they must ‘leave their personalities at the door’” in order to meet the satisfaction of academic standards (Hyland 351). These student responses also address the concept of the consumer and the producer; students (as producers) are taught what the consumer (academic standards/teachers) wants and they then produce that expectation.

The concept of consumer and producer is apparent in several graphic memoir writing samples where students heavily relied on thought bubbles or labels rather than using an image to compose their memoir. This was more than likely done in order for students to achieve the sense that they were clearly providing the reader with enough information needed to follow their story without getting confused. For example, one student seemed frustrated in their assignment reflection when they wanted to draw themselves in front of the university, but ended up drawing “four trees and a squirrel” which, the student argued, can be “in any part of the world”; therefore, in order to solve this problem, they relied on labeling the image with the university’s name despite the fact that the image of trees and a squirrel provided enough information to their audience of peers. This practice directly correlates to the notion that, in order to achieve clarity in their graphic memoir, students relied on what they were comfortable with, in this case alphabetic text, to tell the reader what information the student felt was lacking.

Finding Two: Translating Words to Images, Composing the Graphic Memoir

From post-assignment survey data collected, 32.6% of participants reported experiencing difficulty when “translating” their literacy narrative into their graphic memoir. Linda Flower and John Hayes define translating in the writing process as the 35

“process of putting ideas into visible language” (373). Within this process, Flower and

Hayes address the ability for writers to “translate a meaning, which may be embodied in key words…and organized in a complex network of relationships, into a linear piece of written English” (373). However, during the graphic novel unit, students were being asked to take the concept of translating one step further by translating written words into images. Due to the unfamiliar process of translating written words into images, students used the analogy of speaking another language and juxtaposed it to the ability to translate words into images.

This juxtaposition connects back to the notion that, creating a graphic memoir is outside of their definition of traditional academic writing, leading the students to compare the act of doing so to learning and using a second language. However, Lawrence et. al. argues that students “interact with multiple forms of nontraditional texts and different sources of information, access popular culture and mass media, and communicate with people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives through the use of new technologies”

(483). Therefore, despite the likelihood that students “speak” this type of language outside of the classroom, students are resist bringing their outside-the-classroom experiences into the classroom because these classified non-academic experiences fall outside of their known sphere of what is appropriate in academic writing.

For example, despite the fact that students expressed having difficulty when translating words from their literacy narrative to images, one writing sample displayed exemplary engagement with the multimodal composing process. In the first panels of her graphic memoir (see figure 3), Student-1 describes being transferred to a different class in 36 order to “receive some extra help with her studies” because she struggles with reading and writing; in order for the reader to understand who Student-1 is she uses a carrot to depict her character in order set herself apart from the other students who are depicted as corn. This demonstrates Charles Hatfield’s concept of “the self-caricature,” which is argued as “the most important rhetorical move in a comic because it dictates the relationship between author and audience” (qtd. in Comer 81). This character distinction is significant because it immediately notifies the reader that Student-1 is categorized as different from her peers and further strengthens this distinction through her classroom reassignment as she is physically removed from what she deems the normal class.

Figure 3: Student-1 Graphic Memoir Writing Sample Page 1

Despite how the students in the “normal” class harass her while the students in the

“special” class welcome her (see figure 4), Student-1 uses the label “special class” with a negative connotation while “normal” implies a more positive connotation. This is also apparent in two panels of Student-1’s graphic memoir; the first occurs when the other students bully Student-1 calling her “Special Ed” (see figure 5) and the second occurs when Student-1 depicts herself in the Library (see figure 6) indicating that by studying she can go back to her normal class. This theme is carried over in how Student-1 depicts her classrooms. The image selected to depict the “normal” classroom is a bare walled desk cramped room while the image used to depict the “special” classroom is filled art decorated walls and spaced out desks (see figure 4). This demonstrates Student-1’s internal struggle to be considered “normal” because she believes she has been outcast for being “different.”

Figure 4: Student-1 Graphic Memoir Writing Sample Page 2

By providing the reader with multiple examples of how she is objectified as

“different,” Student-1 is demonstrating a narrative gap because she is requiring the reader to decode the multimodal cues (Comer 79). This is most apparent through Student-1’s character depictions because these distinct choices allowed her to construct meaning through her reader’s successful interpretation of her story. Student-1’s reflection essay indicated that she was nervous about how to approach the creation process for her graphic memoir; this connects back to the notion that, due to the unfamiliarity of translating written words into images, students are juxtaposing the process to speaking a different language. However, as Student-1’s graphic memoir sample shows, when given the 39 opportunity students can take their outside-the-classroom abilities and apply them to their in-class experiences. This reveals that composing a graphic novel provides students with the opportunity to engage with their writing because they are establishing meaning through their creation process.

Figure 5: Student-1 Graphic Memoir Writing Sample Page 3

Figure 6: Student-1 Graphic Memoir Writing Sample Page 4

Finding Three: Drawing the Line at the Fear of Rejection

The most common comment by students in their reflective essay was the fear of receiving negative remarks about their artistic ability. During my discussions with TA-1 40 and TA-2, it was agreed upon that artistic ability – whether students chose to hand-draw or found images – would not be assessed and, rather, the clarity of their narrative essay in connection to their memoir would be the focus of the assignment assessment; this was discussed both in class to students and stated on the assignment handouts students received. However, despite knowing that artistic ability was not included in the assessment process, students privileged known genre conventions of graphic novels over classroom practices.

Despite artistic ability not being a requirement for effective graphic memoir design, self-proclaimed deficient drawing skills was a negative remark in both qualitative and quantitative data analysis 25.6% of participants used negative descriptors when addressing their drawing ability. Students appeared to like the graphic memoir component less when they felt their art would be judged harshly by their peers or instructor. In their post-assignment survey, one student reasoned that, as a “perfectionist,” they “won’t let anyone see anything I draw because if I get critiques about the content or style, I may just die”; this student also described their graphic memoir drawing drafts as

“failing every single time.” Despite having the options to use other images or personal photos, several students chose to hand draw their graphic memoir despite describing their abilities as lacking, which begs the questions: Why did some students feel pressured to produce their own art? Did they believe that, because the graphic novel they read for class was hand drawn, they needed to hand draw their story?

Based on student post-assignment survey responses, students used the artwork in

Little Fish to serve as their peers’ expectation. Students became intimidated by the 41 drawing abilities of the author and juxtaposed their own abilities against that of a trained artist and determine that their own abilities were inadequate. When it came to their peers’ judgment, students believed that they artistically needed to produce something that resembled Little Fish and, due to the unfamiliarity of this writing practice, students became paranoid of negative remarks aimed at their drawings. This fear was apparent as students were both down casting their abilities, despite having another option, and also showing discomfort in having too much freedom in what they are being asked to write and draw.

For example, in her reflection essay, Student-2 described feeling “worried and anxious” about making something that was “visually appealing,” specifically, when reading Little Fish and thought to themselves, “How am I supposed to do something like this?” However, despite her anxiety and claiming not to be artistic, Student-2 chose to hand draw her images because “it would be more meaningful” (see figure 7). While

Student-2 wanted her graphic memoir to be more meaningful, she was also concerned with how her peers would respond to her art and admitted to “fishing for a compliment or two” during her peer review. These student responses supports the notion that, due to graphic novel genre conventions of blending words and images, students rejected their faculty’s claims that artistic ability was not a requirement for effective graphic novel design. Moreover, they associated the level artwork in Little Fish with what their peers expected and would give their graphic novel meaning.

Figure 7: Student-2 Graphic Memoir Writing Sample Page

Pedagogical Implications and Suggestions for Further Research

This research shows the potential for high levels of engagement when graphic novels are incorporated in the First Year Composition classroom. Based on this study, it is plausible to assume students will have had little to no experience with reading graphic novels. With this in mind, it is recommended that teachers pair their graphic novels with secondary readings that address the use of graphic novels in the college level writing classroom. As shown in my study, when reading only a graphic novel students struggled to see how graphic novels can be used to impact literacy practices. However, if teachers paired graphic novels with a genre students are familiar with, in this case essays and 43 literary excerpts, students have the opportunity to expand their idea of what constitutes as an academic text.

Connecting to the opportunity to redefine what an academic text is, this study shows that students are excited to read something that is different from the traditional alphabetic text they were accustomed to reading in high school. However, due to previously instilled expectations of what students believe constitutes as an academic text, students struggle to recognize graphic novels as meaningful for their English courses.

One explanation for this is that students have been taught that, in order to be academic, their course readings should lack images and consist of “hard” literature. Due to this instilled expectation, students cast aside multimodal texts, in English courses, because they consider word-image blended readings as being too easy for their current academic level. If college-level composition teachers incorporate graphic novels into their curriculum, they need to plan for their students’ resistance to accept graphic novels as a meaningful text. For this study, the selected graphic novel was chosen with the specific intention of relying on the novel’s relatability to students’ current experiences of going through their first year of college. Teachers who plan to incorporate graphic novels may want to consider letting their students choose the graphic novels they will be reading in their classroom. This will create a collaborative learning space that will evenly distribute classroom power between teacher and students as well as increase the potential for engagement because students have the opportunity to choose graphic novels that meet their expectations. 44

This study also shows that students in this study contradicted themselves and did not recognize the meaningful impact of reading and creating a graphic novel to their literacy practices. For example, when comparing their experiences to reading an alphabetic text, the students identified an increase in their text analysis which demonstrated an impact on reading comprehension; this was similar to the impact on writing identified across the data when students experienced difficulty going beyond the traditional writing process and translating their written words into images, which allowed the reader to comprehend their graphic novel without the assistance of their alphabetic essay. Due to these contradictions, teachers need to integrate reading and writing activities where students practice recognizing when and how multimodal texts are making an impact on their literacy practices. Outside of the classroom, students are constantly interacting with multimodal texts and a variety of mediums, but when they enter the classroom space they cut off that interaction and consider bringing their outside- the-classroom experiences into the classroom as inappropriate. If teachers bring multimodal texts, particularly graphic novels, inside the classroom, they will have the potential to provide opportunities for their students to recognize the impact unfamiliar texts have on their literacy practices.

APPENDIX A

Informed Consent [Study Participation]

Graphic Novels: Tools for Meaningful Literacy Practices

You (the English 5 student) are invited to participate in an IRB approved research study which will involve studying how to engage college students in meaningful literacy practices by using graphic novels. My name is Kaitlyn Ehrmantrout and I am an English

Composition graduate student at California State University, Sacramento’s English

Department.

Your participation in this project is voluntary. Even after you agree to participate, you may decide to leave the study at any time.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how graphic novels can be used in order to engage students in meaningful reading and writing opportunities and, through these opportunities, help them transfer the strategies they use to engage in different texts.

If you decide to participate, you understand that you will be asked to submit your graphic memoir writing assignment in its entirety as a writing sample for research. As a participant you understand that you may be asked to participate in two focus groups. As a participant you understand that your decision to participate will not affect your grade in this class (English 5) in any way. Your participation in this study will last for the semester that you are enrolled in this English 5 course. Risks associated with this study are not anticipated to be greater than those risks encountered in daily life. If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in a research project please call the Office of 46

Research Affairs, California State University, Sacramento, (916) 278-5674, or email [email protected].

Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified with you will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission. Measures to insure your confidentiality are as follows: your name will be removed as you will only be referred to with a pseudonym and you will not be asked to disclose information such as what course section you are enrolled in, or your age. The data obtained will be maintained in a safe, locked location and will be destroyed after a period of three years after the study is completed.

Your signature below indicates that you have read and understand the information provided above.

APPENDIX B

Informed Consent [Pre-Assignment Survey]

Graphic Novels: Tools for Meaningful Literacy Practices

You are invited to participate in an IRB approved research study which will involve studying how to engage college students in meaningful literacy practices by using graphic novels. My name is Kaitlyn Ehrmantrout and I am an English Composition graduate student at California State University, Sacramento’s English Department.

Your participation in this project is voluntary. Even after you agree to participate, you may decide to leave the study at any time.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how graphic novels can be used in order to engage students in meaningful reading and writing opportunities and through these opportunities help them transfer the strategies they use to engage in different texts.

If you decide to participate, you will be asked to participate in a seven question survey.

Your participation in this study will last for the amount of time it takes you to complete the survey. Risks associated with this study are not anticipated to be greater than those risks encountered in daily life. If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in a research project please call the Office of Research Affairs, California

State University, Sacramento, (916) 278-5674, or email [email protected].

By completing and submitting this survey you have read and understand the information provided above.

APPENDIX C

Pre-Assignment Survey

Graphic Novels: Tools for Meaningful Literacy Practices

1. Gender

__ Female

__ Male

__ Other (Please Specify):

2. What is your opinion of graphic novels/comic books/manga?

3. Do you think that graphic novels are appropriate in a college level classroom? Why or why not?

4. Have you ever read a graphic novel/comic book/manga? *If yes, please continue.

5. Do you like to read graphic novels/comic books/manga? *If yes, please give examples of titles you read (like X-men, InuYasha, etc.)

6. What do you like about these books? For example, the storyline, the characters, drawings, etc.

7. Is there anything you do not like about any of the graphic novels/comic books/manga you have read?

APPENDIX D

Literacy Narrative and Graphic Novel Assignment Sheet

Task:

1. Compose a 750-1000 word (or 3-4 double spaced pages) literacy narrative that

tells the story of how speaking, listening, writing, and reading (or a combination

of these) changed your life in some significant way, impacted your journey to

college, and gives insight into what shaped the literate person you’ve become.

2. Create a graphic novel (10-15 panels in length) that reflects the story you

composed for your literacy narrative. You can use your own drawings, magazine

cut outs, a computer, etc. to create your graphic novel.

3. Compose a 600-800 word (or 2-3 double spaced pages) reflective essay after you

have written your literacy narrative and created your graphic novel. This piece

will be a reflection on the writing, reading and composing processes you used

during this assignment from invention to production.

Genre:

A Literacy Narrative is a type of autobiographical essay which explores your experiences and relationship with language (speaking, listening, writing, and reading, or a combination of these) and confirms their significance to you and your audience.

What is a Literacy Narrative?

 A literacy narrative is a first-hand narrative about reading or composing in any

form or context.

 Literacy narratives can be short or long, two minutes or twenty-five. 50

 Literacy narratives can be about your experiences as a small child, a teenager, an

adult, a senior.

 Literacy narratives can be about reading stories books, cereal boxes, music, or

video game cheats—anything at all that you read or any story about teaching

reading.

 Literacy narratives can be about composing letters, Facebook pages, song lyrics,’

zines, blogs, maps, essays in school—anything at all that you compose.

 Literacy narratives can be sad or happy, poignant or funny, informative or

incidental. Literacy narrative often focus on powerful memories about events,

people, situations, places—times when you tried and succeeded or tried and

failed; someone who gave you a chance or took one away; situations when

someone taught you how to do something or when you taught someone else;

churches and schools, contests and performances, plays and public presentations.

Purpose:

Why are you writing this?

To introduce you to a genre for sharing experience; to prepare you to write increasingly more complex types of essays by introducing you to the concepts of narration and description; to teach you how to begin considering the constellation of factors that go into writing for a public audience including audience, tone, and purpose. In addition, you will further refine the strong authorial voice that you have begun to develop in the first two units of the class in order to really get your experiences into words—a skill which will aid you in writing stories, memoirs, autobiographies, and personal essay. 51

Audience:

Your audience for this assignment will be your peers and instructor. Be clear and concise in writing about your experiences with your writing and reading process. Explain and provide any extra information that will help illuminate the significance of, or even add depth to, your experience.

Format:

Literacy Narrative:

 750-1000 words in length, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font with

1” margins.

 Your final product must be at least 10-15 panels/pages in length. On SacCT you

will be provided with some blank templates with which you can construct your

graphic memoir. You are also highly encouraged to construct your own

pages/layouts if the provided templates do not meet your needs or tastes.

Reflective Essay:

 600-800 words in length, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font with

1” margins. Use MLA citations if needed.

A Few Ideas to Get You Started

 Have you ever written a “goodbye” letter? A love letter? A Poem? A novel?

 A history or an email message that made you blush? • Did you ever win (or lose)

a crucial public debate? Did you ever forget your lines in a play? Learn American

Sign Language? 52

 Did you learn to read by studying the back of a cereal box? Do you remember the

first time you thought of yourself as a writer? When you got (or lost) your first

library card? The bedtime stories your parents used to read to you? Your favorite

book?

 Have you ever felt illiterate? Can you tell us a story about a time you were

punished for reading (or not reading)? A time when you were rewarded for

writing insightfully?

 Can you tell us a story about the first time you used a computer? The first e-mail

message you composed? Your first Facebook page? The first video you made and

uploaded to YouTube?

 Do you have memories about playing “teacher” with your friends? Creating a

family newspaper or a ‘zine? Reading the Koran? * Was you mom or dad or one

of your grandparents a writer? A reader? Can you tell us a story about how they

helped you write or read

Appendix E

Informed Consent [Focus Group/Post-Assignment Survey]

Graphic Novels: Tools for Meaningful Literacy Practices

Your participation in this project is voluntary. Even after you agree to participate, you may decide to leave the study at any time.

If you decide to participate, you will be asked to participate in a nine question survey and then participate in an audio-recorded focus group discussion. Your participation in this study will last for the amount of time it takes you to complete the survey and the focus group verbal discussion. Risks associated with this study are not anticipated to be greater than those risks encountered in daily life. If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in a research project please call the Office of Research Affairs, California

State University, Sacramento, (916) 278-5674, or email [email protected].

By completing and submitting this survey you have read and understand the information provided above. 54

Appendix F

Focus Group/Post-Assignment Survey

Graphic Novels: Tools for Meaningful Literacy Practices

1. Gender

__ Female

__ Male

__ Other (Please Specify):

2. Now that you have read a graphic novel, has your opinion of graphic novels in the college classroom changed? Please explain.

3. Did you like the story that you read? Why or why not?

4. Do you think that reading a graphic novel has impacted your reading comprehension?

Why or why not?

5. Did you find that graphic novels were easier to read than “traditional” texts? Why or why not?

6. Do you think that reading a graphic novel has impacted your writing process? Why or why not?

7. What was useful/not useful about reading a graphic novel? Please explain.

8. What were some of the challenges you experienced when writing your graphic novel?

Please explain.

9. What did you enjoy about the graphic novel creation process? Please explain.

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