Graphic Novels and Multimodal Literacy: A Reader Response Study A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Heidi Kay Hammond IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Dr. Richard Beach February, 2009 © Heidi Kay Hammond 2009 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor Dr. Richard Beach for his guidance and feedback, his brilliant editing skills, and his patience and encouragement. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Drs. Lee Galda, Karen Nelson Hoyle, and Cynthia Lewis, who challenged me to think deeply and provided helpful suggestions to improve my dissertation. It was an honor to work with them. I thank my pilot study students Max, Paulino, Dan, Kyle, and Juanita who agreed to test out my ideas which helped me revise my original lesson plans. I also thank Mr. Charlie Skemp for allowing me into his classroom and contributing his thoughts about the process throughout the study. I’m grateful for his senior political science students who conscientiously participated even though the study took place during their final busy and exciting days of high school. I am most grateful to Dr. Sharon Ahnert for assisting with the coding process to provide interrater reliability. Her continuous support and joyful acknowledgement of each step along the way was invaluable, as is her friendship. All of my friends cheered me on and offered encouragement. I am deeply grateful to Jean Mueting and Candy Whelan for kindly inquiring about my progress and patiently listening while I related every detail. I also want to thank my Birthday Club. Their confidence in me was an inspiration. Finally, I thank my family for their love and support throughout a long, long process. I thank my dad who believes I can do anything and my mom who would have been proud to witness my achievement. And I thank my daughter Laura for her constant love which motivated me more than anything else. i Dedication For Laura ii Abstract Graphic novels are fiction or nonfiction books presented in comic book format that require multimodal literacy for understanding. To determine how students make meaning of and respond to a graphic novel, 23 twelfth grade students in a political science class read American Born Chinese twice. This study employed qualitative methods based on reader-response theory. Types of data collected included oral and written responses of students, student reading questionnaires, teacher and student interviews, observations as recorded in researcher field notes, and student created comics. Responses were coded through a process of reduction and interpretation. Results indicated that reading a graphic novel was a new experience for the majority of participants and they enjoyed the book. With the introduction of comics conventions and further development of multimodal literacy skills, students acquired new knowledge on a second reading of the book. Evidence from this study supports the benefits of teaching comics conventions and reading graphic novels as part of the curriculum to improve multimodal literacy skills. iii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………...………………i DEDICATION ...………………………………………………………………………..ii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………….iii TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………….iv LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………………. ix LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………...x LIST OF APPENDICES…………………………………………………………….….xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………...1 Comic Books and Graphic Novels………………………………………………………2 New Literacy…………………………………………………………………………….5 Background of Study…………………………………………………………………….7 Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………………………12 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE……………………………………...14 Reader Response Theories……………………………………………………………..14 Experiential Theories…………………………………………………………...14 Responses to Multimodal Texts……………………………………..…16 Comics Audience……………………………………………………….18 Textual Theories………………………………………………………………..21 Comics Conventions……………………………………………………26 Semiotics Theory……………………………………………………………….32 iv Reading Comics………………………………………………………………………...36 Comics and Picture Books…………………………………………………...…36 Comics and Traditional Books…………………………………………………37 Comics and Film………………………………………………………………..41 Comics Literacy………………………………………………………………………...42 The History of Comics…………………………………………………………………44 The History of Comics in Education…………………………………………………...52 Recent Studies of Comics and Graphic Novels in the Classroom……………...54 Classroom Use of Graphic Novels……………………………………………..57 Response to Comic Books……………………………………………………...62 Techniques for Teaching Graphic Novels……………………………………...64 Educational Benefits of Comics and Graphic Novels………………………………….66 Summary………………………………………………………………………………..68 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………70 The Participants and the Role of the Researcher……………………………………….70 The Participants………………………………………………………………...70 Role of the Researcher………………………………………………………….71 Materials………………………………………………………………………………..73 American Born Chinese………………………………………………………...73 Instructional Materials………………………………………………………….74 Procedure……………………………………………………………………………….75 Pilot Study……………………………………………………………………...75 v The Study……………………………………………………………………….76 Design of the Study…………………………………………………………………….81 Trustworthiness………………………………………………………………...82 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………..83 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS……………………………………………………………….86 Written Responses – First Reading…………………………………………………….86 Plot Responses………………………………………………………………….88 Retelling………………………………………………………………..90 Interpretation…………………………………………………………...90 Prediction……………………………………………………………….91 Theme…………………………………………………………………..92 Opinion/Evaluation Responses…………………………………………………93 Connections (intertextual/personal) Responses………………………………...96 Questions Responses…………………………………………………………...97 Images Responses………………………………………………………………98 Setting Images………………………………………………………….99 Plot Images……………………………………………………………100 Facial Expressions or Emotions………………………………………102 Stereotypes……………………………………………………………103 Comics Conventions…………………………………………………..105 Reading Images……………………………………………………….106 Student Discussion Responses………………………………………………………..107 vi Student Survey Results………………………………………………………………..112 Question Four………………………………………………………………....113 Question Five………………………………………………………………....114 Question Seven………………………………………………………………..115 Question Eight………………………………………………………………...116 Written Responses – Second Reading………………………………………………...117 Reading Method on the Second Reading……………………………………..117 New Information……………………………………………………………...119 Benefits of a Second Reading…………………………………………………121 Focus Group Interview………………………………………………………………..123 Field Notes and Teacher Interviews…………………………………………………..129 Student Created Comics………………………………………………………………134 Allen’s Comic.………………………………………………………………...134 Mark’s Comic…………………………………………………………………136 May’s Comic………………………………………………………………….137 Summary………………………………………………………………………………140 CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION……………………………………..141 Summary of the Study………………………………………………………………...141 Discussion of the Results……………………………………………………………...142 Research Question One……………………………………………………….142 Student Responses to American Born Chinese……………………….142 Student Experience with Graphic Novels…………………………….151 vii Popularity of Graphic Novels…………………………………………153 Research Question Two……………………………………………………….156 Research Questions Three and Four…………………………………………..158 Research Question Five……………………………………………………….163 Summary of Results in Respect to the Research Questions…………………..164 CHAPTER 6 IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH AND TEACHING…166 Implications for Educational Practice………………………………………………...166 Integrating Graphic Novels into the Curriculum……………………...............166 Teaching Visual Literacy……………………………………………………..167 Teaching Comics Conventions………………………………………………..168 Teacher Education…………………………………………………………….169 Limitations of the Study………………………………………………………………170 Suggestions for Further Research……………………………………………………..173 Final Comments……………………………………………………………….………177 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................179 viii List of Tables Table 1 Frequencies and Percentages of Responses to First Reading of American Born Chinese…………………………………………………………...88 Table 2 Frequencies and Percentages of Subcategories of Plot Responses…….89 Table 3 Frequencies and Percentages of Subcategories of Images Responses…99 ix List of Figures Figure 1 American Born Chinese, p. 215, panel 3…………………..…………101 Figures 2 American Born Chinese, p.48, panel 1…………………………….….103 Figure 3 American Born Chinese, p. 228, panel 4……………………………...104 Figure 4 American Born Chinese, p. 229, panel 3……………………………...105 Figure 5 American Born Chinese, p. 90, panel 5……………………………….110 Figure 6 American Born Chinese, p. 29, panel 1……………………………….112 x List of Appendices A. Recruitment Script………………………………………………………………...192 B. Consent Form……………………………………………………………………...193 C. Assent Form……………………………………………………………………….195 D. “A Short History of Comics” PowerPoint………………………………………...197 E. “Graphic Novels in the Classroom” Online Article……………………………….200 F. What is a “graphic novel”? from www.ARTBABE.com ........................................208 G. Comics Terminology……………………………………………………………...210 H. FREE Online Comic Books Bookmark …………………………………………..211 I. Study Lesson Plans………………………………………………………………...212 J. Reading Directions…………………………………………………………………214 K. Creating Comics Directions……………………………………………………….215 L. American Born Chinese Discussion