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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 in English Composition by Kaitlyn Myra Belle Ehrmantrout SPRING 2017 © 2017 Kaitlyn Myra Belle Ehrmantrout ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii GRAPHIC NOVELS: TOOLS FOR MEANINGFUL LITERACY PRACTICES A Project by 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 iv Abstract of GRAPHIC NOVELS: TOOLS FOR MEANINGFUL LITERACY PRACTICES by 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 v 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. vi 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 1 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